• neuroneiro@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    5 days ago

    Recycling plastic is & always was a scam.

    In their 2024 paper, The Fraud of Plastic Recycling, The Center for Climate Integrity discovered that only 9-10% of all plastic has been & can be recycled.

    Current U.S. plastic recycling is “only 5-6%”.

    Overall paper recycling is estimated at <69% & glass at <32%. Not great numbers in general but far greater than plastic.

    While glass, aluminum, paper, & obviously recycled plastics like six-pack rings should still be separated, others like those that are solid-colored, should be avoided if possible.

    Unfortunately, trying to eliminate plastic seems to be nearly impossible if you buy almost anything today.

    Lest we forget, this is the same industry that gifted us microplastics & forever chemicals so profits are clearly elevated over people.

    https://climateintegrity.org/uploads/media/Fraud-of-Plastic-Recycling-2024.pdf

    • ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.netEnglish
      0·
      5 days ago

      Recycling is also not a big deal. Complaining about small things like recycling is meant to stop policies that would actually address climate change. People bitch and bitch about small things like paper straws, imagine what will happen if you try to limit how much they can fly, drive or how much meat they can eat.

    • Zwiebel@feddit.orgEnglish
      0·
      5 days ago

      Afaik the ideal is glass bottles that get cleaned and refilled locally. That gets rid of a lot of plastic waste

      • neuroneiro@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        5 days ago

        That could be a solution for plastic bottles but what about other things like, say, a bucket or parts of an umbrella?

        Plastic is so much cheaper. Switching to alternatives might destroy economies since so many can barely afford it as it is.

        I like the idea of reuse but it seems unlikely that alternate materials would become the norm. Also, aside from growlers, filling bottles is not something I’ve seen in California.

    • PlexSheep@infosec.pubEnglish
      0·
      5 days ago

      It’s really simple. Would you rather sort through trash to get second hand materials for your product that you can’t even use for things like food packaging, or buy the clean plastic that is a byproduct from oil refining that they have so much of they pay you to take away from them?

      I’m not saying this as a defense. But it shows why capitalist corporations will always choose one thing over the other unless some force makes them.

      • neuroneiro@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        5 days ago

        Yes, as long as consumers continue to pick the shiny new plastics that corporations, focus groups, & marketers expect or convince them to pick.

    • TIEPilot@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      5 days ago

      I used to travel that much in a year, no its not enjoyable. Now if its possible I drive/train to where I want to visit.

      You learn to hate travel, eating out every morning/day/night, ect. I used to make them set me up in classy extended stays so I could cook for myself.

      Oh and the fun when the travel agent gets you a compact and I have 6 military grade travel cases to load out at 0100 in BFE. Good luck getting someone on the phone to fix that…

      /GAAAAAAHHHHH! I don’t miss that life!

      • qarbone@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        5 days ago

        Were you doing that travel on a private jet? Because I feel like the scenario skews when you don’t have to have to deal with airport admin and sharing elbow space

        • TIEPilot@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          5 days ago

          Sometimes, also private prop jobs to take me out to BFE where you slept in a bunk house/barracks full of strangers. Mostly normal commercial, rarely military (so loud, they are not built for comfort).

          Airport staff or other passengers was never an issue. The biggest issue is this is for work. You have no choice, you have to be there. Yeah maybe getting waited on hand and foot makes it better but I bet you get sick of that too.

          Like I said I wanted extended stay rooms to cook. I have a nearly unlimited food budget. Steak and lobsters every night… You burn out of that, at the end of my road work I would get a good loaf of wheat bread and eat PBJ’s.

          We did switch to per diem and fucking hell did I make money on that!