The Truth About Recycling Plastic

Imagine that you chug down a bottle of water after soccer practice. You make sure to toss it into a recycling bin instead of the trash. After all, you know plastic waste can be harmful to the environment. Satisfied, you give yourself a mental pat on the back for taking this small but important step to protect the planet.

There is just one problem. A huge amount of the plastic we think is getting recycled actually ends up in landfills or waterways. There, it can take centuries to decompose. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, less than 9 percent of plastic waste in the United States was successfully recycled in 2018. (That is the latest year for which figures are available.)

So why have we all been taught to recycle yogurt containers, milk jugs, and other plastic items? Experts say the plastics industry has done a great job of promoting recycling as an easy way to help the environment. Plastic manufacturers know that their products will sell better if consumers think they can use them without damaging the planet.

The truth, however, is that recycling plastic is a complicated—and expensive—process. Different types of plastic must be sorted, cleaned, and melted down. At the same time, most recycling facilities aren’t sophisticated enough to process many common plastic items, such as straws, utensils, and chip bags, even though such products technically are recyclable. As a result, it’s often cheaper and easier for local governments to simply send plastic to landfills or burn it in incinerators. 

Thankfully, many experts in the U.S. and around the world are focused on improving recycling practices. Some scientists, for example, are working on making it easier to recycle the kinds of plastic that usually end up in landfills. 

Governments, businesses, and individuals are helping too—by trying to cut down on plastic waste in the first place. In recent years, several states and cities have banned single-use plastic shopping bags. Some restaurants and other businesses no longer offer disposable plastic straws. And many Americans opt for reusable water bottles.

But the truth is that recycling plastic is complicated and expensive. Different types of plastic must be sorted, cleaned, and melted down. And the machinery at most recycling facilities is not sophisticated enough to process many common plastic items like straws, utensils, and chip bags, even though such products technically are recyclable. As a result, it is often cheaper and easier for local governments to simply send plastic to landfills or burn it in incinerators.

Thankfully, many experts in the U.S. and around the world are focused on improving recycling practices. For example, some scientists are working on making it easier to recycle the kinds of plastic that usually end up in landfills.

Governments, businesses, and individuals are helping too. They help by trying to cut down on plastic waste in the first place. In recent years, several states and cities have banned single-use plastic shopping bags. Some restaurants and other businesses no longer offer disposable plastic straws. And many Americans opt for reusable water bottles.

These actions are an important step, says Lisa Ramsden. She is a plastics expert at Greenpeace, an environmental nonprofit. But, she notes, there is still a long way to go in reducing our reliance on disposable plastic items, from peanut butter jars to shampoo bottles.

“We really need businesses to rethink how their products are packaged and to invest in refillable and reusable options,” says Ramsden. “That way, we can prevent a lot of plastic from winding up in the waste stream.”

In the 1970s, environmental activists began to push back against plastic waste. They were concerned about its effects on the planet. Some cities went on to ban certain plastics. And many people pressured plastic manufacturers to make changes.

The plastics industry grew so worried about its negative image that it started pushing recycling initiatives in the 1970s and ’80s. These programs were advertised as a simple and effective solution. But the reality was, and still is, a lot messier.

For one thing, there are many different types of plastic, sometimes even within a single product. Each kind must be recycled separately. Plastic also degrades during the recycling process. So the material can generally be recycled only once or twice. Plus, recycled plastic is not as durable as new plastic. Nor is it as cheap to make. As a result, there is not much of a market for products made from recycled plastic. And many manufacturers think it is not worth the effort or cost to deal with it.

Some people say the plastics industry never actually believed that recycling plastic would work in a meaningful way. According to the 2020 Frontline documentary Plastic Wars, manufacturers hoped that spreading the message that plastic is recyclable would erase the public’s guilt about using so much of it. That way, people would still buy it.

“If the public thinks that recycling is working, then they are not going to be as concerned about the environment,” Larry Thomas said in the documentary. He is the former president of a plastics trade group. (A trade group is an organization that represents businesses within a specific industry.)

Along with recycling initiatives came the “chasing arrows” symbol. It is often found on the bottom of plastic products (see “Symbol Smarts,” above). When you see it, you probably assume the item will be recycled if you place it in the right bin. But in reality, that symbol just means that the product could be recycled. There is a good chance it is simply too expensive for your local community to recycle it. In fact, of the seven categories of plastic that people put into recycling bins, five almost never get recycled.

Plastic recycling has long been a problem. But the situation recently became worse. For years, the U.S. had exported a third of its recyclable waste to other countries. Companies in China bought most of our used plastic. They turned it into new products. But in 2018, China banned businesses from importing most plastic waste from overseas. That is because too much trash was mixed in with recyclable materials.

This change forced hundreds of American cities and states to scale back or shut down their recycling programs because they no longer have a place to send much of their plastic waste. For example, Oregon is known for having one of the most aggressive recycling programs in the country. But residents there can no longer recycle common items such as yogurt containers and milk jugs, even though labels on many of the packages claim they are recyclable.

“Recycling has been dysfunctional for a long time,” Mitch Hedlund told The New York Times. She is the executive director of the nonprofit Recycle Across America. “But not many people really noticed when China was our dumping ground.”

Today, scientists all over the world are working on solving the problems with recycling plastic. One of their goals, for example, is to design a new type of plastic that breaks down more easily and can be recycled over and over without degrading. Researchers are also developing new technologies to better sort plastic waste. 

Meanwhile, many people who work in the plastics industry agree that the recycling process as a whole needs to be improved. They say they’re trying to help by making products that are simpler and cheaper to recycle. 

Many people—experts and ordinary Americans—also say that the U.S. government should be doing more to solve this crisis. They say the country’s leaders need to enact policies that force businesses and plastic manufacturers to take more responsibility for a problem they helped create. 

But that doesn’t mean individuals can’t chip in too. What Americans purchase—and don’t purchase—can make a huge difference, experts say (see sidebar below). 

And while it’s still important that people recycle whatever and whenever they can, environmentalists say that our best bet is for everyone to adopt the mindset that none of the plastic we use will get recycled. Perhaps then Americans will be motivated to use less plastic, they say. That, in turn, could encourage companies to produce fewer plastic products in the first place. 

As Roland Geyer, a professor of environmental science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, explains: “The only material that doesn’t need disposal is the one we never made.” 

Today, scientists worldwide are working on solving the problems with recycling plastic. One of their goals is to design a new type of plastic that breaks down more easily and can be recycled over and over without degrading. Researchers are also developing new technologies to better sort plastic waste.

Meanwhile, many people who work in the plastics industry agree that the recycling process as a whole needs to be improved. They say they are trying to help by making products that are simpler and cheaper to recycle.

Many people, including experts and ordinary Americans, also say that the U.S. government should be doing more to solve this crisis. They say the country’s leaders need to enact policies that force businesses and plastic manufacturers to take more responsibility for a problem they helped create.

But that does not mean individuals cannot chip in too. Experts say that what Americans purchase—and do not purchase—can make a huge difference (see sidebar below).

It is still important that people recycle whatever and whenever they can. But environmentalists say our best bet is for everyone to adopt the mindset that none of the plastic we use will get recycled. Perhaps then Americans will be motivated to use less plastic, they say. That could then encourage companies to produce fewer plastic products in the first place.

Roland Geyer is a professor of environmental science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. As he explains: “The only material that doesn’t need disposal is the one we never made.”