The idea that recycling is a universal solution to waste has been deeply ingrained in public consciousness for decades. To be honest, before I had heard of this ‘theory’, I would have thought I was doing a stellar job in reducing (or at the very least, mitigating) my carbon footprint.
However, a growing number of news websites, environmental activists and even people in my life are questioning its efficacy. The increasing skepticism about recycling might come from a complex interplay of historical industry practices, economic realities, and the logistical challenges of waste management. As hard as some countries have tried, with Kenya and Thailand going as far as banning the sale of plastic bags in all major stores and supermarkets, 91% of global plastic waste goes unrecycled. But why?
At its core, the people saying recycling is fake say the vast majority of materials, particularly plastics, placed in recycling bins are not actually reprocessed into new products. Instead, the belief is these materials often end up in landfills, incinerators, or are shipped overseas only to be dumped. It tells everyone at home that the promotion of recycling has been a grossly misleading tactic, and we’ve been sorting our bins and garbage and moving our stinky compost with bare hands.
Are they entirely wrong?
Perhaps the most significant driver of skepticism is the revelation that the plastics industry itself knew, for decades, that most plastics were not economically or technically viable to recycle. Reports indicate that companies spent millions on advertising campaigns promoting recycling as a solution, even while understanding “recycling plastic is nearly impossible” and the plastic pollution problem that has plagued our planet. This is seen by some as a campaign designed to encourage continued plastic production and consumption by alleviating public environmental concerns.
Despite activist efforts and net zero promises, global plastic recycling rates remain dismally low: around 9% of all plastic ever produced has been recycled, with the UK being the second highest producers of plastic waste per capita after the United States. Unlike materials like glass, paper, or aluminum, plastics are diverse, comprising thousands of different types with varying chemical compositions. This makes sorting more complicated. Plastic also degrades each time it’s recycled, limiting its reuse potential.
The economics often don’t favor recycling. It is frequently cheaper to produce new plastic from virgin fossil fuels than to collect, sort, clean, and reprocess used plastic (Just Zero, 2024; NPR, 2020). When the market value for recycled materials drops, collection facilities may struggle to find buyers, leading to collected recyclables being landfilled.
A case study: China’s “National Sword” Policy
A pivotal moment that exposed the fragility of global recycling systems was China’s “Green Fence” and subsequent “National Sword” policy of 2018. For decades, countries shipped vast quantities of their recyclable waste, much of it contaminated, to China for processing. China’s ban on these imports, citing environmental and health concerns from processing “dirty waste,” left many countries scrambling to manage their own waste. This policy revealed how dependent many nations were on exporting their recycling problem, and its immediate aftermath saw increased landfilling of materials previously thought to be recycled.
Public confusion about what can and cannot be recycled – often termed “wishcycling”, it leads to contamination of recycling streams. When non-recyclable items or food waste are mixed with genuinely recyclable materials, entire batches can become unusable and are diverted to landfill.
Tania Ruiz, an environmental activist and local whistleblower about the falsehoods of plastic recycling, said: “I was in disbelief when I found out how much plastic goes unrecycled. It’s not right. We are told again and again to recycle – that it’s good for the environment, it’s how we can help; but the truth is if we continue to use, produce and buy plastic, nothing will change. It will keep getting worse.”
“The minor things we do to help; using paper straws, trying to recycle, eat less meat. It does so, so little in the grand scheme of things. It helps a bit, but nothing will change and everything is still at stake until the big companies start taking accountability.”
But does this mean we should stop recycling entirely?
No!
With household and packaging waste, we are starting to do better. In 2023, 64.8% of UK packaging waste was recycled, a positive increase from 62.4% in 2022. Aluminium recycling has also increased, hitting an impressive 68% rate in 2023. Glass is on the rise too, at 48% in 2024.
It’s a slow but good start. In the meantime, we can still do our best to decrease the amount of plastic material we choose to purchase. Of course, it’s not entirely avoidable, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t at least for our planet.
