"Thanks to increased consumer access to recycling programs and growth in single-stream collection - whereby consumers place all recycled materials into a single bin - plastics recycling is one of the easiest things we can do to benefit the planet," adds Steve Russell, vice president of plastics for the American Chemistry Council. "In the United States, we have the capacity to recycle more used plastics than we are currently collecting, and innovative manufacturers are using these materials in new and exciting ways. Each of us can help by doing our part to get more used plastics into a recycling bin."

Three simple tips for recycling

Alexander and Russell offered three simple tips to help consumers recycle more of their plastic bottles:
• Bring it back. If you empty a plastic bottle on-the-go, bring it back to a bin.
• Recycle all plastic bottles. Today, recyclers collect all types of plastic bottles, regardless of the number, or resin identification code, printed on the bottom.
• Don't forget about caps! Recyclers want both caps and bottles, so please remember to twist caps back on bottles after use.

This year's survey of plastic bottle recycling also found that the collection of polypropylene (PP, #5) bottles rose to nearly 47 million pounds, an annual increase of 7.2 percent, with 73 percent of that material processed domestically as PP, rather than mixed with other resins. Domestic processing of postconsumer PP bottles increased 14 percent to reach 43.5 million pounds. Although PP caps and non-bottle containers are widely collected for recycling in the United States, these data are released in a separate report on recycling non-bottle rigid plastics, which will be released in the coming weeks.

PET + HDPE = 96 percent

Together, polyethylene terephthalate (PET, #1) and HDPE bottles continue to make up over 96 percent of the U.S. market for plastic bottles with polypropylene bottles comprising half of the remaining 4 percent.

Exports of HDPE bottles rose 30 million pounds to 201 million pounds in 2012, while imports of postconsumer HDPE decreased by 35 percent to 33.1 million pounds, which, combined with increased collection and exports, resulted in slightly lower purchases for U.S. reclamation plants.

The full 2012 report National Post-Consumer Plastics Bottle Recycling Report is available on the "Reports and Publications" section of ACC's website and on APR's (www.plasticsrecycling.org) website.