There's so much misinformation and disinformation regarding recycling. The negative press deters people away from recycling because of plastic. But plastic is not all recycling! Let's talk about how successful ACTUAL recycling is.
There's so much misinformation and disinformation regarding recycling. The negative press deters people away from recycling because of plastic. But plastic is not all recycling! Let's talk about how successful ACTUAL recycling is.
Cardboard and other papers have the highest rate of recycling in the country, but also make up the largest quantity of material going to landfills by weight according to the data collected every year by the EPA. These products in landfills mean more methane emissions and more climate change gases in the atmosphere.
Glass and metal recycling rates are impacted by the lack of access in cities in communities of color and low-income neighborhoods, increasing the number of materials extracted from the earth to produce nonrenewable resources. These materials are infinitely recyclable and we can continue to decrease the need to extract these resources.
The myth that we are the reason for plastic recycling failing because we haven't been good enough at washing out our peanut butter jars is a lie! What's really happening is the plastics making it to China are not sorted because we are lied to about what plastics can be recycled, which is basically none! So they are all mixed in there together. The other materials that make up the "contamination" are materials from industrial processes like smelting iron and textile mills. It's not our fault!
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