Ethan Clarke
Plastic is everywhere, and it's shocking how profitable it is. Humans have created around 11 billion metric tons of plastic, and it's a growing problem. Recycling plastic is practically impossible, and it's getting worse. While people put plastic into recycling bins, it often doesn't get recycled and ends up in landfills. The issue is that plastic is expensive to collect, sort, and reprocess, and it degrades after a few uses, becoming more toxic each time. New plastic, on the other hand, is cheap and easy to produce. So, what happens to our plastic waste, and is recycling it the solution?
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Recycling plastic | Generally down-cycled to fill or fluff, or other products that do not reduce the demand for virgin material |
| Plastic bags | Not recyclable |
| Straws | Not recyclable |
| Coffee cups | Require a special machine for recycling |
| Keyboards | Recyclable if given to the right person |
| Market demand | Recyclers and companies will pay for post-consumer recyclables if there is a demand in the market |
| Quality of recycled plastic | Recycled plastic is of lower quality and has to compete with new products in the market |
| Plastic recycling rate | The recycling rate for plastic bottles was 29.1% in 2017 |
| Reuse of recycled plastic | Only about 1/3 of plastic that reaches recycling facilities is converted for reuse |
| New technology | French researchers have developed a mutant, plastic-eating enzyme that can recover 90% of the plastic in a soda bottle |
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What You'll Learn
Plastic degrades with reuse
The process of recycling plastics is dictated by market demand, price determinations, and local regulations. While all used plastic can be turned into new things, recycling is expensive, and plastic degrades with each reuse, limiting its reusability. The plastic recycling process involves collecting, sorting, and melting the plastic, which is costly and often requires specialized machinery.
The quality of recycled plastic is also a critical factor. Recycled materials must compete with virgin materials in the market, so quality matters. Contamination is another challenge in plastic recycling. Imperfect sorting can lead to mixing of resins with other kinds of organic debris during melting, resulting in defects and disruptions in the molecular structure, further degrading the plastic.
The type of plastic also determines its reusability. For example, plastic bags and straws are typically not recyclable, while plastic water bottles and mayonnaise jars can be downcycled into other products like doormats, textiles, or plastic lumber. However, these downcycled products may still end up in landfills, contributing to the continuous flow of virgin-material plastic disposable goods entering our environment.
To address plastic pollution, a circular economy approach is needed, focusing on reducing waste, promoting reuse, and designing materials that can be fully reclaimed or reused. Developing solutions beyond biodegradability, such as "programmable" plastics that degrade under specific triggers, can help reduce unintended environmental accumulation.
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Recycling plastic is expensive
Plastic recycling is expensive due to several factors, and the process is challenging and complex. Firstly, the market for recycled plastic is fragmented, making it difficult for sellers to find buyers. The market structure, with scattered recycling facilities, contributes to this challenge. Some areas lack the necessary machinery for efficient selection and recycling, limiting their capacity to handle certain plastics.
Secondly, the cost of recycling plastic has increased due to the global restructuring of the scrap market. The low value of scrap plastic and high recycling costs, coupled with low oil prices, have made recycling more expensive than manufacturing new plastic. This economic reality discourages investment in recycling and incentivizes the production of new plastic.
Thirdly, the recycling process itself is intricate and costly. Mechanical recycling, which involves sorting and processing, leads to higher contract prices. The need for consecutive contracts with the same recyclers further increases expenses. Moreover, transportation costs between storage and recycling facilities drive up the overall cost, especially for remote or island locations.
Additionally, the quality of recycled plastic decreases with each cycle, limiting its usability. This degradation in quality over time reduces the market value of recycled plastic, making it less attractive to manufacturers. The issue is further compounded by the variety of plastic types, which cannot be melted down together, complicating the sorting and recycling processes.
Lastly, the effort required by consumers to separate materials before collection also impacts recycling costs. While multi-stream recycling, where materials are separated, is cheaper, many cities use single-stream recycling, where all materials are placed in the same bin. This convenience for consumers often results in contamination, necessitating additional sorting by machines and human labor, driving up costs.
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Plastic is cheap to produce
The world's dependence on oil has, therefore, resulted in a reliance on plastics. Plastic is now a staple of society, with a very low price tag on plastic products. However, this price ignores many invisible costs, such as the cost of greenhouse gas emissions, waste management, and damage to marine ecosystems.
The lifetime global cost of plastic for just one year is more than the GDP of India. Plastic production is increasing rapidly, and it is estimated that without intervention, plastic production will double by 2040, and plastic pollution will triple by the same year. This would put the lifetime cost of virgin plastic produced in 2040 at around $10 trillion, more than the 2019 GDPs of Germany, Canada, and Australia combined.
The low cost of producing plastic has also made it more economically viable to create new plastic than to recycle it. Greenpeace found that no plastic meets the threshold to be called "recyclable" according to standards set by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation New Plastic Economy Initiative. Plastic must have a recycling rate of 30% to reach this standard, but no plastic has ever been recycled at this rate.
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Plastic is everywhere
Microplastics have been detected in agricultural land, which is heavily contaminated, and in our drinking water. They are also present in the food we eat, including seafood, chicken, beef, and even plant-based alternatives. A study found that nearly 90% of 16 different kinds of protein commonly consumed by people are contaminated with microplastics. The same study estimated that Americans consume up to 3.8 million particles of microplastics per year from protein alone. These microplastics have been linked to thousands of toxic chemicals, many of which have not been screened for their potential hazards to human health and the environment.
The problem of plastic pollution is not just about the visible pieces of plastic littering our planet but also these tiny microplastics that are pervasive in our environment and our bodies. Wastewater treatment plants were not designed to remove microplastics, and even when they are removed from wastewater, they remain in sewage sludge, which can end up back in the ecosystem through runoff. Single-use plastics are a major contributor to plastic pollution, and the production of plastic is increasing, with plans to triple production by 2050.
While recycling is often touted as a solution to the plastic crisis, it is not a straightforward process. Plastic degrades after one or two uses, and the more it is reused, the more toxic it becomes. Additionally, there are thousands of different types of plastic, and they cannot be melted down together. Most plastic ends up in landfills, and only a small percentage is recycled into equivalent products. The reality is that plastic has few markets, and new plastic is cheap and easy to produce, making recycling a challenging and expensive endeavour.
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Plastic is toxic
Recycling plastic can make it more toxic and should not be considered a solution to the pollution crisis. The toxicity of plastic and recycled plastic presents serious dangers to the environment and public health and drives environmental injustices. Research has indicated that recycled plastic is not suitable for many uses, particularly when it comes to the packaging of food and beverages, as it contains a wide range of dangerous chemicals.
Drink bottles made of recycled plastic are even more contaminated than drink bottles made of virgin (new) plastic, and these chemicals easily leach into the beverages they contain. A recent study found that between 6 and 13% of plastic processed in recycling may be released into water or the air as microplastics. When plastics are recycled, they can contain a toxic cocktail of chemicals that makes them unfit for food-grade applications.
A new report from Greenpeace USA provides a catalog of peer-reviewed research and international studies concluding that recycling increases the toxicity of plastics. It highlights the threat that recycled plastics pose to the health of consumers, frontline communities, and workers in the recycling sector. Plastic production, disposal, and incineration facilities are most often located in low-income, marginalized communities across the world, which suffer from higher rates of cancer, lung disease, and adverse birth outcomes associated with their exposure to toxic chemicals.
The idea that plastics can be reused endlessly without creating harmful costs is false. Plastic recycling as it is today is harmful and cannot be considered "circular" because plastic recycling processes continue to drive plastic pollution and its dangerous and toxic impacts, including the climate crisis, environmental injustice, and chemical pollution.
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, recycling downgrades plastic. Each time plastic is reused, it degrades and becomes weaker and more brittle. This is called "heat history" in the plastics recycling trade. The deterioration is irreversible and accumulates with each reprocessing.
Plastic is recycled to reduce the amount of plastic waste and to address the global waste crisis. However, it is challenging to recycle plastic effectively due to its chemical properties and the high cost of collecting, sorting, and melting it down.
There are ongoing efforts to develop more recyclable plastics and sustainable alternatives. Researchers are exploring chemical and biochemical methods to break down plastics for reuse and designing new plastics that are easier to recycle.
It is important to check with your local waste management facilities and recycling programs to understand the specific guidelines and limitations of plastic recycling in your area. Some facilities may not have the capacity to recycle certain types of plastics.
When plastic is not recycled properly, it contributes to plastic pollution and ends up in landfills or the environment. Plastic can break apart into microplastics, which have been found in oceans, snow, rainfall, and even human blood. Addressing plastic pollution requires reducing plastic production and increasing circularity by reusing and recycling plastic products.
