News/Commentary

The Big Lie: Probe says recyclable plastics more of a myth to avoid bans

February 28, 2024 | | Print Article

An investigation by a left-wing group has found that the plastic industry has known for decades that plastic recycling isn’t very efficacious.

The problem with plastic recycling, according to the Center for Climate Integrity (CCI), is that certain plastics can’t be recycled but are often mixed in with those that can be. This results in the need for the non-recyclable plastics to be sorted away from the recyclable plastics — a process that’s both difficult and expensive, as well as sometimes outright impossible.

It becomes impossible when an object made of plastic is composed of different types of plastic, some that are recyclable, and others that aren’t. Regardless, the costs of trying to separate the plastics are so high that it’s actually cheaper just to produce original (or “virgin”) plastic products.

“The recycling process—from collection to sorting to processing to transport—requires more time, labor, and equipment to achieve a lower quality and less efficient output than the process of making virgin resin from fossil fuels,” the report from the CCI reads.

The CCI’s conclusion is that “plastic recycling is not economically viable” and that plastic manufacturers and big oil have known this for decades but continue to promote recycling via marketing campaigns anyway to make themselves look good before the public.

“This evidence shows that many of the same fossil fuel companies that knew and lied for decades about how their products cause climate change have also known and lied to the public about plastic recycling,” CCI president Richard Wiles said in a statement.

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“The oil industry’s lies are at the heart of the two most catastrophic pollution crises in human history. When corporations and trade groups know that their products pose grave risks to society, and then lie to the public and policymakers about it, they must be held accountable. Accountability means stopping the lying, telling the truth, and paying for the damage they’ve caused,” he added.

What sort of damage?

“Between 1990 and 2015, some 90 percent of plastics either ended up in a landfill, were burned, or leaked into the environment,” according to The New Republic, a far-left outlet. “Another recent study estimates that just 5 to 6 percent are successfully recycled.”

So barely any of the plastic being sent for recycling is actually getting recycled, and Big Oil knew this all along but continued marketing the recycling of plastics as a viable solution.

“Despite their long-standing knowledge that recycling plastic is neither technically nor economically viable, petrochemical companies—independently and through their industry trade associations and front groups—have engaged in fraudulent marketing and public education campaigns designed to mislead the public about the viability of plastic recycling as a solution to plastic waste,” the CCI’s report notes.

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“These efforts have effectively protected and expanded plastic markets, while stalling legislative or regulatory action that would meaningfully address plastic waste and pollution. Fossil fuel and other petrochemical companies have used the false promise of plastic recycling to exponentially increase virgin plastic production over the last six decades, creating and perpetuating the global plastic waste crisis and imposing significant costs on communities that are left to pay for the consequences,” it continues.

What’s the solution? CCI would like plastic manufacturers to be “held accountable” for convincing communities to invest in wasteful, inefficient plastic recycling programs.

“If not for the Big Oil and the plastic industry’s lies and deception, municipalities and states would not have invested in plastic recycling programs and facilities—many of which have been shut down due to foreseeable economic losses. The industry not only misled municipal and state agencies to believe that plastic recycling was a viable solution to plastic waste but also discouraged them from pursuing other, more sustainable waste management strategies (e.g., waste reduction, reuse, bans, alternative materials) in favor of plastic recycling,” the report reads.

“Fossil fuel and other petrochemical companies should now be held accountable for their deliberate campaign of deception and the resulting harms, much like tobacco and opioid companies that employed a similar playbook. Based on the growing body of evidence, municipalities and states are likely to pursue litigation, which could put an end to the industry’s deception, make the companies pay for the devastating harms they have caused to communities, and open the door to real solutions that are currently out of reach,” it continues.

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Vivek Saxena
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