3 Reasons Recycling is Not a Sustainable Solution
The positive message that surrounds recycling creates the false idea that recyclable products create zero waste, when in fact this is far from the truth. This is one of the many issues with recycling that make it an unsustainable solution to the world's plastic waste problem. Read below to find out why.
1. Not enough people recycle.
Currently only 13% of the world recycles. This is a shockingly low number, especially considering the large amount of plastic that gets produced daily.
So kid, what do you wanna be when you grow up?
I wanna be a plastic bottle just like you!
Well, let's hope Michelle remembers to recycle this time...
2. Many "recyclable" products aren't actually recyclable.
Plastic bags & small plastic scraps get stuck and block recycling equipment. Therefore, these items do not get recycled and will be discarded into landfills.
Many people do not know that recyclable products need to be cleaned before throwing them away - as a result, many loads of recyclable items get contaminated.
Many plastics are made up of a mix of materials and cannot be separated and processed by machines. This is includes most plastic that is used in grocery packaging.
3. Items cannot be recycled forever.
Recycling is just a process of downgrading items.
Plastics decrease in quality each time they get recycled, eventually rendering them unrecyclable. This means that, even if recycling was at its peak productivity it still cannot keep up with plastic production.
Let's Summarize
75%
13%
20%
of all plastic is recyclable.
of the world actually recycles. Many do not even recycle correctly.
of items that enter a recycling facility actually get recycled. The other 80% gets sent off to landfills.
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Considering this information, why is it that companies keep labelling their products as recyclable, when in fact they are not? By placing the responsibility onto consumers, companies are deflecting their duty to the environment and being allowed to get away with unethical production practices. Companies create the false impression that they are being environmentally sustainable on the surface level, while concealing their practices behind the scenes.
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So what can we do about this? Are we expected to sit around and wait until legislators take action? The answer is simple, as long as it is profitable, it will be permissible. Therefore, it is in the hands of us, the consumers, to take action and the most obvious solution, is to to reduce our consumption. As we stop investing our hard-earned income in unsustainable corporations, we will remove the power from the greedy and unethical corporations and stop the impact of consumption on the environment.
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