Plastic Packaging: Not a Throw-away Resource

Global concerns over the decline in the planet’s natural resources have seen a change of emphasis towards resource recovery through re-use, recovery and recycling. The finite supply of our fossil fuel reserves and our increased dependence on polymers for many of our products and their ubiquitous use for packaging has seen a paradigm shift towards preserving this natural resource. This chapter reviews the range of plastics used in packaging from PET bottles to PS containers. The important role that is played by technology in the collection and reprocessing of plastic packaging is described. The environmental effects of ecycling plasticbased packaging are explored and how policy, strategies and legislation play their part in maximising this resource use