Greenpeace USA notes that plastic production in the United States has increased while recycling rates are falling. Highlighting the difficulties related to the recycling of various plastic waste, the NGO highlights the impossibility of a circular economy around this material.
Greenpeace calls for giving up non-reusable plastics, even if they are recyclable
Don’t talk about waste anymore, but about resources, such is the leitmotif of the recyclable plastic manufacturers. And yet, while the rate of plastic recycling is declining in the United States and production is on the rise, Greenpeace considers, in a report published on Monday, that the existence of a circular plastic economy is a “fiction”. .
According to Greenpeace USA, American homes generated 51 million tons of plastic waste in 2021, of which only 2.4 million tons were recycled. A declining figure, in particular because China stopped accepting plastic waste from the West in 2018, and at the same time recycling some of it. In addition, plastic production prices are falling due to a rapidly developing industry.
Industry groups and large corporations have pushed to present recycling as a solution. By doing this, they evaded responsibility,like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Unilever and Nestlé.
Too few recycled plastics
The report points out that only two types of plastics are accepted at most of the country’s 375 material recovery centers. The first is polyethylene terephthalate (PET), commonly used for water and soda bottles, and the second is high-density polyethylene (PE-HD), used for example for shampoo bottles or household products.
But being recyclable in theory does not mean that the products are actually recycled and they contribute to more pollution. According to the report, PET and PE-HD had refurbishment rates of 20.9% and 10.3% respectively, both down from the last Greenpeace USA survey in 2020.
In addition, type 3 to 7 plastics – which include plastic bags, children’s toys, yoghurt packaging – were reconditioned at rates below 5%. Although marked with the symbol indicating possible recycling, these products using plastics 3 to 7 are not actually recycled enough to be classified as such by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Competition from new plastics
New recycling regulations in the USA must be implemetented as soon as possible.
The Greenpeace study highlights five reasons for the myth of plastic recycling: the quantity of plastic which makes it both difficult to collect, the diversity of this waste, which makes it impossible to sort trillions of products, the harmfulness of plastic recycling processes, not to mention the impossibility of using recycled plastic in the food industry and the cost of recycling. Dumpster rentals are already very busy with other types of waste (click here for more details).
New plastics are in direct competition with recycled ones and the former are much cheaper to produce, for better quality, underlines the report. Lisa Ramsden called for prioritizing non-plastic containers that can be reused, and for companies to support an international plastics treaty, the development of which was launched this year by the UN. She pointed out that the problem regarding the recycling of plastics was unique, and did not apply to cardboard or metals.
The waste management industry needs to be reformed to handle plastic waste in a better way so as to stop this constant creation of junk. This is needed to protect our environment.
