Recovery is the process of obtaining materials or energy resources from solid waste.
Recovered plastics might be recycled into new products or used in process engineered fuels, where collected plastics are processed with paper into fuel pellets and then used in conjunction with coal and other fuels in industrial boilers and utility plants. The recycling of plastics continued to grow in 1997. More than 1.3 billion pounds of post-consumer plastics packaging were recycled in the United States. 16 HDPE bottle recycling increased 7 percent in 1997 to 704 million pounds. All plastic bottles were recycled at a rate of 24 percent in 1997.