In addition to reducing production, the report argues the world needs to improve its recycling system, which alone could reduce plastic pollution by 20 percent by 2040. However, recycling in its current form is problematic for many reasons. For example, currently only 5% of plastic waste is recycled in the United States. The United States and other developed countries have long transported millions of pounds of unprofitable plastic waste to recycling to developing countries, where bottles, bags and wrapping paper are burned openly or burned. It is often released into the environment.
The central problem is that over the years plastic products have become much more complex and therefore much less recyclable. Today, food pouches may contain layers of different polymers, or the product may be half plastic and half paper. “For example, agreeing and imposing design rules that allow a limited number of polymers and a limited number of chemical additives that work well in the system already greatly improves the economics of recycling.” Director Jorenz Mira y Canals said. Head of UNEP’s Life Cycle Initiative Secretariat and lead coordinator of the report. “This greatly reduces the time it takes to get these materials back into the economy, making recycling much more profitable.”
But even properly done recycling has huge environmental costs. A study published earlier this month found that a single facility releases 3 million pounds of microplastics into wastewater annually, which could end up in the environment. The upside, at least, is that the facility would have released 6.5 million pounds of microplastics if filters hadn’t been installed, so there are at least ways to mitigate that pollution. But these tiny particles are now polluting the entire planet, including a wide range of organisms. And generally speaking, as plastic production increases exponentially, so does microplastic pollution.
In that sense, recycling is exacerbating the plastic pollution problem. “Plastic was not designed to be recycled, and recycling plastic only reintroduces harmful chemicals and microplastics into the environment and our bodies,” says Cohen. ” [UNEP] The report’s authors admit that even if it were achievable, achieving a circular economy for plastics would take decades, and even under the best-case scenario, following the roadmap outlined would It even admits that about 136 million tons of plastic will be used. “It will end up in landfills, incinerators and the environment, causing pollution in 2040. This is a huge and unacceptable amount of plastic.”
In fact, recycling allows the plastics industry to continue making all the plastic it needs under the guise of sustainability. “When the bathtub overflows, the first thing to do is turn off the faucet instead of running to get a mop,” said Jacqueline Savitz, chief policy officer at conservation nonprofit Oceana, which was not involved in the report. says. “Recycling is a mop.”
Another strategy highlighted in the new report is “extended producer responsibility,” where manufacturers don’t just make products and wipe their hands. The plastics industry has long pushed recycling to hold you, the “careless” consumer, responsible for pollution (even though we knew the current system wouldn’t work). Expanding producer responsibility will put a strain on the industry again, forcing producers to implement systems such as collecting and reusing bottles.
