The plastic recycling lie
Spoiler: most plastics can’t be recycled.
Let me start at the beginning of my journey. I heard from an expert talking about the UN plastic treaty that it was impossible to clean up the mess we’ve already created and that this was the reason no clean-up clause was included in the treaty. They also mentioned micro plastic and the need to add virgin plastic to certain types of plastic for them to even be recyclable.
This totally blew my mind. Why had I been diligently collecting different types of plastic in a recycling bag and dropping it off at the recycling plant. What was going on here? I felt that a spark had been lit and also that I knew NOTHING about plastic. What does a person do in a situation like that? Well, if you’re me you start a podcast to make a complete fool of yourself. It’s called Knowledge Builds Bridges and it’s on Callin.com. The podcast is mainly me finding out new information – new to me – about random things. So far, I’ve mostly talked about plastic, but also did 2.5 episodes on palm oil.
Do you know the symbols below? Did you also think that these arrows stood for recyclable? Think again. It’s just the different types of plastic. The numbers mean nothing much and those letters only mean something to people who already know what we’re talking about anyway. I’ll give you an example HDPE stands for high density polyethylene. So, that to me was LIE NUMBER 1. Those symbols are even called plastic recycling symbols. How are people supposed to know that’s NOT what they actually are?
What also struck me was that people seem to see certain statistics and draw the wrong conclusion. Now if we look at the numbers presented in the UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) fact sheet on single-use plastic, we might think “oh, clearly there needs to be more recycling”.
Only the reason that there is not more recycling is that the facilities are not there (hello policy makers!), that for some plastics incineration is the only way to get rid of them AND that most plastics can’t even be recycled. So, what hypocrites are calling for people to do their part and recycle plastic when they are not doing theirs and changing policies.
Now the number of plastic that ends up in landfills shocked me. It shouldn’t have, but it did. That’s insane! I also found out during my first podcast that cigarette butts are essentially plastic. I did not know that. Also, I read about sustainability and that the plastic film that some magazines are wrapped in is more sustainable than a paper envelope … having said that. I then read the entire report that was done and I’m now a subscriber of the online magazine. Seemed the most logical solution.
Anyway, it was not all bad news. I found out that Switzerland is doing pretty well and is one of a few countries around that world where PET beverage bottle recycling has gone circular. We also don’t have landfills – that’s not to say that plastic doesn’t end up in the environment … cigarette butts certainly do.
And let me be clear, I’m not against recycling! Not at all. I’m Swiss – recycling is in our genes. What I will say though is, please be aware that most plastics can’t be recycled and some of the ones that can, will need to have virgin plastic added to them. That kind of defeats the purpose. And it also means that recycling is not the answer to our plastic problem. It’s common sense, logic, you name it … it’s not possible!
So, let’s try and reduce our plastic use as much as we can, because we clearly can’t rely on governments to finally take some more drastic steps and help us tackle plastic pollution. And let’s force “them” to be more honest about plastic. Just like that drinks cup (you know the paper cup that’s sooooo much better than a plastic one? – yes, that one!) at Burger King that now says “contains plastic”. That’s the way forward. Tell people if a product that they might not know contains plastic, contains plastic. Baby steps, I guess … but encouraging to see.
To be continued …
Notes:
https://helpcenter.bettybossi.ch/hc/de-ch/articles/360001423049-Wieso-wird-die-Betty-Bossi-Zeitung-in-einer-Plastikfolie-versendet- (available in German or French)
https://www.callin.com/show/knowledge-builds-bridges-NhsvgagnVq