Eliminating plastic is not the solution to the waste problem said a plastic engineering student.

“Plastics have had a lot of bad publicity,” said senior Lars Jensen, president of the Society of Plastic Engineers. “I want to show people we can recycle plastic.”

Jensen said SPE plans to come up with a viable program for recycling plastic.

Jensen said SPE wants to work with the recycling center and environmental groups, such as Earth First, to actively participate in plastic recycling.

Plastic receives the most scrutiny from environmental groups because of its presence in packaging, but the material is here to stay and the waste can be dealt with in many ways, Jensen said.

Jensen said plastic can easily be recycled because of the relatively low temperature needed to melt it.

Carpeting, fiberfill, and detergent bottles are some of the products made from recycled plastic, Jensen said.

The Food and Drug Administration however, will not allow recycled plastic to be in direct contact with food because the low temperature does not destroy all impurities, Jensen said.

The one exception is their recent approval of the use of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) for soft drink bottles, Jensen said.

“Even if we can’t recycle plastic, at least consider it a fuel in properly designed incinerators,” Jensen said.

Even when plastic cannot be recycled it can be disposed of safely, Jensen said.

Jensen said plastic only accounts for about seven percent in weight and about 18 percent in volume of the garbage we throw out. Paperboard contributes the most garbage in landfills.

“The way landfills are designed doesn’t promote degradation,” Jensen said, adding that even natural products such as carrots remained intact years after being dumped.

Unlike the chemicals in other garbage, plastic will not leak into the soil because of it’s inert nature, Jensen said.

Although plastic is processed crude oil, less than three percent of all oil becomes plastic, Jensen said.

Jensen said polystyrene, often used in fast food containers and cups, is mistakenly singled out for criticism by environmental groups.

Jensen said the University of Victoria, Canada, compared the production of polystyrene to paper cups and concluded that producing polystyrene was safer to the environment.

According to the study, the production of a ton of polystyrene uses less energy and utilities, produces less liquid waste and air emissions and has a higher recycling potential than a ton of paper.

Bradley Fish of Earth First does not agree that polystyrene is safe to the environment.

The production of polystyrene causes benzenes and styrenes to enter the environment, Fish said.

However, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Drinking Water does not classify styrene as a carcinogen, Jensen said.

Fish said he does think recycling plastic is a terrific idea and Earth First will help out when SPE comes up with a good plan.