Is Recycling a Scam?
- Lydia Collins
- Jul 22, 2024
- 3 min read
I read an article in my French class entitled "La grosse arnaque du recyclage plastique: trier ne servirait à rien" which inspired this blog post...
In short, this article written by Mélanie Roosen for L'Adn discusses the fact that when countries like the UK "recycle" plastic, it often gets sent to China, where it is melted down to resell to manufacturers (this is really polluting and dangerous to workers' health) - some can be recycled relatively easily, such as PET clear plastic bottles, which are often sold on the open market. The main issue is what happens to the plastic which cannot be reused or recycled, which is often burnt or buried, or can end up in bodies of water. The article states that Greenpeace reports have found huge landfills in Malaysia, with most of the waste coming from Europe.
8.3 billion tonnes of plastic is produced globally, with only 9% actually being recycled.
Many other articles and studies on this subject state that the problem with recycling is economic, rather than chemical or physical. Oil prices are decreasing and our current lifestyle and economy rely on single-use plastics so it is much cheaper to continue producing cheap single-use plastic items than recycle them. Not only this, but recycled plastic often has to be combined with virgin plastic, making it a) still damaging in terms of extracting more oil and resources to create the virgin plastic, and b) harder to recycle down the line with additional chemicals being added and using plastic with different properties.
Bloomberg Originals published a short documentary on YouTube showing what was seen when tracking devices were put in a batch of recycling. The study watched as the trackers went across Europe, landing in Poland at a facility. The reporter goes on to state that this is due to the cost of putting the waste in a landfill to be buried is significantly less somewhere like Poland than it is in the UK. There are also government incentives to make recycling a more attractive action, giving credits to organisations that export materials for recycling - essentially, you can get as much financial support from the UK government for exporting waste than you could by recycling in the UK...which do you think companies are going to do? This makes the entire process impactful in multiple ways, from transportation to energy, water, and how the product ends up.
It isn't all bad though!! The Bloomberg documentary states that there are facilities in Poland where plastic can be melted to create energy – this is useful for Poland's cement industry which previously relied on coal. Many of the articles I read for this suggested that reduction of single-use plastics is the way forward as a solution to this "scam", and being conscious when organisations say something is 'recyclable', checking the labels on the back of packaging (read my guide for more info!). This may be useful, but I think it is important to not push the blame onto consumers, and leave them to pick up the pieces for this global issue. The 1980s birthed the green recycling logo which companies placed on the back of their packaging as a marketing tool to create imagery around them working on their environmental footprint. Enterprises and governments pushed recycling as an initiative to make consumers feel responsible for their waste and save face, and whilst I think that our individual actions can have a great impact on improving the planet, I also think that transparency from governments, alongside funding for global recycling initiatives, is key to ensuring that non-recycled single-use plastics don't completely take over!
To summarise, we need to focus on the 'reduce' and 'reuse' aspects of the triple R's, but also push governments and organisations to be transparent about their waste management funding for recycling activities.
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