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The results are in. We have the first analysis of the changes put in place in January 2018 after China effectively stopped recycling for the United States and other countries. Greenpeace surveyed 367 Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) in the US reflecting their recycling ability from October 2019 to January 2020. Of note, this essentially covers all of the recycling centers in the country. Unfortunately, the results are not good. Just 22% of plastic #1 and 12% of plastic #2 is reprocessed for other use. Plastic #3-#7 are, in effect, not recyclable in the United States. There is no market for these types of plastic and MRFs admit to landfilling or incinerating the plastic they receive. Some MRFs are also known to export plastics to other countries (e.g. Thailand or Indonesia) with poor waste management systems and there is no way to verify if the plastic is actually recycled. If your municipal recycling company has recently made changes and will now only accept plastic #1 or #2, this is why. You can read the full Greenpeace report here.
We cannot recycle our way out of this problem. If you are putting plastic in your recycling bin, you are essentially putting it into the garbage.
Don’t let this information get you down. The hard truth is that we will all have to buy plastic at some point. Let’s be smart about it.
Today’s Challenge: If you are unable to replace a plastic item with something more sustainable, then try to find an alternative that is made from or packaged in plastic #1 or #2. If you have a choice of two products on the shelf, one is in a plastic bag (usually plastic #4), and the other is in a plastic #1 container, try to choose the #1 container and recycle it when you are done. If there is no recycling symbol/number, then you can assume the item is plastic #3-7 and it cannot be recycled.
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