Did you know we don't recycle plastics in the US?

Question

Have you ever seen a recycle bin at Walmart for recycling plastic? Well guess what, they don't do it. In fact no one in the US recycles plastic. It all used to go to China, but then they stopped taking it. Now it all is ending up in Malaysia, most of it illegally where it winds up polluting their land and water. In fact, the people affected are begging the US to stop shipping it to their country because of all the physical problems the kids and others are suffering due to plastics in their food chain. What happened? We used to actually recycle plastic bottles, and actually got a deposit back for recycling plastic and aluminum. When was the last time you saw a can return anyplace? You would be amazed at all the plastic floating in the ocean or on the bottom. There is an island of floating plastic the size of Rhode Island someplace out there. Well, at least that is one thing we know how to do, pollute our planet. 😞

WindAtMyBack · Accepted Answer

The problem is that plastic is very difficult and expensive to recycle.

Paper, glass and metal are much easier to recycle. It's been recycled for a long time. As a kid, I collected newspapers and took them in for cash. Many bottles had a deposit. I used to collect those and turn them in for cash also. Metal scrap yards have been around forever.

But when recycling became more of a thing, plastic got thrown in when it probably should not have been. There are hundreds of different kinds of plastic, and they can't be mixed together for recycling. So the very first job is to separate the different kinds, which is not easy. The plastic that can't be recycled also has to be separated. Not all plastic can be recycled, but people throw it all in the bin. That includes crap like Styrofoam and foam rubber, which just contaminates the material and adds cost to separate and dispose of.

But even plastics that have the triangle recycle symbol can't all be recycled at every processing plant. It's up to the people to know what can and can not be recycled locally. Contamination is a big problem that recyclers have to deal with.

When I was a kid, there was not nearly as much plastic stuff. For example I can't think of ANY toys I played with as a kid that was plastic.

When I was a kid, virtually all packaged foods came in paper, cardboard, glass or metal containers. Virtually no non-food products were packaged in plastics, many were not in packages at all. Why does everything have to be in a package anyway?

Usually, we don't have much choice in the material of things we buy. But sometimes we do. So don't buy plastic crap in the first place when you have a choice, even if it costs a bit more.

Massageman · Accepted Answer

A friend of ours is a local "scrapper". He takes anything I can get him, and I- in turn- accept lots of bigger items from people on our block on his behalf. One guy was cleaning out his folks' home, found a stash of old golf clubs and brought them over. I sorted them out into sets, and another neighbor already took one of those sets. As far as regular "garbage", our service wants yard waste in compostable bags and everything else in the bin or garbage can. Our town has a battery recycle in the town hall so we bring our used batteries there. The town hall has geothermal heat/cooling, and solar cells on the police car shanties, and it earned a Silver LEED certification. I'm a Bohemian, so I do my best to recycle boxes if I have a use for the box or the cardboard for projects, crafts, storage, etc. along with anything else that looks like I might have a use for. My daughter lives in TN, and they have a drive-through recycle center- - - if they don't want to pay for a garbage service, they can drive through, tossing cans in one hopper, food waste in another, plastics in another, etc. I DO know when they fill each hopper, it is compressed and recycled - - - Where? - - I have no idea. They get the service, though.

MotherEarth2020 · Accepted Answer

But these corporations want all them plastics because their cheap to make and it makes them money. They never cared about the planet. The only way they are going to care if they can make money from it.

They don't care if kills wildlife, humans, the planet or anything, It all greed

Like green energy junk. Do you know it possible for everyone to have their own pollution free generator that would run their entire house for decades for free.

Or have a car that ran just on water that never needed gas, diesel or oil

But they couldn't have that. Why, because they would loose money.

That's why Coke and Pepsi stop doing glass returnable bottles, because plastic was cheaper, same reason why they got rid of real sugar. One to make soda more addictive and to make it cheaper.

Want to get even. DON'T BUY THERE SHIT. BOYCOTT THEM

sage2021 · Accepted Answer

I know that my father-in-law is BIG on recycling everything he can!
He has about 7 big recycle bins on the side of his big house.
He lives on an island called Whidbey Island near the Puget Sound near Seattle, Washington.
My son and I lived with them for five months years ago. And he would watch every single movie that I made to ensure that I was recycling by his rules.
But if course I had secret questions about this recycling thing.
I mean, not to sound graphically gross here, but which bin does a woman put her menstrual pads in? They are made of paper AND plastic!

Inquiring minds wanna know! 🤷🏼‍♀️

lightbulb27 · Answer

Yes, this is called stupid americans. we dont' know anything and are trained to be something like dogs.

I "recycle" stuff all the time, in my state, they pay us deposit. Where it goes... I don't know. I figured it goes to china to make carpet and plastic flooring, which goes to the landfill.

myself, I avoid buying stuff in plastic bottles and reuse the ones I have. people are so wasteful in this generation... they were trained to be like... we'll... like dogs, except dogs aren't as bad.

if we pump more oil, you'll have more of this because plastic will get cheaper.

Solutions?

goaded · Answer

In Germany, I'm told, recycled PET (e. g. single use water bottles) sells for more than the original material so that companies can put "made with X% recycled packaging" on their products.

Aluminium was always the best and easiest to recycle. I remember homeless people with trolly-loads of them to get the 1c deposit back in NYC in the 1990's.

Bottles and aluminium cans have a deposit on them that you get back when you return them to the shop. Glass bottles and their crates are re-used many times.

A lot of plastic doesn't get recycled, though, although it might be incinerated rather than dumped into landfill. I'd have to check.

TadCurious · Answer

Thank you for highlighting this issue. It's a disgrace to mankind. But I have read that the "Great Pacific (plastic) Garbage Patch" is the size of Texas.

MisterWack · Answer

Recycling is a corporate scam so they can continue to make a cheap packaging and know damn well they choke fish, fill the environment with microplastics that work up the food chain, and ruin life on Earth….

The government won’t do a thing about it since years of recycling propaganda helped sell consumers the idea plastic doesn’t kill, can be recycled, and is good when we all put in the effort to fix it. The fact is corporations need to step up NOT consumers.

Astarlessnightsky · Answer

Yes, thats why americans are so confused about the different garbage bins in germany.

but even germany don't recycle plastic, it gets neatly sorted and most of it is just burned.

And you can't really recycle plastic its too expensive and too many different types of plastic.

SeekerOfTruth007 · Answer

Junkun Ma, PhD at SELU Engineering department explained this to us one day. It literally costs more money and energy to recycle an aluminum can than it does to dig up aluminum by the ton. It also costs more money per bottle to recycle plastic bottle sthan it does to drill for oil and make a new plastic bottle from fresh oil derivatives.

Recycling is and always was a sham.

genericname85 · Answer

Fun fact: since 2018, no country on the planet recycles mid to small sized plastic waste material currently. the only country who used to do that on the entire planet was china. china stopped that in 2018 so since then all that plastic goes to landfills or the ocean.

several countries have made promises and commitment to come up with technologies and policies to deal with that sort of trash but as of yet, there's no such thing implemented at scale globally.

Surely · Answer

I am hearing about not recycling plastics. More and more. If I am correct New York (city) takes their garbage out several miles in the Atlantic and dumps it!
Alaska is using aluminum cans for their water bottles. The guides say they are easier to recycle!
Hopefully, before us dumb humans destroy ourselves. We will wake up!

exitseven · Answer

I separate all my plastic bottles and put them in a separate dumpster at the town dump. What they do with them after that is anyone's guess.

dreamstar72 · Answer

I got a recycle bin against my garage door and it’s filled and picked up every two weeks. I live in the US

ChicoFromThe305 · Answer

When another country takes the US out, just for laughs they should use the lands as plastic waste dump

Anonymous · Answer

Yes they do. I have traveled to many family and friends spread across the us and they do this everywhere I've been. You must be in a ln unusual lazy area.

Ariesman81 · Answer

In the U. S. only 8% of plastics get recycled. The rest just gets buried with like materials.

Ironco · Answer

I'm in the US, most cities are recycling plastic where I'm at.

beefcakebradybatson · Answer

Among other thigs slobbish Yanks don't do to help the planet.

Likes2drive · Answer

Yeah I wonder what they really do with it now

Did you know we don't recycle plastics in the US?

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