We care about sustainability.

How to Recycle Plastic

When it comes to recycling plastic, there are a few factors to look out for. We talked with John, the CEO and co-owner of Atlas Games, about what to look out for when recycling plastics, which plastics can and can’t be recycled, and where to look.

In terms of hobby/game stores, look out for polystyrene plastic. This is typical of a lot of model and minis kits, either marked as “PS” or “HIPS” (high impact polystyrene). PS has the #6 resin recycling symbol.

You may see PS in other forms, such as disposable cutlery and certain yogurt tubs. Sprues/runners have an advantage over these because they are clean and pure, not covered in food waste. Most regular curbside recycling programs won’t take it, but if you can find a facility that accepts it, that’s great.

Some model runners/sprues are made of other materials such as ABS, PMMA (acrylic), and PVC. PVC (polyvinyl chloride, or simply vinyl) has the #3 resin code but is a poor material for recycling due to the corrosive and toxic fumes involved when it’s heated/processed. Specialty recyclers may accept ABS or PMMA.

For the hobby/game store, non-foam HIPS/PS is the low-hanging fruit, if you can find a place nearby that accepts it.

Besides recycling specialists, it’s possible to contact small plastic molding firms that may be willing to accept material. The typical plastic injection molding shop has one or more grinding machines for turning waste material into small pieces that can be fed back into the machines. Because the typical sprue/runner from, say, Warhammer figures is clean and pure, it can go right in the grinder with other scrap without any additional processing. But you have to find a shop willing to do this.

We’re looking into local recycling plants in Broomfield and Boulder counties, and elsewhere, to find a local recycling facility that accepts HIPS plastic and will update this page once we’ve found a good candidate.