Post-consumer recyclables, often referred to as PCR, are materials made from items that consumers recycle every day, such as aluminum, cardboard boxes, paper, and plastic bottles. These materials are typically collected by local recycling programs and transported to recycling facilities to be sorted by material and combined into bales. These bales are then purchased and melted (or crushed) into small pellets and formed into new products. The new PCR plastic material can then be used for a variety of end products, including packaging.