Reduce, reuse, recycle: Planetary nebulae as green galactic citizens

We review gas-phase abundances in PNe and describe their dual utility as archives of original progenitor metallicity via the α elements, as well as sources of processed material from nucleosynthesis during the star's evolution, i.e., C, N, and s-process elements. We describe the analysis of PN spectra to derive abundances and discuss the discrepancies that arise from different choices at each step. Abundance results for the Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds from various groups of investigators are presented; the observational results are compared with theoretical predictions of AGB stellar yields. Finally, we suggest areas where more work is needed to improve our abilities to determine abundances in PNe.