Waste Aware Campus: Recycle

Plastic

When you recycle your plastic bottles, they can be transformed into new plastic products, such as bin liners, compost bins, new bottles, and even fleece jackets.

Although, technically, almost all plastics can be recycled, collection, infrastructure and low market demand are barriers to the recycling of some types of plastics. There are seven main types of plastics, but the most commonly recycled types in the UK are PET (1) and HDPE (2). Applications and market demand for other plastics, particularly mixed plastics, are currently limited.

Facts about plastic bottles

In the UK an estimated 13 billion plastic bottles are thrown away each year (Recoup).

The 108,000 tonnes of bottles recycled in 2006 saved approximately 162,000 tonnes of carbon (Recoup).

It takes just 25 plastic bottles to make a recycled fleece jacket (Recoup).

Plastic Bottles Recycling Journey
Follow the plastic bottles recycling journey to find out what happens to your plastic bottles after they are collected for recycling.

You can currently recycle plastic bottles in most local authority areas of Scotland. A few areas now accept a wider range of plastics for recycling, but these facilities are not yet widely available due to the difficulties associated with plastic recycling. Find out if you can recycle plastic bottles using your kerbside recycling service where you live.

Search for your nearest plastic bottles recycling point on Sort It.