The Complex Reality About Recycling in America

Repurposing Our Waste Instead of Disposing It Will Not End Our Dependency on Disposable Goods. 

But it Helps.

The act of disposing of an item into the blue bin marked with a white recycling sign is enough to make some people feel good, like we have done our part to help reduce landfill waste and pollution.

Unfortunately, many people do not realize there is a very dirty side to recycling.

A number of reports cast doubt on the principle of recycling.

Recycling has been called a myth and a system beyond repair as we are learning that the recyclables picked up at our curbs are actually being shipped and dumped overseas leaching toxic chemicals and microplastics. 

ILLUSION or REALITY

It seems some people feel recycling is being used by Big Oil to mislead consumers about the environmental problems with plastics, and it has packaging companies using the promise of recyclability to flood the planet with disposable and often toxic plastic trash. The consequences are now clear in the landfill, in our rivers and oceans and in the microplastics that invades our bodies.

ABANDON or EMBRACE?

It is so bad that in response it has the plastic industry creating rebuttal campaigns referred to as “Recycling is Real.” While recycling has become inseparable from corporate greenwashing, society should not be so quick to cast it aside. In the short term, it might be the best option we have at this moment against the growing plastic waste crisis.

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