Plastic recycling doesn't work and never will...

[DGUtley]

Plastic recycling doesn't work and never will...


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Americans support recycling. We do too. But although some materials can be effectively recycled and safely made from recycled content, plastics cannot. Plastic recycling does not work and will never work. The United States in 2021 had a dismal recycling rate of about 5 percent for post-consumer plastic waste, down from a high of 9.5 percent in 2014, when the U.S. exported millions of tons of plastic waste to China and counted it as recycled—even though much of it wasn’t.


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.


https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/ar...sposal/661141/

[OLD GUY IN FLORIDA]

There us a US company that makes shoes out of recycled plastic but they cost a lot more than leather shoes. The only people buying them are the Birkenstock crowd.

[carolina73]

I have to disagree with the article.

I have a good friend that did nothing but recycle plastic bottles. It was extremely profitable with little waste. Pepsi was their main customer.

I blame disinformation to the public. Many of us would sort and take our recyclables to specific bins. I have done it in my past without blinking.

Now that they have the home recycle bins, the portion of the public that does not care uses them as their extra trash container. This makes the sorting not economically viable for recycling and the only reason local governments do it is to try to save on landfill costs. The recycled materials are so heavily contaminated that they are only good for making park benches and not actually continuously recycled like glass and cardboard.

The system would actually be much better if they go back to the original system of setting up locations for people that want to contribute to the cause. In the end they will get a much better yield of reusable goods. Just tell people what is good and what is not recyclable. Why does the government tell people to separate recyclables and then dump it all into the same truck in front of their house? How stupid is that?

[BenjaminO]

I have to disagree with the article.

I have a good friend that did nothing but recycle plastic bottles. It was extremely profitable with little waste. Pepsi was their main customer.

I blame disinformation to the public. Many of us would sort and take our recyclables to specific bins. I have done it in my past without blinking.

Now that they have the home recycle bins, the portion of the public that does not care uses them as their extra trash container. This makes the sorting not economically viable for recycling and the only reason local governments do it is to try to save on landfill costs. The recycled materials are so heavily contaminated that they are only good for making park benches and not actually continuously recycled like glass and cardboard.

The system would actually be much better if they go back to the original system of setting up locations for people that want to contribute to the cause. In the end they will get a much better yield of reusable goods. Just tell people what is good and what is not recyclable. Why does the government tell people to separate recyclables and then dump it all into the same truck in front of their house? How stupid is that?

Your idea makes sense however the number of bins required to put the different kinds of plastic into would be prohibitive. And people would have to know how to sort and put the plastics into the proper bin.

[countryboy]

Your idea makes sense however the number of bins required to put the different kinds of plastic into would be prohibitive. And people would have to know how to sort and put the plastics into the proper bin.

And therin lies the problem, the general public is as stupid as a sack of hammers.

[carolina73]

Your idea makes sense however the number of bins required to put the different kinds of plastic into would be prohibitive. And people would have to know how to sort and put the plastics into the proper bin.

We actually used to have them. The people that would participate did learn. and would actually remove labels. The people that don't care, were not going to take them to a separate location.
When you went to the cardboard bins you only saw plain cardboard boxes.

[BenjaminO]

And therin lies the problem, the general public is as stupid as a sack of hammers.

No need to describe yourself that way but if you insist...

[BenjaminO]

We actually used to have them. The people that would participate did learn. and would actually remove labels. The people that don't care were, not going to take them to a separate location.
When you went to the cardboard bins you only saw plain cardboard boxes.

How many different bins? 10, 20? That's not enough.

[RMNIXON]

I am torn because I have been very good with recycled plastic and aluminum cans. I don't bother with paper or cardboard as well managed forests provide what we need and can be replenished. Also it degrades fast unlike plastic.

[carolina73]

How many different bins? 10, 20? That's not enough.

No.
They had green glass, brown glass and clear glass.
They had one for plastic bottles water and soda bottles
They had aluminum cans and another for metal food cans.
They had brown cardboard and another for paper without ink.

So that is about 8 but I am going out of memory of what we saved.