The Reality of Recycling

Recycling is a great way to reuse used plastic amenities and products that can no longer be used, but what really happens to most recyclables? Most people would think that recyclable products are broken down to be remade into new products, although that is not the case. Much of the plastics from the United States are exported to countries with poor waste management like Indonesia where the plastics are dumped and burned. This not only leaves long lasting impacts on the communities that take care of plastics, but also pollutes the Earth from shipping the plastics all the way across the world which releases over millions of tons of carbon.

In 2017, the United States exported 276,200 shipping containers, equating to 1.5 million metric tons of plastic waste. In some cases, the plastics are roughly sorted, shredded, and melted by impecunious families in dangerous, hazardous conditions. To make matters worse, most of the low-quality plastic that were recycled never even make it back to the United States. Because of all the waste that ends up in other countries, many places are seeking policy changes to cut back on the amount of waste that ends up in their countries.

China established the National Sword policy which would restrict the amount of plastic waste incoming from other countries as well as establish their own domestic recycling program. In response to China’s policy, recyclers from across the world mover their operations from China to other countries in Asia, leading to unethical procedures in those areas. Jan Dell from the Plastic Pollution Collision states the policy led, “to the rise of over two hundred illegal operations in Malaysia” (Dell). Sending out plastics to other countries is a simple and easy way for industrialized countries like the United States to tally their plastic waste as “recycled” without having to deal with the environmental impacts and disposal costs.

The number of shipping containers containing used plastic good is steadily declining for the United States. The Plastic Pollution Coalition found that, “…about 157,000 large 20-ft (TEU) shipping containers (429 per day) of U.S. plastic waste were sent in 2018 to countries that are now known to be overwhelmed with plastic waste…” (Dell). Following in 2019, the number of plastic waste exports fell to 88,000 shipping containers. While these numbers do show great progress, the precise amount of plastic waste that end up in countries with high waste mismanagement may be under reported due to the fact that the United States exports millions of pounds of plastic waste to countries like Japan and Canada who then can export the waste elsewhere.

 

Sources

https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/blog/2020/4/6/why-is-the-us-still-offshoring-post-consumer-plastic-waste-around-the-world

https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/blog/2019/3/6/157000-shipping-containers-of-us-plastic-waste-exported-to-countries-with-poor-waste-management-in-2018