Plastic recycling is a lie

It has been in the news recently how plastic recycling is a scam perpetuated by the oil and plastics industries. Most plastics are not and cannot be recycled. (links below).

In light of this information should adjust the following policy:

plastic bag ban should be renamed single use plastic ban and have a large effect on improving the environment. From what i have read below a single use plastic ban would be a very big step in cleaning up the environment and force the industry to come up with alternative biodegradable packaging.

some interesting takeaways from the articles:

Industry spends millions advertising plastic recyclability and fighting laws to reduce plastic waste. Meanwhile little plastic is recycled. Less then 10% in the USA.

Fundamentally plastics are not recyclable. Plastics degrade when reused and separating contaminates is a very difficult problem. Recycling the plastic and cleaning it requires more energy and emits more pollution then just making new plastic.

Recycled plastics can have toxic compounds in them, that are not regulated or tested. Black plastics are especially bad. avoid black recycled plastic

A single use plastics ban would be particularly effective in improving the environment.




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Isn’t it a question between physical recycling and chemical recycling? Plastics degrade in physical recycling, but chemical recycling, which breaks the plastic down to its constituent monomers should solve the problem right? Although it is more expensive and intensive, doesn’t have to be though, probably requires some tech breakthroughs and government/private/co-op investment? And make recycled plastics competitive with unrecycled plastics, before non-infrastructural plastics are phased out.

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Hopefully, one day. The point is that it’s been promised but not fulfilled and the assumption that the problem was solved greatly distorted public policy.

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Indeed that is very true, probably should be represented in game some way.

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Do you have any proposals for this should be represented in game? And how it could be combatted?

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