2 ms·
That litter comes from failed recycling for the most part: the US ships its "recycling" to other countries which just tosses in a heap.
by gilbetron 3y ago
That litter comes from failed recycling for the most part: the US ships its "recycling" to other countries which just tosses in a heap.
- toomuchtodo 3y agoThere is nuance. Recycling exports have declined from the US [1], and a significant amount of the recycling stream of little value (non metals) is landfilled instead now [2] [3] (a quick google search will confirm, although some of my info comes from a family friend in a mid level management position at Waste Management). With that said, waste management (the practice) is atrocious or non existent outside of the developed world [4]. And even in the developed world, people still litter [5]. So! We can't use plastic, because we are collectively irresponsible. Maybe we hope it'll end of landfilled after its useful service life, but hope is not a strategy. [1] https://resource-recycling.com/recycling/2023/02/21/u-s-fiber-and-plastic-exports-continued-to-fall-in-2022/ https://resource-recycling.com/recycling/2023/02/21/u-s-fibe... [2] https://www.npr.org/2022/10/24/1131131088/recycling-plastic-is-practically-impossible-and-the-problem-is-getting-worse https://www.npr.org/2022/10/24/1131131088/recycling-plastic-... [3] https://web.archive.org/web/20210120215100/https://napcor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/NAPCOR_2017RateReport_FINAL.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20210120215100/https://napcor.co... [4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6466021/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6466021/ [5] https://www.google.com/search?q=why+do+people+litter https://www.google.com/search?q=why+do+people+litter (fun fact: The origin of "Don't Mess With Texas" is from their anti littering campaign)