A recent report released by Greenpeace surveyed the United States' 367 materials recovery facilities — the facilities that sort our recycling — and found that only plastic bottles are regularly recycled. The fate of most other types of plastic, from clamshells to packaging, is usually a landfill or incineration.

What happens to the plastic that is recycled?

The plastic bottles are also sorted by the type of plastic they're made from. Then, the bottles are cleaned remove any food, liquid, or chemical residue. Next, all of the bottles are ground up and shredded into flakes. Finally, they are melted down and formed into small pellets, each about the size of a grain of rice.

How much of recycled plastic is actually recycled?

Plastic. This will likely come as no surprise to longtime readers, but according to National Geographic, an astonishing 91 percent of plastic doesn't actually get recycled. This means that only around 9 percent is being recycled.