plastic recycling is a scam

In 2018, the U.S. added 27 million tons of plastic to landfills.

Despite the constant mantra of “reduce, reuse, recycle,” only 8.7% of our plastic waste was recycled that year. And in 2021, it fell to 5%.

Plastic is all around us. It’s in clothing, food packaging, building materials, electronics, and self-care products. We drink water out of plastic bottles. We eat food from plastic takeout containers. We’ve even swapped out traditional metal braces for plastic Invisalign.

Although plastic rose to popularity only 60 years ago, it has been so thoroughly integrated into our society that it seems impossible to divest from it now. It’s presented not just as the best option, but the only option.

We know plastic is terrible. It can disrupt our hormones, injure our wildlife, poison our oceans, leach into our groundwater, crumble into microplastics, and take up to 500 years to decompose. And yet, it’s still omnipresent.

The continued prevalence of plastic is partly due to the fact that it is considered to be a recyclable material. It might cause immense ecological harm, but all of that is mitigated if we keep melting it down and turning it into something new. (Yay, we can justify plastic use!)

Except, as the U.S. recycling statistics indicate, this doesn’t happen.

Plastic is expensive and difficult to recycle. For one thing, it’s not consistent. Those little numbers (1 through 7) on the bottom of plastic products indicate their specific chemical composition. Only some of them can be recycled, and they can never be mixed. It takes time and effort to separate and recycle each plastic type individually.

Furthermore, the quality of plastic decreases each time it’s recycled. Even if it does make it into a new product, it will never be as robust as the original.

The U.S. also lacks recycling infrastructure. For years, we’ve been shipping vast quantities of our recycling to China. It was more expensive to process our own recycling than to ship it overseas, and China had developed a booming recycling industry.

But in 2018, when China banned the import of foreign waste, the U.S. was left floundering with thousands of tons of recycling and no way to process it. Some plastic is still recycled here, but the vast majority is relegated to landfills.

Part of the problem is that recycling is treated as a business. Recycling plants make money by converting plastic products into raw materials and selling them to manufacturers. When the cost of separating, cleaning, and processing plastic exceeds the profits, recycling companies will sell it overseas or toss it in the landfill. And as of 2018, condemning plastic to landfills is definitely cheaper.

A larger part of the problem is that it benefits the fossil fuel industry to keep producing plastic. More plastic means more money in the pockets of oil industry execs, and the more that recycling is pushed as a solution, the more people feel comfortable purchasing plastic products.

It has even been documented that oil companies knew that recycling wasn’t feasible, but promoted it anyway as a campaign to sell more plastic. In short, plastic recycling is a scam.

Learning about the fate of plastic recycling can be jarring, especially if you think you’re doing your part to help the environment, but it’s important to remember that it’s not the consumer’s fault. Plastic recycling has great PR. The responsibility lies with the industry that knew plastic was harmful and recycling was futile.  

Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to cut plastic out of our lives entirely – even a loaf of bread comes in a plastic bag – but there are alternatives.

Paper and aluminum can both be recycled indefinitely and contain fewer toxic chemicals and byproducts, making them more sustainable options than plastic. In 2018, 68% of paper waste and 35% of aluminum waste was recycled. A lot of paper and aluminum still end up in landfills, but if we’re diligent about recycling, they will actually be reclaimed.

Glass is also a viable option. While only about 1/3 of glass waste is recycled, it is cheaper to recycle glass than produce it from raw materials. And unlike plastic, glass maintains the same quality and purity no matter how many times it’s recycled. Unfortunately, if it winds up in landfills, glass can take thousands of years to decompose, but at the very least it’s inert.

If you do use plastic, #1 polyethylene terephthalate (PET/PETE) and #2 high-density polyethylene (HDPE) are more easily recycled than #3-7. HDPE, which is used in products like milk cartons, shampoo containers, and opaque (not clear!) Nalgene bottles is also much safer and more inert than other forms of plastic. Clear plastics like PET can release some carcinogens and they should never go in the microwave.

I’m sure I won’t be able to avoid plastic products, but I try to opt for paper, aluminum, and glass whenever possible. And when I do end up with plastic, I still recycle it. A 5% chance of being recycled is better than 0.

Thankfully there’s been a noticeable shift away from plastic in the past few years. Sustainability has become mainstream, zero-waste has taken off, and everyone is more cognizant of their plastic consumption.

There’s also more healthy skepticism around “sustainable” solutions that are pushed by the industries that created the problem in the first place. It’s vital that we continue to question who is coming up with sustainability initiatives and whether they actually have the planet’s best interest at heart.

After hearing “reduce, reuse, recycle” for my entire life, it’s discouraging to learn that plastic recycling is essentially a myth. But at least now I’ll think twice before purchasing another plastic product, and I hope you’ll do the same.