Table 1.
Plastics production, recovery and disposal in the USA in 2005 (thousands of metric tonnes). Adopted from US EPA (2006). The data originated in reports of The American Plastics Council and include net imports. Plastic from the construction and agricultural sectors are not included in these quantities.
| generation of plastics in MSW | recovery | discards | |
|---|---|---|---|
| PET | 2600 | 491 | 2109 |
| HDPE | 5355 | 473 | 4882 |
| PVC | 1491 | 0 | 1491 |
| LDPE/LLDPE | 5864 | 173 | 5691 |
| polypropylene | 3636 | 9 | 3627 |
| polystyrene | 2355 | 0 | 2355 |
| other | 4982 | 355 | 4627 |
| total | 26 282 | 1500 | 24 782 |