Learn About Plastic WasteÂ
Plastic recycling is a confusing topic even for veteran recyclers. Plastics are often mislabeled as recyclable when in fact they are not accepted in a particular community's recycling program. Most rural areas in New Mexico have stopped collecting plastic for recycling at all. Why is this? It could be high amounts of contamination due to consumer confusion, or because of costs associated with the collection and processing of the material, or a lack of local markets, or because of the lightweight nature of the material (recyclers get paid by weight not volume), or a combination of all of these factors.Â
A good rule of thumb is that plastic #1 and # 2 bottles (e.g. containers with a neck like a soda bottle or a laundry detergent bottle or a plastic milk bottle) and sometimes plastic #5 (e.g. large yogurt or cottage cheese tubs) have high value and can be recycled in many areas of New Mexico.  With all recycling, and especially plastics, it important not to "wishcycle" material. If you aren't sure if a plastic item can be recycled in your community, it's better to throw it away in the trash than to contaminate clean recycling with non-recyclable items.Â
Our friends at Ecocycle in Colorado created a great infographic to help explain the worse and not-as-bad plastics.
Turn Off the Faucet!
Even recyclers know that we aren't going to recycle our way out of the plastic waste crisis. If you ran into your bathroom and saw the faucet on and the tub overflowing with water, what would you do first? Turn off the faucet or get a mop?Â
Plastics are an excellent example of the waste management hierarchy in action: reduce, reuse, recycle. Reduce trumps reduce and reuse and is the most important of the three "Rs." Nearly half of all plastic produced is for single use - used for just minutes and then discarded. Preventing this problem in the first place is much easier than cleaning up the mess that it makes! Turn off the plastic faucet.Â
The most problematic (non-recyclable and toxic) plastics are often the most unnecessary plastics. In fact, the UK has targeted eight unnecessary plastics to immediately phase out, including:Â
- Disposable plastic cutleryÂ
- All polystyrene packagingÂ
- Cotton buds with plastic stemsÂ
- Plastic stirrersÂ
- Plastic strawsÂ
- Oxo-degradables that break down to create microplasticsÂ
- PVC (#3) packagingÂ
- Disposable plastic plates and bowls
To solve the plastic-waste crisis we need systemic change. This may seem overwhelming, but communities in New Mexico are taking action!Â
- City of Carlsbad bans single use plastic checkout bags - February, 2025
- Santa Fe County bans single use plastic bags, Styrofoam food containers, & plastic splash guards, and accessories like utensils and straws only available upon request September, 2024
- City of Las Cruces bans single use plastic checkout bags & charges a $.10 fee at the point of sale for paper bags to encourage reusable bags - January, 2022
- Bernalillo County bans single use plastic bags, Styrofoam food containers and accessories like utensils and straws only available upon request 2020
- City of Santa Fe bans single use plastic bags & charges a $.10 fee at the point of sale for paper bags to encourage reusable bags - 2015
- Town of Silver City bans single use plastic bags, however unintended loophole language in the ordinance results in many stores use of thicker plastic bags and calling them reusable - 2014
TRAILER: New Mexicans Taking Action on Plastic Waste on Vimeo
"You can watch Greg Polk's entire 17-minute video "New Mexicans Taking Action on Plastic Waste" at https://vimeo.com/user106607381" Greg Polk (vimeo.com)