For more articles on sustainability and social engagement in the Caribbean, read our latest issue of ApaNa Magazine. "We are struggling to clean up the modern debris and modern litter in Indonesia, the additional burden of waste from overseas I don't know how we are going to handle it," says Ismawati. According to ecologist Matt Wilkins, recycling is a lie. firms are shifting at least, partially to using recycled plastic in their The_RealKeyserSoze 2 hr. shipped offshore, dumped and forgotten. To put it mildly, this is disgusting. ago. By 2050, it's estimated the global production of plastic will triple. Efficient and effective recycling systems help conserve resources and reduce our use of new plastic. According to recycling broker Sunil Bagaria, China took waste that . That's because, says David Allaway, from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, the conversation has been almost exclusively about recycling and not reducing and reusing. Recycling e-waste. Is plastics recycling a lie? Even the small percentage of plastic that gets legitimately recycled, becomes a lower form of plastic than what it was before. Read online articles and interviews with Caribbean business and social leaders from all ApaNa Magazine's past and current issues. For instance, my hair quality improved so much when I stopped using shampoo. When search suggestions are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. appropriately. at scale. Are we damaging the environment more in the name of recycling?'" Pact by Nada Khader | Apr 19, 2022 | Blogs, Director's Blog, Share on Facebook accelerate as a bridge to a more sustainable future. Next time you buy plastic, think about what you are doing to the health of innocent children and women in developing countries like Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Senegal and Kenya who are finding themselves knee deep in plastic waste. ^DOWNLOAD E.B.O.O.K.# Sustainable Construction: Gr, Top Writer in Sustainability and Climate Change| Advanced Meditator| Leads a zero waste lifestyle| Owns Doon Yoga (doonyoga.com)| MBA-IIM Indore, Open Forest Protocol Partners with Gaia Gives to Enable Forest Projects to Access Open MRV. percent Since 2019, the new packaging law has increased recycling quotas for German companies. Generation This included plastic films, bags and the wrapping around packaged goods, as well as containers like margarine tubs. Evidence shows the use of modern tools and materials. Well, if consumers think that there's something being done about waste, we'll be less guilty and continue using plastic products. over the next five years, thanks to hundreds of brands making commitments and ago. Comments on this story are moderated according to our Submission Guidelines. Some materials are very easy to recycle (aluminum, glass). At the same time, CBC News reports our single-use plastic use increased by 250 to 300 per. Share on Twitter Swedish Plastic Recycling AB in . Businesses and governments Some may turn out to be too expensive to deploy. But several intensive commercial efforts are also underway, including the development of plastics engineered to be recycled repeatedly, and enzymes that help to separate different plastics more easily. Recently, the government announced that many single-use plastics will be banned by the end of 2021. In the early days, solar and wind power were viewed as niche emitter. A new documentary reveals why. Stream Plastic Recycling Is A Lie by WORT 89.9FM Madison on desktop and mobile. building momentum. They realized plastic waste was These conditions are mainly found in industrial facilities. More recently, Chinas decision to severely restrict its import of recyclables has left much of the world looking for new places to send used plastics and falling short. Join us on October 7 for our 30-minute, free, live online They require very high heat and moisture. less than 10 per cent of plastic waste has been recycled. Recyclables labeled with 4, 5, 6 and 7: CAN SOMETIMES be recyled, but typically are not due to the expenses . Please clickherefor more information. I use ingredients from my kitchen to wash my hair. These people included plastics industry officials, recycling executives, scientists, and others. Foods It has gone from novelty to ubiquity within a single supply An actor getting paid to promote a product wont mind lying to his followers. And in reality, only a fraction of that is actually captured and sorted This didnt happen in a vacuum, A variety of newsletters you'll love, delivered straight to you. They dont degrade there either as they are deprived of oxygen and micro-organisms in landfills. More and more plastic is finally being recovered and recycled by companies that share Oceanworks commitment to ensuring that this feedstock ago. Moreover, collecting, sorting, and transporting plastic waste isnt a noble process either. In order to spread the recycling myth, these players are striking deals with startups that claim they can transform this plastic waste into either fuel or new plastic. But the world wont stop producing and consuming plastic any time soon; total waste volumes are expected to nearly double by 2030. Watch this short video from Beyond Plastics to counter. these headwinds, recycling is seeing an uptick as brands look to quickly find Recycling is now on the cusp of a similar breakthrough. "The truth is that the vast majority of plastic cannot be recycled." The announcement cited a 2020 NPR and PBS Frontline series investigation into the oil and gas industry. And improving the collection ratio is key to reduce energy consumption and mining impact related to those 2 materials. Our Caribbean focus is centered on people, philanthropy and impact. Some of these efforts wont get beyond the research stage. economically When I participated in recycling awareness initiatives during my school days, I believed I was doing something good for the environment. While recycled plastic was once only used when it was the cheaper More often than not, these people lie due to their vested interests. ecosystems. Most western countries have set up a recycling pathway starting from individuals, with a strong focus on packaging. no longer be hidden. Bloomberg investigative reporter Kit Chellel put two trackers inside pieces of plastic and deposited them in recycling bins at 3 Tesco locations in the UK. As in, plastic companies were saying how great plastic was and not taking responsibility for the lifecycle of plastic, instead passing on the responsibility of taking care of the waste to the consumers, which is why we now have recycling programs. with traditional, carbon-spewing incumbents. incorporating recycled content. And since COVID-19, it's gotten worse. Recycling also requires energy. It's a way to gloss over the problem of massive production (and use) of single-use plastic, "that should have been avoided in the first place." But, is it our fault? The US in the 50s also said had to teach people how to take care of garbage because it wasn't a thing back then. Plastics arent impossible to recycle a decade ago, China was home to tens of thousands of small, profitable businesses doing just that but recycling them in a safe and environmentally sound manner is challenging and expensive. All Rights Reserved. And they inspire others to do the same. replaced wholesale; as it does provide real value in health, safety, food The artifacts turned out to be inauthentic. Always has been. globally. Now, Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia have picked up the plastic waste market. According to recycling broker Sunil Bagaria, China took waste that North American recyclers couldn't use. "We never asked the question, 'Are they doing it the right way? This seems minor, but the lids to almost all plastic bottles (Eg water bottles) are not recyclable. However, this recycling myth has been promoted by big corporations as a justification to allow consumption to continue unabated. Earlier, developed countries used to dump their plastic waste in developing countries for it to be recycled. China was once the top buyer of the worlds plastic garbage. Plastics Industry Insiders Reveal the Truth About Recycling Plastic bottles and other refuse lay washed up on the banks of a tidal inlet off the Delaware River in Philadelphia, PA, February. In this talk, Nadim Bawalsa charts the history of Palestinian migration to Latin America, which began in the late 19th century. But despite More than half of them are behind schedule on their commercial plans. Vanessa Coleman As it turns out, plastic is not as necessary as you believe it to be. There are two sets of players who are spreading the myth regarding the so-called environmental benefits of recycling. The answer is complicated. webinar that will cover what we've learned working with brands and their But it kept piling up and its impact can When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted. The petroleum companies supplying the plastics spearheaded by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. will actually be recycled in 2020 less than 10 percent of the plastic waste Three advanced recycling companies that went public have seen their stock prices decline after their market debuts. to only use renewable and recycled materials by 2030. These are-. Although activists sounded the alarm about plastic waste in the 1970s, the documentary claims from 1990 to 2010, plastic production more than doubled. They put it in the TRASH. to its lightweight nature. material. says Bagaria. Not recyclable. at oceanworks.co/1year! In early 19th-century Yorkshire, a shortage of wool for the mills led Benjamin Law to develop a process for producing new fabric from old rags that had accumulated in homes and businesses. What they are not telling you is- these compostables dont break down on their own. Lots of our plastic was shipped to China, then Southeast Asia, for 'recycling' To solve the plastic waste problem, many recyclers started selling their product to China in the 1990s. That's the question at the heart of a new investigation into whether Americans have been filling up their blue bins with misplaced hope. Sponsored Content When it comes to recycling, the environmental cost benefits are not yet determined. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Fearing an outright ban on plastics, manufacturers looked for ways to get ahead of the problem. But plastics ubiquity is also its biggest problem. Box 500 Station A Toronto, ON Canada, M5W 1E6. Plastic waste pollutes the land (landfills), air (incineration), oceans, and our bodies. Can you please help share the short claymation video we released today to set the record straight on plastics recycling. Yet over time, It is funny that people sometimes equate recycling with saving the planet. We are not saving the planet, we are only saving the asses of big consumer brands who use plastic packaging and the oil companies that produce plastic. It doesnt get recycled indefinitely either. The sad part is- even now people believe in recycling. The production and use of plastics in emerging markets is growing rapidly, and theres no reason to think that demand will weaken. Five years ago, Chinese demand for American plastics allowed consumers and regulators to overlook these problems. Consumers, businesses and governments are that share our commitment to ensuring that this feedstock becomes and remains If you go to the slums in India, you will find plastic waste all over. This is the big war.". to meet the demands of the blossoming sustainable economy. Of all the plastic ever produced, less than 10% has been recycled. Thanks so much for your help spreading the word. "Americans need to know that your waste ended up here.". Dr Ross Headifen is an active promotor of the issues of plastic waste and what it is doing to our environment. together in a truly circular economy. And because of a growing plastic waste problem in that country, China finally stopped taking most imported plastic waste in 2018. I saw many of my own friends drinking water in plastic bottles while raising awareness about recycling! Among other problems, the cars leaked oil and gas into soil and water, and were such a blot on the landscape that they inspired Lady Bird Johnsons highway beautification campaign. crake-extinction 20 min. committing to reducing and reusing, while plastic recycling rates rapidly Klean provides pyrolysis & gasification systems that convert rubber tires, scrap plastics & municipal solid waste into electricity and fuels. Fortunately, a few scrappy entrepreneurs in Texas, seeing an opportunity in all that abandoned metal, sought an alternative. pledge ApaNa Magazine Issue 5 OECS Celebrates 40 Years. It is a priority for CBC to create a website that is accessible to all Canadians including people with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive challenges. New virgin plastic is cheap (driven by low oil prices). their footsteps. Click Here to Join Our Channel for our latest news and views. The remaining 90 percent is what we see all around us, in our oceans, landfills, burning, and polluting our environment. TerraCycles take-back programs, certainly overstated and premature. footprint A report by Greenpeace Organisation found that in the US, the majority of plastic items that municipal recycling programs collect, do not get recycled at all. In the EU, the recycling rate for e-waste is even lower at under 40 percent. Yes. Even today, after decades of investment in technology and Yet the plastic industry spent millions on ads selling plastics and recycling to consumers. Since the inception of recycling advertising in the 1990s touting the benefits of recycling plastic touting the message that plastic is special, big oil comp. Just to recap, here's why: our society's food system runs on plastic. These include yogurt containers, straws, coffee cup lids, go-to containers, egg cartons, lenses, toys, and DVDs, laundry baskets, bread bags among other items. Instead of finding ways to recycle, find ways to go back in time when people went to local vendors to buy real fruits and vegetables without plastics wrapped around them, drank water in solid, reusable bottles, ate food on real plates, and bathed with homemade products without slathering chemicals all over their skin and cleaned their houses without being exposed to harmful chemicals. "This is their lifeline," she says. Lack of investment across decades led to He believes manufacturers used the symbol as a green marketing tool. WanderingFlumph 2 hr. In Plastic Wars, local activist Yuyan Ismawati visits a rural community where locals scour through a huge field of plastic waste for items of value and burn the rest. distribution and other essential domains. hurting the image of this versatile product just as it was gaining steam, so infrastructure In many respects, plastics present a similar problem. directive Recycling is as old as manufacturing. But your effort is wholly inadequate and distracts . and IKEAs for plastic recycling, only an estimated 20-30 percent of plastics are Other countries are following suit. By submitting a comment, you accept that CBC has the right to reproduce and publish that comment in whole or in part, in any manner CBC chooses. What we have been told by media, social media, politicians, companies, influencers, and actors has a great impact on our perceptions. plastic into the right bin it would be sorted, cleaned, processed, and used They spun a story that most plastic waste would be shipped off to recycling Triangle symbols for recycling began appearing on But thanks to Chinas restrictions, as well as heightened awareness of ocean plastics and other negatives associated with the material, manufacturers, regulators and most important innovators are finally paying attention. In this video, we want to bring your attention to something very important, and sad!We all use a lot of plastic in our daily lives.On the weekly garbage day,. it, governments are regulating it, and the planet is crying out for it. Most damaging of all, waste plastics arent valuable, and never have been, according to authors of the investigation (a joint undertaking by National Public Radio and PBSs Frontline). Plastic recycling is a lie - WORD 89.9 FM. It really is meaningless . We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt out if you wish. Garments have long been repurposed into rags; swords have been remelted into plough shares. recyclable, Energy Startups Biomimetic Solar Trees Planting Roots for a Net-Zero Future, 6 Principles for Building a Pathway to Circularity for Plastics, L'Oral USA Product Labeling System Aims to Educate Consumers About the Environmental Impact of Products, Q&A: Why Partnerships Are Essential for Delivering Circular Packaging for the Food Industry, Brand Blind Spots, Empty Promises Hindering Effective Action Against Plastic Pollution. generated annually. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Transporting this waste requires energy that we mostly get from fossil fuels. Oceanworks But the truth is the vast majority of the plastic we use won't be. Published Sep 21, 2020 11am EDT / 8am PDT / 4pm BST / 5pm CEST. Recycling was a lie a big lie to sell more plastic, industry experts say | CBC Documentaries Loaded, Less than 10 per cent of the plastics weve used have been recycled. technologies to grow supply. All the best, Eve - Eve Fox they banded together to promote recycling as the answer. Recycling will be essential to managing all that trash and thats no lie. becomes and remains a first choice for the industry going forward. good for the world leading us to a tipping point. They end up in landfills. In 2020, roughly 60 years after concerns about plastic waste were first raised, the focus is still on the consumer to recycle, says Allaway, and not on the environmental impact of the product and overproduction by the industry. The linked video provides a fascinating look inside a "hidden ecosystem that very few people have oversight of dirty smelly places to be sorted and dealt . We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. The ugly truth is that only 29 million metric tons of plastic PLASTIC RECYCLING IS A LIE We have to tell you even though its hard to read - recycling is a fantasy. Reuters did a deep dive into 30 plastic recycling projects by various advanced recycling startups and companies across three continents. OECS Consults with National Trusts on the RIGHT Young Barbadian Entrepreneur Makes Money Tackling An Amazon on Path to 100% Renewable Energy Sourcing by Making A Diversified Economy in the Caribbean Flourish. But the illegal exports of waste are affecting the health of women and children in these countries. of its virgin equivalent, not to mention the ancillary benefits of diverting A respected British art dealer sold seven "antique" artifacts to a Qatari sheikh in 2014 and 2015. Comments are welcome while open. Copyright ApaNa 2022. Governments are stepping By giving up synthetic products and food items wrapped in plastic, you are not doing any sacrifice for the environment because you are a part of the same environment. The Plastics Lie The bottling, packaging, and fossil fuels industries have, for decades, been successfully influencing environmental policy by deceiving the public about their products. Issue 3 Caribbean Corporate Citizens Response to COVID-19, Issue 2 SDGs and the Caribbean: State of Progress, Issue 1 Towards A Circular Economy: Beyond Recycling, A Caribbean Companys Cause Campaign 12 Years On, Learning from Nature to Build Resilience in Business, CANARI Supporting the Blue-Green Economy of the Caribbean, Get Sustainable Development News on Your Mobile, New UN Disaster Preparedness Hub in Barbados. management. But Americans shouldnt turn their backs on plastic recycling just yet. The Palestinian struggle to return to Palestine began well before 1948. He looks at issues concerning the proliferation of plastic waste and methods to control/reduce it. The Lie of Plastic Recycling. has seen this firsthand, amassing a network of regional suppliers eager to These. For example, glass, aluminum and paper have a recycling rate of 70%, plastic - 36%, and wood - 26%. There is no one regulating this "system," no "recycling police," and the fox is watching the hen house with a fork in his hand . In 1970, President Richard Nixon told Congress that few of Americas eyesores are so unsightly as its millions of junked automobiles.. technologies evolved, prices dropped; and theyre now again and again. Now that recycled plastic is a dependable and reliable feedstock, more and more early adoption and level the playing field. Meanwhile, government initiatives such as the European Unions Single-Use By giving up harmful products that are either plastic themselves or are wrapped in plastic, you are improving your health and well-being, while helping preserve the environment too. capacity India has a garbage mountain spread over a 300-acre. As far back as 1974, industry insiders were doubting whether plastics could ever be recycled economically. country, it would be the worlds fourth-highest carbon This website uses cookies to improve your experience. however; as government support and aggressive corporate commitments helped drive The Plastics Recycling Lie More The bottling, packaging, and fossil fuels industries have, for decades, been successfully influencing environmental policy by deceiving the public about their products. You struggle to find a place to do it and feel pleased when you succeed. marketplace, ApaNa Business Line shares the latest development news and views and curated content on a wide range of topics in the Caribbean and the world. Oklahomans want to live in communities that are clean, sustainable and strong. At the same time, CBC News reports our single-use plastic use increased by 250 to 300 per cent as people tossed their personal protective equipment and stopped using reusable bags and containers over fears they would spread the virus. Watch this short video from Beyond Plastics to counter @CocaCola misleading plastics recycling video with @BillNye the Sellout Guy. It is time to act and society is stepping up; lets move beyond And not just any plastic, but non-recyclable plastic. . The documentary uncovered several reports stating that top officials knew that recycling plastic was unlikely to work. To encourage thoughtful and respectful conversations, first and last names will appear with each submission to CBC/Radio-Canada's online communities (except in children and youth-oriented communities). However, the promise of widespread plastic recycling was Published annually, ApaNa Magazine is dedicated to sustainability and social engagement in the Caribbean and beyond. There is so much plastic The Struggle to Return to Palestine before 1948 | Columbia Global Centers. high-quality, cost-competitive, consistent recycled plastic required to deliver plastic products; leading customers to believe that if they tossed their used People drinking water in plastic bottles and eating packaged food were a common sight during such initiatives. strong, low-cost products; preserving foods; and slashing shipping costs, thanks Plastic isnt going away it is far too beneficial and inexpensive to be Were we misled about Plastic has been a game-changer for society facilitating the creation of new We often simply throw away all plastics into the recycling bin, however, due to the material properties of plastics, not all can be recycled. Why should we listen to Abhirami and her Climate Revolutionaries? To solve the plastic waste problem, many recyclers started selling their product to China in the 1990s. And although some North American plastics recyclers are following up to ensure their products are in fact being recycled, plastic waste is now a growing problem there, too. Image: flockine/Pixabay The MFR values all lie in the range typical for a blown film, pipe extrusion, extrusion blow molding, or toward the lower end of the values for injection-molded virgin materials, indicating that packing films, shrink films, flexible bottles, and monofilaments could probably be made of recycled materials. Published 2 years ago. Worse, different plastics are often used together and separating them can be uneconomical. Even as the plastic crisis worsens, the demand for plastic grows and plastic production is rapidly expanding. Read the online articles, interviews and more in the digital version of ApaNa Magazine's current and back issues on issuu.com/apana. solutions unlikely to ever reach the unit cost needed for scale. They looked at recycling as a way to improve the image of their product and started labeling plastics with the now ubiquitous chasing-arrows symbol with a number inside. plastic from landfills and shorelines. The tables are now turning. The lie, which the plastics industry has spent many millions of dollars and decades promoting, goes all the way down to that extremely pesky "recyclable" symbol! According to Ronald Liesemer, an industry veteran who was tasked with overseeing the new initiative, "Making recycling work was a way to keep their products in the marketplace.". Anyone who tells you differently is trying to sell something. As the oil and gas industry which provides the source materials for plastics faces a future of declining demand for fuel, it has turned to other markets. Share by Email. Published annually, ApaNa Magazine is an independent magazine dedicated to sustainability and social engagement in the Caribbean and beyond. 1y. These startups are either working on a modest scale or have closed down. Anything that is not good for the environment, cant be good for you. The best way to recycle non-recyclable materials is to not produce them. We all know that humanity couldn't exist in the way it does without plastic, however much of the way our currenct society operates with plastic were lies sold to us by the plastic industry.. a first choice for the brands leading this transition and those following in This means that a large proportion of the recyclable materials are lost. industry saw the writing on the wall early on. Watch Plastic Wars on The Passionate Eye. By 1855, 30 million pounds of rags were being used in the region each year. Its a disturbing story thats roiling the industry and upsetting environmentalists. And some may take years to have an impact. This creates health problems for the residents in addition to destroying the surrounding environment. We never had a real recycling system in place and the theory of circular economy is a totally useless one. recycling? Go back to the time when neither the products nor the human health and environment were disposable. A report by Greenpeace Organisation found that in the US, the majority of plastic items that municipal recycling programs collect, do not get recycled at all. Waste electrical equipment contains a large number of valuable raw materials that can be recycled, such as metals, plastics, glass or even rare earths. Little did we know that recycling was just another gimmick by big corporations to make sure that the consumption of plastic didn't go down. 20-30 percent of plastics are Recently, the government announced that many single-use plastics will be banned by the end of 2021. Across a wide spectrum of goods, consumers have embraced more environmentally Consumers are constantly told that they should do their part to reduce plastic waste, but in reality, consumers have the lowest amount of leverage in reducing waste - it's plastic producers that should be reporting their full environmental impacts. and recycled by companies; like those in the Oceanworks Oceanworks The Industrial Revolution, which created new demand for raw materials to feed factories, transformed this act of personal thrift into a commercial enterprise. Ultimately, it ends up in a landfill or incarcerator. But structural challenges remain. But it is critical to rethink plastic and its role in a circular economy our The recycled plastic of today is de-risked, high-quality, cost-competitive and rosy picture painted of plastic recycling in the early days set inflated, how much of the waste ends up getting recycled and reused. oceans. Its poised to do so again. Plastic Promises: Coca Cola's Recycling Lies | ENDEVR DocumentaryWatch 'The Rise of the Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else' here: https://youtu.. According to Lewis Freeman, a former vice-president with the Society of the Plastics Industry, many in the industry had doubts about recycling from the start. products. They interviewed more than 40 people with direct knowledge of the industry. Recycling is not the way to go. More [] waste As per a study involving more than 21,000 adults across 30 markets, the majority of people still believe that the most important thing they can do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change is recycling as much as possible. Research suggests that roughly 10 percent of all plastic is being recycled. driving recyclers to invest in infrastructure and rapidly commercialize new Leaving the lid on when recycling could very well be what puts it into general trash vs actually recycled. The problem was that cars are a pile of various metals and other materials that are expensive to separate for recycling, and the auto companies had made almost no effort to promote the reuse of their products (in the 1930s, Ford built, and quickly abandoned, a disassembly plant). A politician getting funding from big oil corporations has every reason to promote their lies. The best way to recycle will always be to reuse instead of recycling. People thought recycling justified drinking water from plastic bottles and eating plastic-wrapped packaged food. But perhaps the industrys most important innovation emerged in reaction to one of the 20th centurys biggest and now forgotten environmental crises: abandoned cars. plastic Plastics Recycling is a LIE 2,117 views Apr 18, 2022 Big Beverage companies are spending a lot of money to try to convince American consumers that they care about plastic waste and that. Post the ban by China, developed countries started illegally exporting their waste to developing countries. The technology now exists to create "As long as it remotely resembled plastic, they wanted it," he says. From Information Literacy to Climate Literacy, The wind of change: How Greece loses its natural heritage, deep dive into 30 plastic recycling projects. / This article is sponsored by Plastic recycling is the biggest myth ever. Yet the plastic industry spent millions on ads selling plastics and recycling to consumers. The situation in developing countries is no good either. (Amongst many other potential reasons) 5. level 1. Plus, its a job creator boosting local Please note that CBC does not endorse the opinions expressed in comments. sound alternatives with brands such as Seventh "Our own customers they would flat out say, 'It says it's recyclable right on it,'" says Coy Smith, former board member of the National Recycling Coalition. high-profile moves including Starbucks Circular Just like renewable energy a decade ago, recycling is gaining a foothold and "They are going to double down on single-use plastic like we have never seen. These steps are all Your contribution will fund special reports, case studies and stories to showcase the good works of nonprofit organisations and individuals in the Caribbean. The answer to sustainable living is not to find ways to keep up with your consumption of plastic and harmful materials. For decades, the waste was pushed aside, The fee that packaging manufacturers pay to produce it will vary depending on how difficult the packaging is to recycle. Ahem, #greenwashing Watch & share to set the record straight at: https://www.beyondplastics.org/plastics-recycling-is-a-lie Thanks so much for your help spreading the word. up, companies are making commitments to both creating recyclable products and Some of this investment comes from the U.S. government, including from a research fund established by the Trump administration. Best way to recycle plastic is to not throw it out in the first place. Chevron is backing an effort to scale-up existing recycling technologies. Most of these projects are agreements between startups and big oil and chemical companies or consumer brands such as ExxonMobil Corp, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, and Procter & Gamble Co. There is growing recognition that plastics are killing the planet and choking our oceans. As far back as 1974, industry insiders were doubting whether plastics could ever be recycled economically. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. In India, we dont see many actors and cricketers ever promoting a green lifestyle because they make millions of dollars from consumer brands every year. Is plastics recycling a lie? journeys to the incorporation of recycled ocean plastic into their supply The Recycling Myth addressed the claim printed on many plastic packages, "recyclable where facilities exist," and investigated TerraCycle, a company that gets consumers to pay them to recycle items that aren't accepted in municipal recycling programs-but it turns out that, at least in one documented case, they are selling the items as . Now that recycled plastic is a dependable and reliable feedstock, more and more firms are shifting at least, partially to using recycled plastic in their products. Plastics environmental footprint is significant; if the plastic industry were a chains. are jumping on board with bold commitments to cross-border initiatives such as Over the last seven decades, less than 10 per cent of plastic waste has been recycled. But according to experts in the film, there was no economically viable way to recycle most plastics, and they have ultimately ended up in a landfill. Oceanworks. Click here to subscribe to Premium Online to access articles from past issues. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. Collecting and sorting this waste is not good for the health of the workers involved in this process. "And I'd be like, 'I can tell you, I can't give this away. So owners took matters into their own hands, dumping their vehicles or occasionally burning them (in the 1950s, auto fires accounted for about 5% of ambient air pollution). Interested in learning more about In 2018, Chinese customs seized a combined 50,000 tons of waste illegally imported to China. unrealistic expectations. Including Reduce, Replace, Recycle and a new 4th R for Rejuvenation using landfill biodegradable additives to make plastics fade away. This raises an obvious question: How did this happen? Compostable products are either burned or sent to landfills. Audience Relations, CBC P.O. We share what matters to socially and environmentally-conscious consumers and influencers through stories, studies, insights, interviews, perspectives and informative articles within the local, regional and international context. materials and a sneak peek at what's coming soon from Oceanworks. According to Plastic Wars the problem is only going to get worse. littering our shorelines and are creating incentives to radically transform how products are packaged, and This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. More and more plastic is being recovered, diverted economically While recycled plastic was once only used when it was the cheaper alternative, it's now becoming the plastic of choice. About a 6 minute read. The evidence on the side of recycling doesnt look good. There are so many things that affect our judgment. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Perhaps most crucially, other organizations are helping to provide waste collecting and recycling infrastructure to the one-third of the globe that still lacks it. 10% of tons and tons of waste is still a lot! As a result of all of these factors, the most intensive research-and-development effort in the 200-year history of the recycling industry is underway. In November, we celebrated America Recycles Day and reflected on the important role recycling plays in improving the environmental health of communities. facilities to find a new life. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Their solution was a complex shredding machine that reduced cars to fist-sized chunks that were separated via magnets and other processes (the second-ever shredder has been declared a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark). It is just a way for companies to keep selling plastic. Plastic Wars by PBS goes on to expose how the oil and plastic industry has spent millions of dollars to mislead consumers. Thats the question at the heart of a new investigation into whether Americans have been filling up their blue bins with misplaced hope. economies and transforming lives. In case you want an alternative to plastic, here is an article I wrote earlier this year: Good people dont pollute the environment. and Impossible "If the public thinks that recycling is working, then they're not going to be as concerned about the environment," says Larry Thomas, another top industry official interviewed in Plastic Wars. The evidence on the side of recycling doesn't look good. and secure sufficient recycled plastics recyclable. Theres a whole lot of it hundreds of tonnes of used and discarded plastics We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. generated annually, clogging the worlds landfills and degrading fragile The stakes are high, says Annie Leonard, executive director of Greenpeace USA. But they used the good stuff and disposed of the rest. Recycling plastic is to saving the Earth what hammering a nail is to halting a falling skyscraper. being produced and quickly discarded, its now the single biggest issue in Plastics recycling is a plastics industry ruse designed to put toe onus on consumers and help the plastics industry avoid dealing with the social and environmental costs of its waste. Cup, competitive We also spotlight the work of companies, organisations and individuals. Today, there are hundreds of auto shredders in the U.S., and nobody spends much time thinking about abandoned cars. Manufacturers developed them without any plan for disposal or recycling. In 1970, an engineer at General Motors estimated that over the previous 15 years Americans had abandoned between 9 million and 40 million cars in fields, rivers and city streets. and ocean plastic? Although our landfills and oceans are full of it, we are as dependent as ever on plastic. Our video is in direct response to a particularly egregious example of greenwashing that Coca-Cola released last week, an animated video featuring Bill Nye the Science (Sellout) Guy telling everyone how wonderful Coca-Cola is and how amazing plastics recycling is so just keep drinking Coke in plastic bottles and go about with your busy lives. The rest is incinerated, left in landfills (where it takes 1,000 years to decompose), and sloughing off into our planet's waterways. the symbolic gesture of tossing plastic into the recycling bin, and invest access global markets with their collective hundreds of thousands of tons of One issue? Recycled content targets are expected to increase demand by 500 Dont be green-washed by the promise of compostable plastic by consumer brands either! The rest is piled in warehouses, dumped into landfills, and Most consumers might have assumed the symbol meant the product was recyclable. PepsiCo, Nestle, and Unilever rolled out compostable packaging that is intended to break down after use. lagging build-outs of collection, sorting and recycling It looks as if recycling itself has a carbon footprint! "There was never an enthusiastic belief that recycling was ultimately going to work in a significant way," he says. Share on Linked In Consumers are demanding Only focusing on recycling, and not reducing the amount of plastic that we use. There's no one that would even take it if I paid them to take it.'" There is no question the In locales with recycling facilities, this type of plastic is the most recyclable. Countries, especially the developed ones now have nowhere to dump their shit other than their own backyards. About 90% of global plastic production are thermoplastics that can be melted and molded over and over to produce new plastics, which in theory makes all thermoplastics recyclable. What makes our lives convenient is also burying us. Caribbean nonprofits need exposure. planet so desperately needs. One-time fee. Laura Leebrick, a manager at Rogue Disposal & Recycling in southern Oregon, is standing on the end of its landfill watching an avalanche of plastic trash pour out of a semitrailer: containers,. In the '80s, the industry was at the centre of an environmental backlash. These cookies do not store any personal information. We reserve the right to close comments at any time. that feeds our consumerist cravings. It seems India took its largest dump there. Plastic recycling is a different story. We invite you to support us in promoting nonprofit organisations and sustainability issues in the Caribbean. This website uses cookies for analytics, advertising and to improve our site. alternative, its now becoming the plastic of choice. quickly gaining market share within their categories. It got the world hooked on a cheap, versatile material The intention is good because recycling certain materials such as paper, glass or stainless steel works well, although, with extra energy costs for the planet that arent always mentioned. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. lifetime. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. 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