Guess what % of plastics have been #recycled? No prizes :(
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@infobeautiful Would like to see more recent data, to find out if we have improved a little bit 🤞
@infobeautiful It says "discarded" here so simply, but let's make note that this often means burying it. And I think we're going to regret burying plastic, because it breaks down. We may even need to dig everything up.
In the Netherlands the deluded recycling maffia have used recycled plastic for roads so a lot of that plastic is now breaking down into nanoplastics that pollute our bodies, but it's just beginning and will keep increasing releasing over thousands of years.
@infobeautiful The problem with plastc is that it's made from the waste products of refining fossil fuels, making it ludicrously cheap. If we stop using fossil fuels, the cost of virgin petro-plastic would skyrocket to the point that nobody will want to use it. Recycled plastic would become much more economical and alternative options (like glass and metal, both of which are significantly easier to recycle) will become more appealing.
@infobeautiful thanks for sharing! I see again the infamous 1% :(
In this case #greenwashing #plastics through the concept of #recycling to keep the profits for the #top1pct is one
.
Only a meager 16% of recycled plastic is actually reused. Only 1.4% of used once plastic is reused
Of course I will keep recycling plastic and we all should but the difference can only be made by reducing / eliminating the use of plastic, especially single use plastics. (Hard to do but trying)
@infobeautiful missing depth of info line links to interactive graph, where users can find more in for of their region, missed opportunity to relevant educatiin. Got the point, but works as single use clickbait image.
@infobeautiful Remember back in the 90s when lots of folks used to make fun of bottled water? Like it was some dystopian joke product, like the canned air in Space Balls?
I don't see that as much anymore...
@infobeautiful 31% still in use is better than I'd have guessed.
@infobeautiful I'm honestly shocked that 31% of plastics are still in use. Is that... bc like 90% of plastic products have been produced in the last 3 years or some other kinda, weighting in the data?
@infobeautiful
In Germany, incineration is called 'energetic recycling' or 'thermic recycling', which raises the percentage slightly.
In Germany, incineration is called 'energetic recycling' or 'thermic recycling', which raises the percentage slightly.
@infobeautiful
Are there any similar local statistics?
Like, per country?
@infobeautiful
It’s sad that all the recycling efforts achieve so little.
It’s sad that all the recycling efforts achieve so little.
The plastics use has been driven by industry and ‘supermarkets’ along with globalisation and large advertising budgets.
Fresh local produce doesn’t need plastic, but that is not where our food comes from any more. Shipping products hundreds, or thousands, of miles in convenient plastic packaging makes bigger profits for obscene corporations.
Local market stalls and halls have been closed down, pushed out by rising rents and rates, because big companies can get ‘sweet deals’ from local councils, and squeeze their suppliers and staff tokeep costs down. Including automation, and tax dodging.
The problem goes deeper than people think, when ‘convenience’ is valued over ecology.
@infobeautiful The Great Plastic Recycling Swindle…
@infobeautiful immediately a bunch of questions come up (but none of them will change the "plastic is a bit of a problem" conclusion):
How much of the discarded stuff could've been recycled had it not been thrown elsewhere ("recycling is a scam, bro!") and how much got deemed at the recycler impossible to process ("omg, someone stacked two Joghurt cups from the same multi pack. No machine can sort that!")?
Does recycled-then-discarded mean "discarded at recycler" or "after N re-cycles"?
How much of the discarded stuff could've been recycled had it not been thrown elsewhere ("recycling is a scam, bro!") and how much got deemed at the recycler impossible to process ("omg, someone stacked two Joghurt cups from the same multi pack. No machine can sort that!")?
Does recycled-then-discarded mean "discarded at recycler" or "after N re-cycles"?
@infobeautiful is there an updated version of this? Would be interesting.
@infobeautiful I'd love to know how much of that is plastic clothing. Even as little as 3% spandex in a cotton–spandex blend can make the entire fabric impossible to decompose, and separating the fibres isn't possible. Not to mention fully plastic clothing like tracksuits or Shein crap.
@infobeautiful "thermal recycling" is such a cool term.
@infobeautiful
For German speakers: There's a good episode of "Die Anstalt" on this topic.
For German speakers: There's a good episode of "Die Anstalt" on this topic.
@infobeautiful the worst part is that, despite our associations with recycling meaning reuse, most of the recycled plastics get thrown out anyway according to this. And recycling is not that sustainable or clean of a process, so we're spending 6 times as much on recycling than we should be for the amount of actual reuse we're getting out of it
@infobeautiful As always, a single graphic doesn't give enough information.
As well as "used once" and "still in use" there must be some "used more than once but wore out so no longer still in use", just to pick the most obvious example. Clothing for a start, if each time it's worn and washed counts as a "use".
What about the plastic case for the router I threw away recently, after it was in use for a decade or two? Was that "used [just] once", albeit for quite a few years?
@infobeautiful
As a person who recycles, these stats make me sad.
But, they do make me buy less plastic packaging.
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