
Exposing the Myth of Plastic Recycling - elorant
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2019/09/20/how-to-recycle-plastic
======
WheelsAtLarge
There are 2 points that all these stories miss. Recycled plastic is more
expensive and less sturdy than new plastic. Also, there are limits to how many
times plastic gets recycled. Example: there are companies that make cloth from
recycled bottles but it's often mixed with other fibers which makes the cloth
unrecyclable.

Plastic recycling just does not happen. Eventually, all of it is burnt or
dumped.

~~~
rini17
This seems unsolvable without new compostable or otherwise easily processed
plastics.

At our university a bioplastic "nonoilen" was developed that can be made from
waste biomass (PLA + polyhdroxybutyrate formula) and compostable without any
toxic residues. So far, like most "compostable" plastic, it requires
industrial composter with temperatures over 50°C, but further improvements are
being developed.

[https://www.plasticsinsight.com/stu-team-develops-second-
gen...](https://www.plasticsinsight.com/stu-team-develops-second-generation-
bio-plastics-from-waste-frying-oil/)

Toothbrush manufacture is planned (Slovak language, sorry). Hope it works out:
[https://aprilmagazin.curaprox.com/prve-curaprox-kefky-z-
biop...](https://aprilmagazin.curaprox.com/prve-curaprox-kefky-z-bioplastu-su-
na-svete-v-plane-su-aj-rozlozitelne-vlakna/)

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ZeroGravitas
This is one of those weird topics where you get two different groups agreeing
from quite different perspectives.

You get one side represented by this article, that thinks recycling is a plot
by the plastics industry to green wash their products. And that it's shocking
that we export plastic to China where it is burnt or landfilled.

Then on the other side you get fossil fuel sponsored libertarians saying that
recycling is a big scam perpetrated by the hippies, who do it to feel good but
it's actually better economically and environmentally to landfill or
incinerate it and keep using oil and gas to make new plastics.

Both narratives seem to turn on the big "recycling is a hoax" twist, which is
obviously a big clickbait success but then go in opposite directions with it.
I'm not really sure it's possible for both to be true at the same time.

Note that most mainstream sources, the EPA etc. suggest recycling plastic is
better environmentally and economically than the other disposal alternatives,
though not as good as reducing usage in the first place. Though, there will
likely be times when plastic is overall the better option if you take
everything into consideration and dispose of it properly.

It's not clear to me why reduction advocates would start by attacking
recycling? Does that really make strategic sense? Is this yet another false
flag by the devious plastic industry? Or would it simply not get any traction
if it just said something boring like "we shouldn't use too much unnecessary
plastic when there are better alternatives"?

~~~
mindslight
> _Both narratives seem to turn on the big "recycling is a hoax" twist, which
> is obviously a big clickbait success but then go in opposite directions with
> it_

Erm, what? On the topic of recycling, your two "sides" seem wholly compatible
- you've just ascribed different group identity caricatures. Which says little
about _people_ , and is mostly a reflection of how the political parties work
to divide us.

Disagreeing about whether to outsource a problem to China or deal with it
locally is ultimately a separate topic.

I believe these articles are being driven by a backlog of stuff at recycling
centers because _gasp_ the abstraction where you just put your stuff in a
separate bin and your consumption-waste is magically absolved has been
shattered. We've already been inundated with a message telling individuals to
"use less" for decades, so any effect has basically already been realized
(meanwhile every other advertising message and economic signal continues to
say "use more").

~~~
ZeroGravitas
One side is clearly favoring landfill over recycling and the other is
horrified that stuff they thought was recycled is going to landfill.

One is suggesting avoiding nearly all plastics, while they other has studies
showing that replacing plastic bags with organic cotton bags is 20,000x worse
for the planet and will probably give you salmonella.

One complains that recycling is too hard, because you have all the different
boxes and people only do it to punish themselves out of some puritan impulse
and the other thinks it's too easy and people do it to make themselves feel
better about their consumption.

These are not the same thing, they only seem to agree that recycling is bad,
but for opposite reasons.

The answer almost certainly involves more (genuine) recycling but that seems
to be the only thing people are united against, so it's not likely to end
well.

~~~
mindslight
Each of these "sides" is a simplistic half-idea rooted in using only half of a
brain - deductive/inductive right/left etc.

The dichotomies are better seen as thesis-antithesis, with the goal of
synthesis. It's only the political machine that emphasizes and exacerbates
each half-idea, pits them against one another, to ultimately foster commercial
expedience winning out.

> _The answer almost certainly involves more (genuine) recycling_

The converse here is retuning the economy to produce less stuff in general, as
well as dismantling the economic treadmill that causes us to value
"convenience" above all else. Which even fewer people want to hear.

~~~
neuralRiot
Probably the best solution would be a “waste tax” i’m not that old and i still
remember the days when you had to bring an empty glass container for beer or
soda those where replaced for plastic because it’s cheaper than having to
transport/ process/ clean/ refill empty ones.

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travisporter
I’ve read that plasma gasification is very energy intensive and elsewhere that
we have a lot of renewable energy wasted because of no storage. Is there an
opportunity there to get rid of plastic without damage to the environment?

~~~
voxic11
plasma gasification is very energy intensive but in theory at least it
releases more energy than you put in. I think all the operational plants right
now still use slightly more energy than they capture. And some of them (like
the tiny ones aboard US aircraft carriers) don't even attempt to capture the
energy created.

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notmyfuture
If the effect of having plastic recycling collection is increased plastic
consumption (less guilt “it gets recycled”), and our ability to recycle is as
abysmal as is reported in many places... we may be better off stopping plastic
recycling collection. We could then focus more on eliminating unwarranted
usage and/or safe disposal.

~~~
spzb
The motto of waste management is "reduce, reuse, recycle" and they're in order
of priority. First order of business is to reduce the amount of waste we
produce.

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kobbe
Doing something is better than doing nothing, right?

~~~
pfdietz
If the cost of doing Something is larger than the benefit then, no, doing
Nothing is better.

