Mechanical recycling of plastics has continued to grow in the United States, with 2.1 mln tons of plastics recycled in 2009. This includes recovery of used plastics from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high density polyethylene (HDPE) bottles, non-bottle rigid containers and some flexible packaging. However, despite the efforts of many communities to source-separate plastics, less than 15% of the US post-consumer plastics are being diverted from landfills by means of recycling and energy recovery. Therefore, while continuing its efforts to increase plastics recycling, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) is also seeking ways to recover more of the energy value of non-recycled plastics (NRP) in the form of electricity, heat or petrochemical feedstock. Landfilling of NRP constitutes a loss of a valuable energy resource. Capturing the energy value of non-recycled plastics will contribute to sustainable development and enhance national energy security. The Plastics Division of ACC requested the Earth Engineering Center of Columbia University (EEC) to quantify the amount of plastics discarded in each state and their disposition to materials recovery (recycling), energy recovery in waste-to-energy plants (WTE) and to landfills. EEC was also asked to calculate the energy value of NRP currently going to landfills and identify ways for recovering the energy content of this valuable energy resource. As the United States seeks alternative fuel sources, projects like this – which help quantify the scale and availability of an energy source –Since plastics have an energy value higher than coal, landfilling of non-recycled plastic wastes constitutes a loss of an important energy resource. Key Findings • The results of this study showed that 6.5% of the used plastics generated in the U.S. are recycled, 7.7% are combusted with energy recovery, and the remaining 85.8% are landfilled. The states closest to sustainable waste management of plastics in 2008, by complementing recycling with energy recovery, are Connecticut, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Maine, Virginia, and Minnesota; the diversion rates of NRP from landfills in these states, by recycling and combustion with energy recovery, range from 65% for Connecticut to 32% for Minnesota. • The amount of NRP plastics landfilled in the United States in 2008 was estimated at 28.8 million tons. The chemical energy contained in this material was 807 trillion Btu. This amount of energy is equivalent to:    • 36.7 million tons of coal, or    • 139 million barrels of oil, or    • 783 billion cubic feet of natural gas Hypothetically, if all the NRP that are currently landfilled were source-separated and converted by pyrolysis to a fuel oil, they would produce an estimated 87 million barrels of oil per year (3.6 billion gallons), enough to power 6 million cars for one year. • If all the NRP that are landfilled annually were to be source-separated and used as fuel in specially designed power plants, the electricity produced would be 52 million MWh, enough to supply 5.2 million households. This would also reduce U.S. coal consumption by as much as 34 million tons. • Hypothetically, if 100% of the landfilled municipal solid wastes (MSW) were diverted from landfills to new WTE power plants, they would reduce coal consumption by 108 million tons and produce 162 million MWh of electricity, enough to power 16.2 million households for one year. • This study also examined the effect of new WTE capacity on reducing coal consumption in states that now import large amounts of coal. As stated above, one ton of MSW used as fuel in new WTE plants would produce the energy equivalent of about 0.4 tons of coal. Accordingly, 25% diversion of MSW currently landfilled to new WTE plants would avoid the mining of 27 mln tons of coal and as much as 270 million tons of overburden; 100% diversion of current landfilling by means of new WTE capacity would reduce coal mining by 108 million tons of coal, nearly 10% of the U.S. coal consumption. • Lastly, increased WTE capacity would reduce the carbon footprint of waste management in the U.S. For example, a 25% diversion of mixed biomass and NRP in MSW from landfills to new WTE facilities will result in greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction of 35 to 70 mln tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, depending on the degree of landfill capture in present landfills. (Source: Study by N.J. Themelis, M.J. Castaldi, J. Bhatti, and L. Arsova, Columbia University’s Earth Engineering Centre)