Recycling plastic cups?

Question

Is there any way to recycle plastic cups with the number 6 on the bottom?

I work in an office where we go througgh hundreds of these small platsic cups. Isn;t there someway I can recycle them?

Answer 1

Recently there have been council's announcing broader categories of plastics that are recyclable.  Some collect for recycling all plastics number 1-7.  It will depend which municipality you are in.  Check out:

http://recyclingnearyou.com.au

This site has up to date info for each municipality and what they will collect for recycling

Regards

Nick

Answer 2

I would agree with Nick but be aware that the Number 6 refers to the material it is made of - its is a polystyrene. In fact there are 2 types of 6, one  expanded polystyrene or styrofoam cups/foam cups and the other is non-expanded polystyrene which is usually what your yogurt containers are made of. So unfortunately not many if any accept the Styrofoam 6 polystyrene (it is recyclable but not very popular in Australia yet - there is no real remanufacturer or market for this type of recyclable resource) but more commonly the non expanded polystryrene is recyclable. I am not sure which type you have? Take them home and put them into your recycling bin or give them to someone whose council recycles non-expanded polystryrene #6. Depending on the situation if they are not too flimsy you should be able to wash them up with a little water and soap (to reuse them like plastic cups at home). Even if your council does not recycle them they will only probaly end up at the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) where they will be probably mixed with other Councils recycling (which accept non-expanded polystyrene #6 - due to contractual arrangements) to be sorted into the various plastic types 1-7.