Well I do.
I recycle everything possible…paper, aluminum and plastic….I guess that makes me a tree hugger…..so be it…..at least I am trying to do something that helps the massive amount of waste I generate.
Since I feel responsible for my planet I do my part.
Since everything buy damn near comes in plastic it is a growing problem and the industry keeps telling me all the good they are doing….is their message possibly manure spread for PR purposes?
Last year, Americans recycled at most 6% of their plastic waste, according to a report released Wednesday by a pair of environmental groups. It’s a number that’s even worse than it used to be. Every American produced an average 218 pounds of plastic waste in 2018, per Reuters, and the recycling rate stood at 8.7% that year, the last for which the EPA published relevant data. As for the decrease, it’s not just that people aren’t using recycling bins; the problem is that plastic isn’t very recyclable, and it never has been.
The report’s authors lay blame on the plastics industry itself. As Judith Enck of Beyond Plastics puts it, “[Plastic recycling] does not work, it never will work, and no amount of false advertising will change that.” Coauthor Jan Dell of the Last Beach Cleanup adds, “There is no circular economy of plastics. Companies co-opted the success of other material recycling and America’s desire to recycle to create the myth that plastic is recyclable.” As EcoWatch reports, the recycling of other materials has been effective; it cites paper recycling rates around 66%, glass around 30%, and cardboard at nearly 90%. Only plastic recycling rates have never cracked 10%.
Indeed, USA Todayreports that, at best, just 9% of plastics ever produced have been recycled, and even that figure is probably exaggerated: The US counts exported plastic waste as “recycled” even though 25% to 75% is “inadequately managed in receiving countries.” Left to its own devices, plastic degrades over time and becomes microplastics that contaminate the environment and human bodies, reports the Washington Post. Research shows every person will consume about 44 pounds of microplastics in their lifetime.
If true it is very disheartening….you try to do the right thing and some corporation decides to crap on the planet….
Then there is those ‘microplastics’.
Please check on your area and see if they are truly recycling or just a station to bundle and dump.
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
In Saner Thought 
Even though I also recycle, I know that there is no way that individuals doing their part to recycle are ever going to make up for the damage the big corporations do with the crap that they do not recycle. The government should force the big corporations whose operations do damage to the environment to recycle their industrial waste. Of course we know that is never going to happen, don’t we. So individuals doing their part to recycle are only satisfying themselves. I get great satisfaction out of recycling so I know what I am talking about.
Let’s be real….most of us could care less what happens to this planet as long as it does not effect our limited world view. chuq
True
You are absolutely correct. Back when re-cycling first took off decades ago the noble idea of separating our trash for re-cycles seemed to have some merit. But the re-cycle business became an industry itself… and itself has become a contributor to the current ecology problems. Example, new re-cycle trucks had to be built.. yay jobs! But more metal had to be mined, metallurgy from the factories pollutants into the air spewing manufacturing gasses…. then those vehicles use petroleum products, like gasoline/diesel, oil rubber for the tires and the pollutants in that manufacturing process that help pollute the air, add to clogging the highways, blah-blah. Don’t forget the manufacturing of all those re-cycle trash bins that never existed before re-cycling. Home re-cycling is all about capacity of landfills and what can decompose and what lasts 500 years underground. To create that entire industry we had to pollute the environment all the more.
But beyond that “paradox” (hypocrisy?)… few home re-cyclers understand that that the percentage of all their efforts to save the environment in their recycle bins is in the single digits because there is now “good” plastic and “bad” plastic.. the bad being unrecyclable.
I do perform some limited re-cycle with the usual plastic bottles, cardboard, more because it gives more room for “real” trash in the real garbage bin, like organic waste and yard clippings. Personally I think society has a hap-hazard, willy-nilly perception of recycling in general and home re-cycling specifically.
I have a part of my property where I compost….and I try to limit my plastic but that is hard since everything comes in plastic…..it is just as John said a feel good move on my part…..chuq
We have to recycle here, or face consequences. If we put recyclable items into our general rubbish, we can be fined by the local council. So we have two separate domestic waste bins, and three different refuse bins that are collected. One is for garden waste, one for recyclables, and one for general rubbish.
Best wishes, Pete.
Who exactly enforces that over there, Pete? Brits seem to like “wardens”, so do they call the people who check your trash “recycle wardens”? 🙂
No, the trash is randomly checked at the waste depot. When they find any identifiers, the council issues fines. It is not done frequently, but I think most people are happy to comply with recycling, Doug. There are no ‘Wardens’. 🙂
Shucks. 🙂 While I don’t relish treading through organic waste I do love scrounging for useful items, like at yard sales, etc. “Trash Warden” might have been an interesting job. I could have e helmet with “RW” on it.. (Rubbish Warden) and carry a flashlight. Wait a sec.. I almost do that now in my current job… less the helmet.
A good idea but it needs to be nationwide not localized. chuq
Thanx Ned I appreciate the help spreading the word…..Be well chuq
The numbers were stunning and sobering…here in Los Angeles, there is much recycling, but to know that plastic is non-recyclable – time to come up with new packaging that is eco-friendly. As for cardboard, it is valuable and that’s why it is recycled…so much so that the city banned taking anyone else’s recycled material – because they want the $ value of it for them!
I agree and there are substitutes for plastic but they do not seem to be attractive to the greedy in corporate America…..so basically cash over planet. Be well chuq
Wanted to comment this post but didn’t come to it!
My compliments to your energetic recycling waste.
What recycling is concerned,you might be an exception in the Us.
In the Netherlands you would fit in, recycling.
Just thinking:
Recycling – don’t waste waste!
Thanx Marie…..I try to do my part….but in a world that is addicted to plastic it is difficult. chuq