How can I estimate the quantity of plastic bottles that will be available for recycling?
The local dairy provider or school nutrition director can provide milk sales by school for a given period through milk delivery records. There are approximately 1,600 eight-ounce milk bottles to a cubic yard. If available from local beverage companies, get sales data for other beverages packaged in plastic (water, juice drinks, soda.) There are typically 32 8-ounce plastic milk bottles with caps per pound, or 40 bottles without caps. Other single serve beverages of 16 ounces or more average 16 bottles per pound. According to National Dairy Council® pilot tests2,3 on plastic bottle recycling, an average of 7.71 pounds of recyclable materials per student will be collected over a school year. References: 1. Killinger, Jennifer. “Information Sheet.”American Chemistry Council. March 2007 http://americanchemistry.com/s_plastics/sec_content.asp?CID-1102&DID-5007 2. School Recycling Pilot Test conducted by Container Recycling Services on behalf of National Dairy Council®. August 2005. 3. Knox
