(2024-11-27) Burja Plastic Recycling Does Not Work

Samo Burja (Bismarck Analysis): Plastic Recycling Does Not Work. For many materials like metals or paper, recycling drives down costs, saves energy, and substitutes for resource extraction. Plastics, however, are not conducive to large-scale recycling.

Recycling is a daily fixture in the lives of consumers in wealthy countries. In developed nations, most urban areas and effectively all leading cities run municipal recycling programs. A 2021 survey estimated that 60% of the U.S. population lives in areas with curbside recycling pickup and 93% live in areas with either that or a drop-off recycling program.1 These recycling programs are extremely popular. Per Pew Research, 46% of U.S. adults said in 2014 that they recycle or reduce waste to protect the environment “whenever possible,” compared to only 4% who said they never do.2 Recycling is a major source of raw materials, providing from roughly 25% to up to 60% of the world’s supply of critical commodity metals like steel, aluminum, and lead, with similar proportions for other materials like paper and glass. But household recycling contributes little to this compared to industrial recycling, and recycling of plastics is currently ineffective to the point that incinerating them would be a superior method of disposal.