Through effective resource conservation, we can minimize our impact on the planet by using the earth's resources wisely. To do this, we must more efficiently manage natural resources and lessen the environmental impact of the products we use, from raw materials to production to distribution and on through ultimate disposal. In other words, you should strive to minimize the energy consumed and wastes generated during production, as well as through the life of a product and on to final disposition.

A.

In order to conserve resources, you must know about the resources utilized and the way in which they are consumed. Then decisions can be made based upon facts. Some simple actions include carpooling to work or taking public transportation, turning off lights in empty rooms, selecting the energy saver mode on your dishwasher, turning down thermostats at night during the winter and purchasing items with the most efficient packaging.

From production through use to waste management, plastics help conserve resources. Their unique properties and characteristics-light weight, durability, formability-enable manufacturers to minimize the raw materials used, energy consumed and waste generated in the production of goods ranging from automobiles to coffee cups. It's important to think about all those steps in a product's life cycle-not just what happens when a product's useful life is over-to get a true picture of its environmental performance.

Plastics

Why are plastics used in packaging?

Copper, silver and aluminum are all metals, yet each has unique properties. You wouldn't make a car out of silver or a beer can out of copper because the properties of these metals are not chemically or physically able to create the most effective final product. Likewise, while plastics are all related, each resin has attributes that make it best suited to a particular application. Plastics make this possible because as a material family they are so versatile.

Six resins account for nearly all of the plastics used in packaging:

PET (polyethylene terephthalate) is a clear, tough polymer with exceptional gas and moisture barrier properties. PET's ability to contain carbon dioxide (carbonation) makes it ideal for use in soft drink bottles.

HDPE (high density polyethylene) is used in milk, juice and water containers in order to take advantage of its excellent protective barrier properties. Its chemical resistance properties also make it well suited for items such as containers for household chemicals and detergents.

Vinyl (polyvinyl chloride, or PVC) provides excellent clarity, puncture resistance and cling. As a film, vinyl can breathe just the right amount, making it ideal for packaging fresh meats that require oxygen to ensure a bright red surface while maintaining an acceptable shelf life.

LDPE (low density polyethylene) offers clarity and flexibility. It is used to make bottles that require flexibility. To take advantage of its strength and toughness in film form, it is used to produce grocery bags and garbage bags, shrink and stretch film, and coating for milk cartons.

PP (polypropylene) has high tensile strength, making it ideal for use in caps and lids that have to hold tightly on to threaded openings. Because of its high melting point, polypropylene can be hot-filled with products designed to cool in bottles, including ketchup and syrup. It is also used for products that need to be incubated, such as yogurt.

PS (polystyrene), in its crystalline form, is a colorless plastic that can be clear and hard. It can also be foamed to provide exceptional insulation properties. Foamed or expanded polystyrene (EPS) is used for products such as meat trays, egg cartons and coffee cups. It is also used for packaging and protecting appliances, electronics and other sensitive products.

Energy Efficiency

Yes. Only about 4 percent of the United States' energy consumption is actually used to produce plastic raw materials, including feedstocks. This is quite a small percentage in comparison to energy's other uses. In addition, it often takes less energy to convert plastics from a raw material into a finished product that comparable products.10,11 For instance:

During their life cycle, plastic bags require about one-third less energy to make than paper bags.*

Foam polystyrene containers take 30 percent less total energy to make than paperboard containers.

Fifty-three billion kilowatt hours of electricity are saved annually by improvements in major appliance energy efficiency made possible by plastic applications. Without the benefits provided by plastics insulation, these appliances would use up to 30 percent more energy.

Plastics are strong yet lightweight, meaning it often requires less plastic to make a certain package compared to other possible materials:

The plastic film wrappers now used for large diaper packs create 50 percent less waste by volume than previous packages.

Over 4 million students a day in the U.S. drink their milk or juice in flexible drink pouches. Compared to traditional cartons, the source-reduced pouch reduces weight by 80 percent and volume of waste by 70 percent, which reduces storage and trash disposal costs for schools.

Plastic grocery bags are lighter and create up to 80 percent less waste by volume than paper sacks. Normal economic market forces cause manufacturers to continually look for ways to reduce the cost of their packages by minimizing the amount of material used:

An average polystyrene foam plate today requires 25 percent less polystyrene to produce than it did in 1974.

Plastic grocery sacks were 2.3 mils (thousands of an inch) thick in 1976 and were down to 1.75 mils by 1984. In 1989, new technology gave us the same strength and durability in a bag only 0.7 mil thick. Along with weight and size reductions, plastics can contribute to waste reduction in other ways:

Plastics have an increased life span. Their physical properties allow them to be used in multiple applications, while their durability and flexibility allow them to be used again and again. For example, some laundry products are being packaged in reusable plastic bottles. Small packages of concentrated product are used to refill the original bottles, helping to reduce total packaging waste.

Plastics are lighter than many alternative materials. They have consistently reduced the weight of truck payloads and allowed companies to ship more product in fewer trucks. More than 2.8 million plastic grocery bags can be delivered in one truck. The same truck can hold only 500,000 paper grocery bags.16

Plastics generally exhibit superior resistance to breakage and denting. This results in fewer container breaches and less product loss on the packaging line, and safer handling in the the home.

Manufacturers of durable goods choose plastics for many reasons:

Plastics allow highly efficient manufacturing processes (up to 99 percent efficiency) that increase productivity by 20 to 30 percent and reduce capital expenditures by as much as 50 percent.

Without plastics' resistance to corrosion, the product life of some major appliances would be reduced by nearly 40 percent. By helping them last longer, plastics keep appliances and other durable goods out of the waste stream.

Successful recovery of plastics -- like any material -- requires an infrastructure that can get plastics from the consumer and back into use as new products. The plastics recycling infrastructure has four parts:

Collection-Rather than being thrown away, plastics (primarily PETand HDPE) are collected for recycling. Curbside collection with other materials and drop-off at recycling centers are common plastics collection methods.

Handling-Plastics from collection programs are sorted to increase their value and compacted to reduce shipping costs.

Reclamation-In conventional recycling, sorted plastics are chopped, washed and converted into flakes or pellets that are then processed into new products. Advanced recycling technologies (see "What are advanced recycling technologies ?") can take mixed plastics back to their original building blocks (monomers or petroleum feedstocks). These can then be recycled into a number of different products, including new plastics.

End-use-Reclaimed plastic pellets or flakes-or petroleum feedstocks-are used to manufacture new products.

The variety of products made with recycled plastics is growing. Here are just a few examples:

Recycled PET can be used in producing deli and bakery trays, carpets, clothing and textiles.

Recycled HDPE can become bottles for laundry produ cts, recycling bins, agricultural pipe, bags, motor oil bottles, decking and marine pilings.

Recycled vinyl can become playground equipment, film and airbubble cushioning.

Recycled LDPE can be used to manufacture bags, shrink film and compost bins.

Recycled PP can be used in automobile parts, carpets, battery casings, textiles, industrial fibers and films used for packaging products such as candy.

Landfilling