I mentioned in a previous post about waste that I felt better about using aluminum cans for my cat food rather than plastic bags because it seems like more of a recycling process rather than a downcycling process, but I never got into any more details about why.

I define recycling simply as the processing of waste materials into new materials or products of the same quality. So from this, you can probably guess that I define upcycling as the processing of waste materials into materials or products of better quality, and downcycling as the processing of waste materials into materials or products of lesser quality and reduced functionality.

For now, I`m  happier with the aluminum can because there is no limit to the amount of times an aluminum can can be recycled. An aluminum can that is thrown away can still be a can 500 years from now! Yes, it still needs to be processed, which takes energy and creates waste, but it`s still better than mining bauxite from the earth, don`t you think?

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"Plastic" is a very generic term for a wide variety of materials which have very different physical and chemical properties. This is one of the things that makes them so difficult to recycle. Plastic Identification Codes (PIC) is the system that identifies the different types so they can be separated for reprocessing. However, just because a plastic has a PIC on it does not mean it can be recycled. Mixing plastics during reprocessing can weaken recovered plastic, which makes it less appealing to manufacturers to use in their products. Even if it is sorted by type, plastic can only be recycled a limited number of times and it is often used to produce items that are not themselves recyclable.

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Don't get me wrong, downcycling has its place. I would much rather potentially useful materials are reused a few times rather than just being sent to the landfill immediately. But at some point, that material has an end of life. It will no longer be useful and will end up in a landfill or ocean garbage island. Yuck.

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Here's a wee hint from my dad, who's a bit in the know about waste management. Leave the lids off your plastic bottles when you throw them in the recycling. They're made of a different type of plastic that can't be recycled. It's apparently a problem for recyclers.

Check out My Plastic Free Life. Beth is doing a much better job that I am at cutting plastic waste from her life.