John Englart's Post

Plastic Recycling Doesn’t Work and Will Never Work (May 2022, The Atlantic)

* "The problem with recycling plastic lies not with the concept or process but with the material itself."

* "toxicity risks in recycled plastic prohibit “the vast majority of plastic products and packaging produced” from being recycled into food-grade packaging."

* "plastic recycling is simply not economical. Recycled plastic costs more than new plastic because collecting, sorting, transporting, and reprocessing plastic waste is exorbitantly expensive."

* "Chemical recycling is not viable. It has failed and will continue to fail for the same down-to-earth, real-world reasons that the conventional mechanical recycling of plastics has consistently failed. Worse yet, its toxic emissions could cause new harm to our environment, climate, and health."

Story at the Atlantic by Judith Enck, a former EPA regional administrator, the president of Beyond Plastics, and a visiting professor at Bennington College; and Jan Dell, a chemical engineer and the founder of the Last Beach Cleanup.
#Plastics #Recycling #PlasticsCrisis #Pollution

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/single-use-plastic-chemical-recycling-disposal/661141/