What types of plastic can be meaningfully recycled? Which types can’t?
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How do you define “meaningfully recycled”?
Most types of plastics can be recycled (i have yet to see one that cannot, but I only dealt with it during uni), but recycled plastic are lower quality and generally more expensive than “fresh” plastic.
Polyethylene, polypropylene and PET are commonly recycled. PVC should be. But it kind of goes downhill from there.
Any plastic that requires curing can’t be recycled. Stuff like resins, especially composites are unrecyclable.
Even plastics that SHOULD be recyclable often aren’t. For example, polystyrene isn’t recycled in the UK, despite being theoretically recyclable.
TL;DR it seriously depends, but anything you buy should have some sort of marking telling it’s recyclability.
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