And in the process, we started recreating how the plastics industry makes plastics.

Compounding the problem of party formation is personal rivalry.

They store the plastics on the roofs.

Now because the plastics are so plentiful and by the way, those other methods don't lead to the recovery of plastics, obviously but people do try to recover the plastics.

Plastics have overlapping densities over a very narrow range.

And this becomes the currency of the plastics industry.

Non degradable plastics in a garbage dump in Karachi.

At the end of this process, we have a mixed plastic composite many different types of plastics and many different grades of plastics.

They manufacture plastics. They use large quantities chloroprene and benzene.

But actually, plastics are several times more valuable than steel.

It's mostly many types of plastics and many types of metals.

The traditional way to make plastics is with oil or petrochemicals.

The waste is separated into recyclable materials (plastics, metals) and organic waste.

The resulting economic uncertainties are compounding years of inadequate growth and deteriorating public debt dynamics.

And TAP Plastics made me although I didn't photograph it a museum vitrine.

Plastics are a whole other story well less than 10 percent are recovered.

So the traditional ways of separating materials just simply don't work for plastics.

We said, there's got to be a more sustainable way to make plastics.

Compounding the problem, no one truly understands the precise connections among Russian and European institutions and markets.

Compounding that error was the absence of any substantive decision concerning how to extricate Cyprus from its downward spiral.

Now most people think that's because plastics are a throw away material, have very little value.

Mostly coal, Chuluunbaatar says, but some people tend to burn other things, tires, plastics, you know.

Or they burn the plastics to get to the metals in burn houses like you see here.

Some US industries, such as chemicals and plastics, will gain a significant comparative advantage in production costs.

Compounding this problem is the diversity of national and international regulatory policies in place or being developed to manage e waste.

Compounding this situation, the lack of protective equipment is so serious that medical gloves are being sold on the black market.

And there's more plastics produced and consumed around the world on a volume basis every year than steel.

We use a very highly automated process to sort those plastics, not only by type, but by grade.

Compounding these concerns is evidence that Japanese public opinion is sympathetic toward the positions that Abe has taken or seems to favor.

At the same time, rising incomes are altering people s diets, which now include more animal based proteins, further compounding Asia s food challenges.

Horticulture and vegetables use an astonishing amount, says Nate Leonard, field coordinator for Cornell University s Recycling Agricultural Plastics Program.

Compounding the problem is the fact that dialogue about the matter doesn't exactly abound, and neither does clear and transparent information that citizens need.

A compounding factor was the intention of several departments of ILM to either take on other film work or decrease staff during slow cycles.

This picture doesn't exactly show the plastics that I would like it to show, because I haven't been out there myself.

And the plastics, we get from oil, which we go to more remote locations and drill ever deeper wells to extract.

Marine species at risk from overfishing must also contend with pervasive pollution from plastics, sewage, industrial chemicals, agricultural runoff and other contaminants.

The drop due in no small measure to an easing of tensions over Iran s nuclear program is costing the Iranian government money, compounding the regime s domestic problems.

They recover the metals and leave behind what's called shredder residue it's their waste a very complex mixture of materials, but predominantly plastics.

We take out the things that aren't plastics, such as the metals they missed, carpeting, foam, rubber, wood, glass, paper, you name it.

So what are we to do about this space age material, at least what we used to call a space aged material, these plastics?

You breakdown the molecules, you recombine them in very specific ways, to make all the wonderful plastics that we enjoy each and every day.

We promote reduction in waste generation in particular plastic bottles and plastics bag We provide environmental education programs through public, private and educational institutions

Compounding the lack of transparency, Yale maintains its own campus police force, to which sex crime victims are encouraged to report their complaints if they insist upon formal documentation.

SriLankan Airlines has struggled with debt for years (auditors flagged its viability as far back as 2009), and yet the government continued to purchase aircraft, compounding the losses incurred.

While collection for recycling is one challenge, preparing and processing agricultural plastics so they can be recycled and finding a market for the many different kinds of agricultural plastics add even more complexity. Cubes of brightly colored plastic twine dwarf a worker at an Agri Plas recycling facility in Brooks, Ore. Photo by Elizabeth Grossman.