Plastic producers' lies

brianlux

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8mduTEvnU0

Yes, John, you bet, I have.  Recycling of plastic is a farce.

‘They lied’: plastics producers deceived public about recycling, report reveals

Companies knew for decades recycling was not viable but promoted it regardless, Center for Climate Integrity study finds

Plastic producers have known for more than 30 years that recycling is not an economically or technically feasible plastic waste management solution. That has not stopped them from promoting it, according to a new report.

Plastic, which is made from oil and gas, is notoriously difficult to recycle. Doing so requires meticulous sorting, since most of the thousands of chemically distinct varieties of plastic cannot be recycled together. That renders an already pricey process even more expensive. Another challenge: the material degrades each time it is reused, meaning it can generally only be reused once or twice.

Spunkie

HI, B. Good topic. Our local high-school grinds plastic bottles and reforms into products they sell in our town mall. (Also, thanks for the Kudos this week).

brianlux

Spunkie said:

HI, B. Good topic. Our local high-school grinds plastic bottles and reforms into products they sell in our town mall. (Also, thanks for the Kudos this week).

Thank you and you're welcome!        

The bummer about the lies regarding plastic is two-fold:

First:  No matter how hard one tries, today it is nearly impossible to live without plastic.  And it has been solidly proven that much of what is made out of plastic could be made out of hemp.  One company even built some tractor part out of hemp! And help can be composted and the plant is nitrogen fixing, thus is good for the soil.  Plastic has long been a huge rip-off for the planet and the environment.

Secondly, the biggest lie:  that plastic is fully recyclable.  Glass and aluminum can be used over and over again, almost endlessly.  Plastic, on the other hand, is very difficult to recycle, and only very specific kinds of plastic only can be recycled together, and even then, it can only be reused once or twice.  Most plastic is either burned (which is very toxic) or is piling up in landfills where it can take up to 1,000 years to decompose, and even then never fully disappears- all 8.3+ billion tons of it. 

We've been lied to (and have fooled ourselves) about planet for far too long.