For an organization that should supposedly promote recycling, I think this takes an regrettably gloomy POV. My local newspaper did an article recently on plastic recycling in my home city. Most households already recycle their plastics and plastic recycling containers will be mandated by law for all multi-family dwellings from the start of 2023. The recycling rate for single-use plastic packages is at 41%, which means we are well on our way to the target of 50% by 2025. The recycling rate for plastic beverage bottles is even higher due to a deposit system (0.15€ per bottle redeemable at automatic deposit collection machines at any grocery store.)
After recycling, the plastic still needs to be sorted by its chemical variety. This is done fully automatically using an optical sensor and compressed air. The success rate of the sorting phase has been optimized in co-operation with plastic packaging manufacturers (plastics that are dyed black are more problematic for the sorting process.)
And there is certainly consumer demand for recycled plastics even if it's more expensive than pristine plastic. Using recycled source material allows companies to brand the end product as more ecofriendly. The recycling plant that processes the plastics for my city is already operating at fully capacity, able to sell 100% of their output and looking to expand.
The end product of the recycling process are small plastic granules that can be used just like pristine plastic to make new plastic products. Only limitation is the granules are not food-grade, but then again there are tons of non-food plastic products. Also, if there is ever lack of demand for the recycled plastic it is possible to ban the use of pristine plastic for certain products to increase demand. But as said, currently the organic consumer demand for recycled plastic products already surpasses production capacity.
Why do you think their organization “should” promote recycling? Recycling is not the end goal in itself, it’s a process designed with the supposed intention of reducing waste.
If the outcome of recycling isn’t doing a good job of achieving that goal — which it arguably is not - then we should not be overly attached to that. Recycling shouldn’t be be a quasi-religion, accepted on faith as a solution with no regard to its actual outcome.
Right now, putting out recycling to be collected every week makes people feel better about themselves and their consumption. The numbers indicate it isn’t working to reduce waste though, despite how happy we are to pat ourselves on the back.
Is it gloomy to point out the emperor has no clothes? I’d argue someone needs to say it.
This article paints an overly gloomy picture because it is certainly possible to make plastic recycling work, like my city has already done.
It is of course always preferable to try to reduce waste than need to invest in recycling - that is a given. We can always dream big about everyone switching to reusable containers and other ways to reduce plastic waste on a grand scale. But to claim that plastic recycling does not work and can not be made to work (and by logical extension is therefore not worthwhile) is akin to ignoring the present problem while proposing a pie-in-the-sky solution.
I had a similar overall reaction, and I'm confused about pieces like this, which have really increased in the last few years.
I admit I'm probably not as knowledgeable as I should be, but I have read many pieces on this issue and I'm only left more confused than I was before. I do think single-use plastic is far too common, but there are reasons why is is used, and in many cases moving to other materials (glass or metal, for example) would create additional problems that are never addressed by pieces like this.
Here's my questions; I'm genuinely curious about them and not trying to be antagonistic to the idea of reducing traditional plastic use, which I am supportive of in general.
1. If mixed single-stream recycling is a problem, why not return to sorted recycling, like we did for years? Yes, getting people to recycle correctly is a problem but it seems like part of that was an educational/system issue (not educating people about what can actually be recycled, making it truly easy for them to do so by supplying the right things, etc.), and if it solves the problem at least by a substantial percentage points, isn't that better?
2. Why not focus on improvements in recycling engineering and plastic production than plastic recycling per se? I can forsee some situation where someone makes it very efficient to recycle plastic, and then we'll be in a position of "undoing" all the "plastic recycling is a myth" pieces like this. Also, what happens when we produce plastic in some kind of sustainable way and end up with compostable plastic? Won't this be confusing to people? Why not focus on specifics?
3. I get the idea that new plastic is cheaper and more efficient to produce than recycling old plastic. But then there's often a leap to something like "we should use aluminum instead because recycling old aluminum is very efficient and cheap compared to producing new aluminum". However, this is not the same as saying "recycling old aluminum is more energy efficient than producing new plastic" or even "recycling old aluminum is more energy efficient than recycling old plastic". When I've read articles about this, it's confusing because they generally have said that producing the same item in either new or old aluminum is more costly environmentally/energy-wise than anything with plastic old or new. This seems like a common error in sustainability campaigns, not fully accounting for the energy costs involved in switching materials due a focus on end-of-life considerations alone.
4. What about all the supply-chain problems introduced by eliminating plastics? I'm thinking weight, damage, etc. It seems just as arbitrary to say "plastic recycling isn't economical" versus "everyone everywhere just get your deodorant and yogurt in reusable containers". Sure, it can be done, but realistically in the modern age? If it's so appealing why don't you see yogurt container deposits taking off?
5. Along those lines, aren't the economics of this somewhat arbitrary and malleable? I don't mean this in a naive way, I mean: taxes and government incentives shift this stuff around. There are also successful companies who base their entire business model on recycled plastic -- aren't they supplying a demand?
6. Also along those lines, much of this seems kind of overgeneralized. I know of locales that, through these sorts of government policies and so forth, push the economics of this all around to create these kinds of opportunities. Putting aside of "scaling this up", it seems a little overstated to say "plastic recycling is a myth" when there are places doing it. Maybe it doesn't usually work, but fighting against it in general seems kind of like the wrong place to put effort.
7. Let's say you successfully recycle 5% of your plastic. "Successfully" in all senses. Isn't that still 5% less plastic, which is a lot?
Again, I'm not trying to be hostile to the idea of reusing and reducing, as opposed to recycling, and I make an effort to avoid plastic when feasible. I'm very much in favor of those things, to the point of probably annoying many people around me. But this anti-plastic-recycling campaign has left me scratching my head when I've looked into it.
They have no hope or even intention of banning all plastics, they just want the "reduce" message to be heard clearly, because the audience isn't nerds, it's the American public.
And they'd love all the stuff that wasn't reduced or re-used to be recycled, but it's hard to convey that to a lay audience. "If recycling is so great, why do we need to reduce and reuse?"
After recycling, the plastic still needs to be sorted by its chemical variety. This is done fully automatically using an optical sensor and compressed air. The success rate of the sorting phase has been optimized in co-operation with plastic packaging manufacturers (plastics that are dyed black are more problematic for the sorting process.)
And there is certainly consumer demand for recycled plastics even if it's more expensive than pristine plastic. Using recycled source material allows companies to brand the end product as more ecofriendly. The recycling plant that processes the plastics for my city is already operating at fully capacity, able to sell 100% of their output and looking to expand.
The end product of the recycling process are small plastic granules that can be used just like pristine plastic to make new plastic products. Only limitation is the granules are not food-grade, but then again there are tons of non-food plastic products. Also, if there is ever lack of demand for the recycled plastic it is possible to ban the use of pristine plastic for certain products to increase demand. But as said, currently the organic consumer demand for recycled plastic products already surpasses production capacity.
Commercial link: https://www.fortum.com/products-and-services/recycling-waste...