6 ms·

The idea that we'll get Americans to properly dispose of plastic is not credible to me, without some kind of cultural shift that I don't expect (I'm aware that

The idea that we'll get Americans to properly dispose of plastic is not credible to me, without some kind of cultural shift that I don't expect (I'm aware that some other countries, perhaps Germany and Japan, are much more diligent about how you dispose of household waste). I've observed a number of people who haven't seemed to internalize the current rules about what can be recycled. People especially want to think that thin plastic bags can go in the recycling with everything else. I don't think people are going to move away from single-stream recycling, which appears to be a big part of the problem.

wmf 4y ago
The "proper" way to dispose of plastic is in the trash. We just need to admit this and get the message out.
- hyperpape 4y ago
  I'm not completely sure, but I don't think that's true for plastic bottles. Maybe it's the best approach because it's simpler and people can adhere to it, but I think if you could get people to follow the rules, recycling bottles and throwing away thin plastic would be better.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
patja 4y ago
Most telling is the person in the article with some experience working in the recycling industry who was ignorant of the fact that her curbside recycling program does not accept the blue and white Amazon mailers, nor did she know that the paper shipping label must be removed (often an impossible task without solvents or a lot of time and patience) prior to drop off at the supermarket collection bin.
MockObject 4y ago
I was a dutiful recycler until links here on HN taught me that plastic thrown in the main garbage stream would end up safely in a landfill, but 20% of recycled plastic ends up in the ocean!
- ars 4y ago
  > but 20% of recycled plastic ends up in the ocean! I'm virtually certain that's not even close to true. I remember reading a study that pretended like that was the number, but looking closer the "study" was basically "let's make up numbers, and extrapolate them", and they didn't collect any actual data.
  - MockObject 4y ago
    Is this the reporting you're criticizing? "Want to save the oceans? Stop recycling plastic "If you put your plastic in your recycling bin, there’s a decent chance it will end up in the seas off east Asia. If you put it in landfill, it’s going nowhere" https://inews.co.uk/opinion/landfill-better-recycled-plastic-ends-up-sea-1891207 https://inews.co.uk/opinion/landfill-better-recycled-plastic...
    - ars 4y ago
      That article isn't terrible, but it links to https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344922003512?via%3Dihub https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092134492... which essentially calculated that since x% of trash in a country goes to the ocean, then a similar % of recycled material that that country receives also goes to the ocean. (It's not the study I read, but it makes the same error.) This is a false connection. Countries pay money for recycling, they are not going to turn around and dump that valuable material in the ocean. Contrary to what many people think, recycling producers do NOT pay poor countries to accept plastic, it's the other way around.

wmf 4y ago

The "proper" way to dispose of plastic is in the trash. We just need to admit this and get the message out.

hyperpape 4y ago
I'm not completely sure, but I don't think that's true for plastic bottles. Maybe it's the best approach because it's simpler and people can adhere to it, but I think if you could get people to follow the rules, recycling bottles and throwing away thin plastic would be better.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

patja 4y ago

Most telling is the person in the article with some experience working in the recycling industry who was ignorant of the fact that her curbside recycling program does not accept the blue and white Amazon mailers, nor did she know that the paper shipping label must be removed (often an impossible task without solvents or a lot of time and patience) prior to drop off at the supermarket collection bin.

MockObject 4y ago

I was a dutiful recycler until links here on HN taught me that plastic thrown in the main garbage stream would end up safely in a landfill, but 20% of recycled plastic ends up in the ocean!

ars 4y ago
> but 20% of recycled plastic ends up in the ocean! I'm virtually certain that's not even close to true. I remember reading a study that pretended like that was the number, but looking closer the "study" was basically "let's make up numbers, and extrapolate them", and they didn't collect any actual data.
- MockObject 4y ago
  Is this the reporting you're criticizing? "Want to save the oceans? Stop recycling plastic "If you put your plastic in your recycling bin, there’s a decent chance it will end up in the seas off east Asia. If you put it in landfill, it’s going nowhere" https://inews.co.uk/opinion/landfill-better-recycled-plastic-ends-up-sea-1891207 https://inews.co.uk/opinion/landfill-better-recycled-plastic...
  - ars 4y ago
    That article isn't terrible, but it links to https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344922003512?via%3Dihub https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092134492... which essentially calculated that since x% of trash in a country goes to the ocean, then a similar % of recycled material that that country receives also goes to the ocean. (It's not the study I read, but it makes the same error.) This is a false connection. Countries pay money for recycling, they are not going to turn around and dump that valuable material in the ocean. Contrary to what many people think, recycling producers do NOT pay poor countries to accept plastic, it's the other way around.