Showing posts with tag: #Recycling


John Englart

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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.

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/


Tags: #plastics #Recycling #plasticscrisis #pollution

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John Englart

Plastics. Climate, Recycling:

"Very little of the plastic we put in the recycling bin actually ends up being reused," Duke University researcher Diana Zoie said. "Recycling just delays plastic disposal and pollution. Any comprehensive solution needs to target virgin plastic production and use."

"The majority of companies made no connection in publicly available reports between reducing their carbon footprint and reducing their plastic footprint, particularly in terms of reducing the production and use of virgin plastic," Diana said.

Do voluntary corporate pledges help reduce plastic pollution? (November 2022) Duke University

Summary:
A new analysis finds that while 72 percent of the top 300 companies on the Fortune 500 list have made voluntary pledges to reduce their plastic footprints, most are overwhelmingly focused on downstream waste-reduction strategies centered on recycling and packaging rather than on finding ways to reduce their use of virgin plastic, which is a main cause of the global plastic pollution problem.

sciencedaily.com/releases/2022


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.

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/

by John Englart ;

Tags: #plastics #plasticscrisis #Recycling #carbonfootprint #pollution

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