Guess how many of the ten plastic bottles you put in the recycling bin actually got recycled. While you’re thinking about that, let me say that I do not want to discourage anyone from recycling plastic. It’s a better-than-nothing option. But there are simple things we can do as better alternatives.
OK, ready? The answer is one. Uno. 1. ONE bottle. Actually a little less than one. A shocking 91% of plastic is never recycled – and not because you didn’t put in the right bin. You did exactly what the plastics industry wanted you to do – believe that you can buy and use all the plastic you want with no impact to the environment. Why? So that they can sell even more plastic. As an aside, one of the wealthiest families in the U.S. is just one of several suppliers of plastic to Costco alone.
Here’s a snippet from a joint investigative report by Frontline and NPR presented by Laura Sullivan:
Plastic Wars: Industry Spent Millions Selling Recycling — To Sell More Plastic
For decades, Americans have been sorting their trash believing that most plastic could be recycled. But the truth is, the vast majority of all plastic produced can’t be or won’t be recycled. In 40 years, less than 10% of plastic has ever been recycled.
Starting in the late 1980s, the plastics industry spent tens of millions of dollars promoting recycling through ads, recycling projects and public relations, telling people plastic could be and should be recycled.
But their own internal records dating back to the 1970s show that industry officials long knew that recycling plastic on a large scale was unlikely to ever be economically viable.
A report sent to top industry executives in April 1973 called recycling plastic “costly” and “difficult.” It called sorting it “infeasible,” saying “there is no recovery from obsolete products.” Another document a year later was candid: There is “serious doubt” widespread plastic recycling “can ever be made viable on an economic basis.”
The industry promoted recycling to keep plastic bans at bay
Despite this, three former top officials, who have never spoken publicly before, said the industry promoted recycling as a way to beat back a growing tide of antipathy toward plastic in the 1980s and ’90s. The industry was facing initiatives to ban or curb the use of plastic. Recycling, the former officials told NPR and Frontline, became a way to preempt the bans and sell more plastic.
NPR, Laura Sullivan, as heard on All Things Considered, March 31, 2020, 8:00 AM ET
This story is part of a joint investigation with the PBS series Frontline that includes the upcoming documentary Plastic Wars, which premiered March 31 at 10/9c on PBS stations and online. For more, please see the report by Laura Sullivan at: https://www.npr.org/2020/03/31/822597631/plastic-wars-three-takeaways-from-the-fight-over-the-future-of-plastics
A better option than recycling plastic is, of course, to buy less of it in the first place. But because of the pervasive use of plastics in or on almost everything we buy, often it cannot be avoided. Reusing plastic products or upcycling them gets at least a few more uses out of plastic before it lands in the landfill and, more important, reduces our need to buy more plastic. In short, “Upcycling” is the creative reuse of by-product or waste materials into new materials or products.
REUSE: First, and most obvious, reuse your water bottles by…. using them as water bottles! Bottlers warn that your should NEVER reuse their bottles. The FDA disagrees.
According to the FDA, you should wash the bottle out with hot soapy water between each use; and if you do that, you can reuse your plastic water bottle as long as it doesn’t appear to be breaking down or showing any cracks. It is via cracks or dings that chemicals could be released. In this situation, I trust the FDA. Water bottlers want you to throw away your perfectly usable plastic bottles… so that you will buy more plastic bottles.
UPCYCLE: Plastic bags large enough to hold 2-3 gallons of soil make great containers for growing potatoes. Double or triple flimsier plastic bags for a sturdier container, poke a couple of holes in the bottom for drainage, fill to height of about 3-4 inches with light soil and roll the bag down to just above dirt level. Plant seed potatoes or even sprouting grocery store potatoes (eyes up!) about 1″ below top of soil. Water well and give lots of sun.
As the tubers sprout their green tops, roll the bag up and add more soil up to the base of the leaves. Potatoes will grow all along the length of the stem, so the taller your tater plants get, and the more soil you add, the more potatoes you’ll have. When the greenery begins to droop and the blossoms wilt (in 80-100 days), it’s time to harvest. You can slit the bag down the side to release the potatoes; or, better, dump out the bags, retrieve the taters, and save the bag and soil for next year.
Please see “Organic Gardening Tips” on this site for more detailed info about growing potatoes in bags or pots.
Please see “Eco-Cool Kids” Easy Projects on this site for a unique Upcycling triple bonus idea: reuse a commonly purchased plastic product; keep the kids busy upcycling it; and use it at the grocery store instead of plastic produce bags! YAY!
There are a bazillion other ways to reuse and upcycle plastic, and a bazillion sites to to tell you how. Just type “upcycling plastics” into your browser and voila!