Glossary

Discussions about plastics and recycling can be filled with industry acronyms and technical language. Below you’ll find a list of commonly used terms and their definitions to aid your understanding.

Advanced recycling

Advanced plastics recycling, also called chemical recycling, refers to several different technologies that convert post-use plastics into their original building blocks, specialty polymers, feedstocks for new plastics, fuels, waxes, and other valuable products.

Biobased

Materials derived from plants and other organisms. Biobased plastics are not necessarily biodegradable. For example, polyethylene made from plants retains the basic properties of polyethylene made from other sources of hydrocarbons.

Biodegradable

The ability of a material to undergo a chemical process where microorganisms in the environment convert it into natural substances such as water, carbon dioxide and compost. Biodegradable plastics are not necessarily biobased. Biodegradable plastics can be made from traditional or plant-based sources.

Circular economy

An economic system based on designing the entire lifecycle of products and conserving product resources so they can be reused or recycled in a way that significantly reduces waste and pollution.

Circularity

Circularity is the ability to more efficiently use plastic (or any resource) by keeping material in use for as long as possible, getting the most we can from them during use, and then recovering them to make new products.

Compostable

A product capable of degrading into natural elements in a compost environment, leaving no toxicity in the soil.

Feedstock

Any raw material that can be used to supply or fuel an industrial process or a machine.

Flexible plastic packaging (FPP)

Any package or part of a package whose shape can be readily changed. Flexible packaging includes, but is not limited to, bags, pouches, liners and wraps that utilize plastic or film.

High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE)

High-density polyethylene, also known as HDPE, is a strong and durable plastic used to make common items like jugs and bottles for short-term storage. Its toughness makes it difficult to tear and helps it resist bursting. Recycled HDPE plastic is used to make many products such as toys, soda bottles, trash cans, traffic cones and plastic “lumber” for playgrounds, decks and outdoor furniture. To determine if a container is made from HDPE, look for a number 2 inside the three-arrow recycling symbol.

Informal recycling sector

Typically refers to recycling efforts by an individual or group of individuals done outside a formal municipal recycling system; this is common in many developing countries.

Low-density polyethylene (LDPE)

Low-density polyethylene (LDPE, #4) is a soft, flexible, lightweight plastic material. It’s used to make a wide variety of items, most commonly packaging and plastic bags.

Mechanical recycling

A process by which waste materials are turned into raw materials without changing the basic structure of the material.

Microplastic

Microplastics and microfibers are terms used to describe small pieces of plastic in the environment generally smaller than the size of a sesame seed.

Plastic film

Plastic film is soft and flexible packaging such as grocery, bread, zip-top and dry-cleaning bags. It’s also the wrap around many products including paper plates, napkins, bathroom tissue, diapers, and more. Bubble wrap, air pillows and bubble wrap shipping envelopes are made from the same kind of plastic and can be recycled as well. Plastic film can be recycled at more than 18,000 drop-off locations in the United States and Canada, including many grocery stories.

Plastics value chain

The process or activities of adding value to plastic, including everything from production and marketing to reuse and recycling.

Polypropylene

Polypropylene, also known as PP or by the recycling #5, is a food-safe plastic. It’s used to hold all kinds of foods, beverages and medications. It can also be used to make carpeting, roof membranes and fabric.

Post-Consumer-Recycled (PCR) Plastic

This is plastic that has been made into a product, used and recycled, collected, cleaned, reprocessed and remade into something new. Products made from PCR plastic contribute to a circular economy as they close the loop and divert plastic products from landfills by instead allowing them to be recycled into feedstock to create something else.

Recycled plastic feedstock

Materials made from recycled plastics that can be used to supply or fuel an industrial process or a machine.

Recycling

The process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects.

Resin

An organic substance, sometimes plant-based but generally synthetic, that is used as a base material for the manufacture of some plastics.

rFlex

A material primarily consisting of plastic materials like shopping bags, storage bags and shrink wrap, along with multilayered packaging and fiber materials. It can be used to make lumber, pallets and more.

rPET

rPET stands for recycled polyethylene terephthalate, or recycled PET. PET is a strong, durable and recyclable material that is used for soda bottles, water bottles and food jars, while rPET can be made into such products as blankets, insulation, car parts, shoes and more.

Single-use plastic

Any plastic that is only used once and not returned to the value chain.

Virgin plastic

Any plastic that has never been used or processed before and has no recycled content.

Waste pickers

An individual or group of individuals that collects recyclable materials as part of the “informal recycling sector,” typically done in the absence of effective formal recycling systems in developing countries.