Plastic experts say recycling is a scam. Should we even do it anymore?

Aluminum isn’t transparent and can’t handle certain chemicals, but it’s not that expensive—if it’s recycled consistently.

It’s routinely replaced by steel for, say, cans because that ends up being cheaper (with thinner walls), but steel is also cheaply and effectively recycled. It also often has a thin plastic layer when holding acids (like Coca-Cola), so it’s not a complete replacement.

thinking about how this works, it just astounds me how clever and creative it is from the industry standpoint. capture a word, then redefine it to conform to an existing effort.

Modern recycling transfers plastic waste away from capitalisms best consumers (the west) and burdens it upon its least visible (the third world.) Its like a black hole for all the immediate problems of the indelible hell you've created. in electronics recycling has an added bonus for elites as it generates scavenging jobs for children and adults alike, further cementing their class status through subsistence poverty.

the cult of recycling will continue just as long it continues to ensure plastic detritus doesnt impinge upon elites, and this is evidenced by things like plastic bag bans which exist predominantly in affluent western cities. Once no one wanted to "recycle" the bags anymore, (or consumers couldnt be counted on to behave properly and accept "recycling") the bags were just banned or taxed.

perhaps the most damning impact to recycling in the 21st century has been Chinas realization that it is a garbage shipping scheme and promptly banning waste import from the west. That certainly sent "recyclers" scrambling for a new "partner" for a time.

the only way to stop "recycling" is to do something akin to that which Germany does: emburden the capitalist with their waste and allow shoppers to return the various detritus directly to them. we do this to a limited extent in the USA, forcing electronics stores and auto repair shops to accept waste oils, batteries, and electronics, but it pales in contrast to what some european countries force their profiteers to acquiesce.

You can very easily define symbols that match what is on collection boxes. That’s not difficult: the current standard is a series of numbers with three chasing arrows. Obviously, you want to challenge the arrows because they were intentionally picked to look like the recycling logo, but if you need a complex system (and we don’t) numbers are fine.

A better system is to consign containers and have the collection machine do the sorting.

If plastic becomes toxic, it won't _become toxic_, it will become recognized as toxic, which would mean that it's toxic right now, and while that's true for some plastics, it doesn't seem to be true for the majority of food-safe plastics in use.

I think it's more likely that there's some kind of subtle effect from the introduction of microplastics into the ecosystem that we haven't identified yet, but as of right now, there's no conclusive evidence that I'm aware of that microplastics are toxic, only that sufficient accumulation of them can impair biological function, just the same as any contaminant would.