Unfortunately, most plastic items you spent your precious time rinsing out and placing in your recyclable bin, actually don’t get recycled. In fact, a 2017 EPA report shows that only 8.4% of post-consumer plastic waste is recycled and 13% of plastics in containers and packaging; in the US products labeled as recyclable are simply not being recycled. However, that doesn’t mean you should stop recycling, solutions are on their way.
A recent Greenpeace report found many examples of specific companies putting misleading labels on their products that most U.S material recovery facilities (MRFs) aren’t able to process.
John Hocevar, Director of Greenpeace USA Oceans Campaign, said:
Retailers and consumer goods companies across the country are frequently putting labels on their products that mislead the public and harm America’s recycling systems. Instead of getting serious about moving away from single-use plastic, corporations are hiding behind the pretense that their throwaway packaging is recyclable. We know now that this is untrue. The jig is up.
Greenpeace surveyed the U.S’s three-hundred and sixty MRFs, and found that they can only process two types of plastic:
- Polyethylene terephthalate (PET);
- High-density polyethylene (HDPE).
There is a high demand for these two types of plastic because U.S. facilities can process them. Therefore, they are reliably labeled recyclable. Plastics labeled #3 to #7 were found unreliable to be called recyclable, along with plastic shrink wrap, which was added to #1 and #2 plastics.
According to The Hill, only 1% of the facilities surveyed, accepted plastic cutlery, straws, and stirrers, 4% accepted plastic bags, 11% accepted plastic cups, and 14% accepted plastic clamshells. “Our findings show that many items commonly found in beach cleanups – cups, bags, trays, plates, and cutlery – are not recyclable. In America’s municipal recycling system, they are contaminants,” said Jan Dell, the leader of Greenpeace’s survey team.
The survey found that many big-name brands, including Danone, Walmart, Target, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, SC Johnson, Clorox, Aldi, and Unilever, had all sold products with misleading labels. Greenpeace has kindly asked the companies to correct their labeling. If they refuse, the organization will file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
Dell explained:
This survey confirms what many news reports have indicated since China restricted plastic waste imports two years ago — that recycling facilities across the country are not able to sort, sell, and reprocess much of the plastic that companies produce.
However, some companies are working on a solution to improve the overwhelming amount of recycling. One company, Sustainable Packaging Coalition, believes they should be processing their material in their own backyard, though some argue about who will pay for the plastic recycling.
A Manager at Colorado’s Eco-Cycle Solutions, Kate Bailey, argued:
The silver lining is that we’re starting to have some conversations about who should be paying for recycling. Turning to cities and residents to pay for recycling is not the way it should be going. We (the recyclers) are the scapegoats, but we don’t control how products are made. If manufacturers are going to make these products, they should be buying them back. They can be the ones closing the loop.
Baily’s idea kicked off. Not too long ago, Senator Tom Udall and U.S. Representative Alan Lowenthal unveiled the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2020, which enforces plastic producers to design and fund their own recycling programs.
