Recycling

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The plastic industry has spent the last 30 years selling false information that makes recycling out as the solution to plastic waste.1

 

But here's the truth: Only 5% of plastics are effectively recycled, and the rest end up polluting our environment in landfills or incinerators -- or as litter in our parks, beaches and waterways where they can harm wildlife. The plastic crisis has spiraled out of control, with an estimated 171 trillion pieces of plastic currently floating in our oceans.2,3

 

The plastic industry cannot continue to deceive the public and harm the environment with thousands of tons of plastic waste. We're working to expose the truth about plastic and hold the industry accountable for the harm it's causing.

 

For decades, the industry has hidden the truth about the economic and technical feasibility of recycling plastic from you and millions of other Americans.

 

In 1994, a plastic industry professional told a conference full of plastic representatives that the plastic waste problem wouldn't be solved with current recycling methods.4

 

The plastic representatives didn't see this as a problem. Why? As one Exxon employee said later that year, "We are committed to the activities [of plastics recycling], but not committed to the results."5

 

As long as plastic companies could keep selling their plastic products, it didn't matter to them that recycling could never keep up with the immense flow of plastic waste.

 

But while they profit, wildlife suffer. They're drowned by discarded plastic trash that wraps around flippers and necks. They're suffocated or choked by plastic grocery bags that are easily mistaken for a tasty jellyfish. They graze on shards of plastic bottles that hide in seaweed beds.

How do we hold the plastic industry accountable?

• We're calling on the corporations that produce and sell all this plastic to phase out single-use plastics and replace them with more sustainable alternatives.

• We're urging the federal government to act by passing the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act, which would reduce single-use plastic nationally, make recycling more effective, boost composting and reusability, and more.

• We're organizing grassroots support to urge decision-makers to enact statewide bans on the most wasteful forms of single-use plastic -- and along with our national network, we've already helped win bans in 14 states.6

• We're working to pass producer responsibility legislation in more states to hold plastic producers responsible for the waste their products become -- and add to the momentum that California, Colorado, Maine and Oregon have started with their producer responsibility laws.7

There's no quick fix to our plastic waste crisis, but we have the skills, knowledge and dedication it takes to win. Your support helps give us the resources required to go up against powerful actors like the plastic industry.

Thank you,

Wendy Wendlandt
President

1. Dharna Noor, "'They lied': plastics producers deceived public about recycling, report reveals," The Guardian, February 15, 2024.
2. Nina Lakhani, "Only 5% of plastic waste generated by US last year was recycled, report says," The Guardian, October 24, 2022.
3. Georgina Rannard, "Oceans littered with 171 trillion plastic pieces," BBC, March 8, 2023.
4. Dharna Noor, "'They lied': plastics producers deceived public about recycling, report reveals," The Guardian, February 15, 2024.
5. Dharna Noor, "'They lied': plastics producers deceived public about recycling, report reveals," The Guardian, February 15, 2024.
6. "Reducing plastic waste in the states," Environment America, July 26, 2022.
7. "Reducing plastic waste in the states," Environment America, July 26, 2022.

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Plastic, Plastic Everywhere — Even at the UN’s “Plastic Free” Conference

When I registered to attend last month’s United Nations conference in Canada, organizers insisted it would be a “plastic free meeting.” I wouldn’t even get a see-through sleeve for my name tag, they warned; I’d have to reuse an old lanyard.

https://www.propublica.org/article/plastics-waste-united-nations-international-conference-treaty-ottawa?

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Selling a Mirage

Last year, I became obsessed with a plastic cup.

https://www.propublica.org/article/delusion-advanced-chemical-plastic-recycling-pyrolysis?

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When Is “Recyclable” Not Really Recyclable? When the Plastics Industry Gets to Define What the Word Means.

Is there anything more pathetic than a used plastic bag?

https://www.propublica.org/article/plastics-industry-redefine-recyclable-ftc-grocery-bags?

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Is this ancient process the future of plastics recycling?

On Point and ProPublica are launching a new collaboration, bringing you monthly special episodes that combine ProPublica’s groundbreaking investigative reporting with On Point’s incisive analysis.

https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2024/08/16/pyrolysis-oil-company-plastics-recycling-propublica

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California sues ExxonMobil and says it lied about plastics recycling

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California sued ExxonMobil Monday, alleging the oil giant deceived the public for half a century by promising that the plastics it produced would be recycled.

https://apnews.com/article/california-exxonmobil-lawsuit-plastic-8c5830696ffb02031c53c3077457ebc5?

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ExxonMobil Accused of “Deceptively” Promoting Chemical Recycling as a Solution for the Plastics Crisis

Yet it marketed the cups as containing “30% ISCC PLUS certified-circular content” — shorthand for 30% recycled — through a controversial accounting method called mass balance, which allows recyclers to pump up the advertised recycledness of one product by reducing the advertised recycledness of other, less lucrative products.

https://www.propublica.org/article/exxonmobil-plastics-recycling-pyrolysis-lawsuit-california?

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Reuse, repair, recycle

Global material use has tripled in five decades, with plastic consumption accounting for 30% of our waste. The positive news: Plastic can be recycled. Explore and subscribe to Bank of America Institute to learn more about the circular economy, and what is needed to meet higher recycling targets.