10-10-2012, 02:11 AM
I worked in a plastics fabrication plant for about 5 years and of the virgin plastic pellets that came in from the manufacturer (overseas):
1/3 became a finished product
1/3 became reground back into pellets
1/3 went into the dumpster
The regrind was resold to other plants so they could mix it 10% with their virgin pellets and get the "contains recycled plastic" label. Even if consumers recycled 100% of their plastic, 1/3 of it goes directly into the landfill before it even reaches the store shelves and another 1/3 goes on to an uncertain future.
As a disclaimer, this was back in the early 90's, things may have improved since then. Plus, I worked in a USA plant. China might be more effecient (hard to keep the prices down if only 1/3 of your plastic leaves as a finished product).