"Plastics deliver bountiful benefits to you and your world," exclaims the SPI web site, the online home of the U.S. plastics industry trade association.

Number 5: PP (polypropylene) is not as recyclable as numbers 1 and 2, but this plastic is another good option when choosing safe, toxin-free food and beverage containers.

It’s a staggering number: 16,000 plastic chemicals, with at least 4,200 of those considered to be “highly hazardous” to human health and the environment, according to the authors.

Most plastic recycling is not processed in the U.S. Here’s what you need to know about the types of plastics and which ones will be made into something new.

The bottom line is that now, even so-called "single stream recycling" will require residents to do a little more sorting.

More recent studies have since found that the numbers for both ocean plastics and fish could be lower or higher, respectively — but no single, established number for either exists.

Target loses ground on plastics reduction goal The mass merchant said it’s “applying lessons learned” to turn around its virgin plastic number.