Plastic Recycling Doesn’t Work and Will Never Work
Recycling in general can be an effective way to reclaim natural material resources. The U.S.’s high recycling rate of paper, 68 percent, proves this point. The problem with recycling plastic lies not with the concept or process but with the material itself.
The first problem is that there are thousands of different plastics, each with its own composition and characteristics. They all include different chemical additives and colorants that cannot be recycled together, making it impossible to sort the trillions of pieces of plastics into separate types for processing. For example, polyethylene terephthalate (PET#1) bottles cannot be recycled with PET#1 clamshells, which are a different PET#1 material, and green PET#1 bottles cannot be recycled with clear PET#1 bottles (which is why South Korea has outlawed colored PET#1 bottles.) High-density polyethylene (HDPE#2), polyvinyl chloride (PVC#3), low-density polyethylene (LDPE#4), polypropylene (PP#5), and polystyrene (PS#6) all must be separated for recycling.
Just one fast-food meal can involve many different types of single-use plastic, including PET#1, HDPE#2, LDPE#4, PP#5, and PS#6 cups, lids, clamshells, trays, bags, and cutlery, which cannot be recycled together. This is one of several reasons why plastic fast-food service items cannot be legitimately claimed as recyclable in the U.S. ...
Despite this stark failure, the plastics industry has waged a decades-long campaign to perpetuate the myth that the material is recyclable. This campaign is reminiscent of the tobacco industry’s efforts to convince smokers that filtered cigarettes are healthier than unfiltered cigarettes.
(Emphasis is mine.)
8 comments:
Thanks for posting this, Rick.
They are insidious and we need to control their use.
And it seems that those little symbols with the arrows and a number in the centre are something that the manufacturers insist on putting on their plastics as it makes it appear (at least to those who look at them) that the plastic can be recycled. (They are rarely legit recycling symbols although they look similar.) In reality very little plastic gets recycled. Mostly buried or burned.
Anon@11:28am - Yes, they are insidious, but they're beyond controlling.
Canoe - Too much of this plastic isn't even accepted for recycling.
Small start ups are beginning to address this. A client recently turned me onto Tru Earth laundry detergent from Canada that eliminates the huge plastic container. I’d seen this and other similar detergents advertised on Instagram. It works great. I’ve also seen tablets of toothpaste that doesn’t come in a plastic tube. Baby steps but it’s a start. As a consumer, I’ve been trying to avoid the plastics and notifying restaurants of their choices in take out containers or just avoiding restaurants that use plastics indiscriminately. Plastic use exploded during the pandemic because of take out dining.
Anon@5:20am - I've seen ads for that detergent in magazines. Tablets of toothpaste is new to me. Yes, every little bit helps.
Give the detergent a try..! I was amazed by it.
If I might chime in again. Yes, where I live you can put all your plastic into your 'blue' bin for recycling. Obviously (I guess) the majority of that isn't going to actually be recycled. People are mostly pretty good about putting plastics into their recycle bins. It makes them feel good but only about 10% likely ends up being recycled.
I think the worst plastic use I've noticed recently is kitty litter packaged in these huge, heavy plastic containers. Kitty litter!!! It used to come in paper bags. For goodness sake, sugar still does. I suppose it's easier to pour from the huge plastic jug but it's an example of extreme wastefulness for a tiny convenience.
canoetoo - Never hesitate to chime in, please. Yeah, I've noticed those. Such a waste.
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