"Whatever we put in the recycling bin gets recycled"! Well, think again.
There is a common misconception going around that I tried to clear with my second post about recycling contamination. Let's build on that now.
There is a rise in awareness for the need to recycle due to people becoming more concerned about global warming and the causes behind it. What may come as surprising is that around 80% of the UK's and the US's population make attempts to recycle. Expansive knowledge on the topic on how to recycle is rare, however. Due to factors such as contamination, misuse and lack of incentive to recycle, it turns out that only 9% of the plastic produced globally gets recycled.
Looking at the graph above, it looks as though in Europe way more than 9% is getting recycled. How come it is just 9% then? When we say recycling rate this does not just mean what percentage of waste is recycled within the country of origin, but also includes the waste that has been exported to "be recycled".
There is an issue with this kind of export, though. Unless there is complete control over the quality that exporters rate their waste and what actually leaves the exporter, which is realistically impossible, there are going to be compromises in quality just so that the exporters can keep their recycling rates up and not have to bother with the waste anymore. Naturally this also affects paper, glass and metal recycling, but still mostly plastic.
If that is the case, much more often than not it is way easier and cheaper for the importer to dispose of the waste to a landfill or incinerate it for energy instead of having to sort through the waste and make it recyclable. After all recycling is rarely charitable work and is much more a massive business segment, and as we know, most businesses' focus is profit above all.
Knowing all of that, how can we help the situation? As previously mentioned, people are becoming increasingly aware of environmental issues and global warming, especially bearing in mind the latest environmental protests. I believe this platform of publicity should definitely be used to put pressure on councils, businesses and recycling facilities to make a change to their recycling and disposal policies. There is only so much that individuals can do on their own, yet, as cliché as it is, people are stronger if they have a common enemy and causing a ruckus is how media attention is gained.
There is a rise in awareness for the need to recycle due to people becoming more concerned about global warming and the causes behind it. What may come as surprising is that around 80% of the UK's and the US's population make attempts to recycle. Expansive knowledge on the topic on how to recycle is rare, however. Due to factors such as contamination, misuse and lack of incentive to recycle, it turns out that only 9% of the plastic produced globally gets recycled.
Looking at the graph above, it looks as though in Europe way more than 9% is getting recycled. How come it is just 9% then? When we say recycling rate this does not just mean what percentage of waste is recycled within the country of origin, but also includes the waste that has been exported to "be recycled".
There is an issue with this kind of export, though. Unless there is complete control over the quality that exporters rate their waste and what actually leaves the exporter, which is realistically impossible, there are going to be compromises in quality just so that the exporters can keep their recycling rates up and not have to bother with the waste anymore. Naturally this also affects paper, glass and metal recycling, but still mostly plastic.
Recyclable waste being thrown to a landfill
Source: abc.net.au
If that is the case, much more often than not it is way easier and cheaper for the importer to dispose of the waste to a landfill or incinerate it for energy instead of having to sort through the waste and make it recyclable. After all recycling is rarely charitable work and is much more a massive business segment, and as we know, most businesses' focus is profit above all.
Knowing all of that, how can we help the situation? As previously mentioned, people are becoming increasingly aware of environmental issues and global warming, especially bearing in mind the latest environmental protests. I believe this platform of publicity should definitely be used to put pressure on councils, businesses and recycling facilities to make a change to their recycling and disposal policies. There is only so much that individuals can do on their own, yet, as cliché as it is, people are stronger if they have a common enemy and causing a ruckus is how media attention is gained.
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