Sofia Martinez
For years, consumers have been led to believe that plastic products can be recycled. However, the reality is that recycling plastic is expensive, complicated, and often less cost-effective than creating new plastic products from oil and gas. Despite this knowledge, the largest oil and gas companies, which are also the makers of plastic, have spent millions of dollars promoting the idea that plastic can be widely recycled. This has resulted in public skepticism and concerns about the environmental impact of plastic waste. While industry representatives defend their efforts and commitment to recycling, the inefficiencies of plastic recycling and the challenges of keeping plastic out of landfills remain prevalent issues.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Public awareness | The public was getting upset about the amount of plastic trash |
| Industry response | Sold the public on the idea that most plastic could be recycled |
| Industry knowledge | The industry knew that recycling wouldn't keep plastic out of landfills and the environment |
| Industry investment | The industry spent millions of dollars on advertising campaigns to promote recycling |
| Recycling facilities | Many recycling projects failed due to economic reasons |
| Plastic production | It is cheaper and easier to make new plastic from oil than to recycle plastic trash |
| Sorting and melting | The process of sorting and melting recycled plastic is complicated and expensive |
| Plastic quality | Plastic degrades each time it is reused, so it can't be reused more than once or twice |
| New plastic | It is almost always less expensive and of better quality to use new plastic rather than recycled plastic |
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What You'll Learn
Oil companies knew plastic recycling wasn't viable
Despite public commitments to ensuring all plastic is recycled, the oil industry has known for decades that recycling plastic is not economically viable.
An industry insider wrote in a 1974 speech: "There is serious doubt that [recycling plastic] can ever be made viable on an economic basis". However, the industry spent millions telling people to recycle because, as one former top industry insider told NPR, "selling recycling sold plastic, even if it wasn't true".
Larry Thomas, the former president of the Society of the Plastics Industry, worked closely with top oil and plastics executives in the late 1980s, at a time when there was a lot of plastic trash and the public was getting upset. Thomas said he did what the industry wanted him to do, and that his personal views did not always align with the views he had to take as part of his job.
NPR tracked down almost a dozen recycling projects publicised by the industry starting in 1989, all of which failed by the mid-1990s. None of them could get past the economics: making new plastic out of oil is cheaper and easier than making it out of plastic trash.
The oil industry has long known that recycling plastic is not a solution to the solid waste problem. Despite this, fossil fuel companies and their trade associations have fraudulently marketed plastic recycling as a solution for decades to escape regulation and protect their profits.
Today, plastic is harder to sort than ever: there are more kinds of plastic, it's cheaper to make plastic out of oil than out of plastic trash, and there is exponentially more of it than 30 years ago.
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The public was misled through advertising campaigns
Internal industry documents from as early as 1974 show that the industry was aware that recycling plastic wouldn't work, yet they continued to sell the public on this idea. For example, in a 1974 speech, one industry insider wrote, "There is serious doubt that [recycling plastic] can ever be made viable on an economic basis." Despite this knowledge, the industry spent millions of dollars on advertising campaigns in the 1970s and 1980s, promoting the idea that plastic could be recycled.
These advertising campaigns were often misleading, with the creation of the now-familiar triangle recycling symbol, which has been criticized for being misleading. The campaigns also publicized various projects that were supposed to demonstrate the industry's commitment to recycling. However, these projects were short-lived, with most failing by the mid-1990s. For example, Mobil's Massachusetts recycling facility lasted only three years, and Amoco's project to recycle plastic in New York schools lasted just two years.
The economics of recycling plastic were always a challenge, with the cost of sorting, melting down, and processing plastic trash being more expensive than simply making new plastic from oil and gas. The industry was well aware of these challenges but chose to prioritize profits over environmental concerns. As Larry Thomas, the former president of the Society of the Plastics Industry, admitted, "I did what the industry wanted me to do, that's for sure. But my personal views didn't always jibe with the views I had to take as part of my job."
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Oil companies profited from selling new plastic
Oil companies have long known that recycling plastic is not economically viable. Recycling plastic is an expensive process that involves picking it up, sorting it out, and melting it down. Plastic also degrades each time it is reused, meaning it can only be reused once or twice. In contrast, new plastic is cheap to produce from oil and gas and is often of better quality. Despite this knowledge, oil companies spent millions of dollars telling the American public that plastic could be recycled.
The oil industry's awareness that recycling wouldn't keep plastic out of landfills and the environment dates back to the early days of plastic recycling programs. In a 1974 speech, an industry insider expressed doubts about the economic viability of plastic recycling. However, the industry sold the public on the idea that the majority of plastic could be and would be recycled.
While promoting the idea of plastic recycling, oil companies made billions of dollars selling new plastic to the world. They knew that the infrastructure for recycling plastic on a large scale did not exist and that the economics of recycling plastic did not make sense. The oil industry's focus on profits led to a situation where plastic waste ended up in landfills and the environment, causing significant harm to the planet.
The public's belief in plastic recycling was further reinforced by advertising campaigns in the 1970s and the creation of the often-misleading triangle recycling symbol. These campaigns led consumers to believe that it was okay to use plastic because it could be recycled. However, the reality is that recycling plastic is challenging and expensive, and most plastic ends up in landfills or the environment.
The oil industry's actions have had significant environmental consequences. By promoting plastic recycling without investing in the necessary infrastructure, the industry contributed to the plastic pollution crisis the world is facing today. Despite industry claims of commitment to ensuring all plastic is recycled, the economic realities and the history of misinformation suggest a different outcome.
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Plastic recycling is expensive and degrades quickly
Plastic recycling is not a viable solution to curb plastic pollution. It is expensive, and the recycled product degrades quickly.
The process of collecting, sorting, and melting plastic is costly. There are now thousands of different types of plastic, and none of them can be melted down together. This means that the recycling process has to be carried out separately for each type, which is challenging and uneconomical. In addition, plastic degrades with each reuse, meaning it can only be reused once or twice before it has to be discarded. This makes plastic recycling a costly and inefficient process.
The oil and gas industry, which includes the largest plastic-producing companies, has been aware of these issues since the 1970s and 1980s. However, they spent millions of dollars promoting the idea that plastic could be recycled on a large scale. They used advertising campaigns and projects to promote recycling to the public, even though they knew that the infrastructure and economics did not support it. As a result, the public believed that recycling was a solution to the plastic waste problem, and plastic production and consumption continued to increase.
Despite the challenges, some facilities are attempting to recycle plastic. However, the numbers are low. While 52% of recycling facilities in the US accept plastic for recycling, less than 5% of it is actually repurposed. The rest ends up in landfills. This is because it is often more economically feasible to discard plastic than to recycle it, especially when the plastic becomes contaminated with food waste or other non-recyclable items.
The oil and gas industry continues to promote recycling and claims to be committed to ensuring all plastic is recycled. However, with plastic production expected to triple by 2050, it is clear that the industry is not doing enough to address the plastic waste crisis.
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Oil companies' recycling projects failed by the mid-1990s
Despite the oil industry's efforts to promote plastic recycling through advertising campaigns and initiatives, the majority of their projects failed by the mid-1990s. The industry spent tens of millions of dollars on recycling projects and public relations campaigns, telling people that plastic could and should be recycled. However, their internal records showed that they knew large-scale plastic recycling was unlikely to be economically viable.
For example, Mobil's Massachusetts recycling facility only operated for three years, while Amoco's project to recycle plastic in New York schools lasted just two years. Dow and Huntsman's highly publicized plan to recycle plastic in national parks only managed to reach seven out of 419 parks before funding was cut. These projects were unable to overcome the economic challenges of recycling plastic trash, as creating new plastic from oil is cheaper and easier.
The oil industry has been accused of misleading the public by promoting recycling to maintain high profits and prevent plastic bans. Despite their claims of investing in new technology and committing to recycling all plastic, the industry has faced skepticism due to its history of failed recycling initiatives.
While the industry acknowledges the environmental concerns and the need for more efficient and economic recycling processes, the reality is that recycling plastic reduces their profits. As a result, there is a conflict between their economic interests and the public's desire for more sustainable practices.
Additionally, the variety and complexity of plastics have made recycling more challenging and costly, with many new types of plastics unable to be recycled at all. This further contributes to the failure of oil companies' recycling projects by the mid-1990s and highlights the challenges of effectively managing plastic waste.
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Frequently asked questions
Big Oil, or the nation's largest oil and gas companies, misled the public by spending millions of dollars on advertising campaigns in the 70s to promote the idea that plastic could be and would be recycled. However, they knew that recycling plastic wouldn't work as it was not economically viable and that it was cheaper to make new plastic from oil.
The advertising campaigns entailed the creation of the often-misleading triangle recycling symbol. They also included publicizing several projects starting in 1989 that aimed to recycle plastic. However, none of these projects were successful in the long term as they couldn't get past the economics of recycling plastic.
Recycling plastic is not economically viable because picking it up, sorting it out, and melting it down is expensive. In addition, plastic degrades each time it is reused, meaning it can't be reused more than once or twice. On the other hand, new plastic is cheap and almost always less expensive and of better quality.
