Recycling is Good Isn't it?

Reduce, reuse, and recycle is the phrase that is ingrained into people when it comes to the use of plastics, but how effective this really is. Recycling is marketed as being one of the best ways to combat uses of plastic but it may just be more of an empty excuse. The United States and the UK are the largest users of plastic in the world but how much of their plastic are they really recycling? In the United States reports in 2018 and 2019 were coming out with numbers saying that around 9% of plastic waste was being recycled. This means that the other 91% was ending up in landfills, the ocean, and even other countries. This already low percentage was accused of over-predicting the amount of plastic we recycle here in the United States. Another study done in 2021 by the organization's Last Beach Cleanup and Beyond Plastics found that 5% of plastics are getting recycled in the US.

The problem with plastic is that every single part of the lifecycle of plastic is harmful to not only the environment but to human health as well. Around 99% of plastics are made from fossil fuels, mostly gas and oil. According to the Human Rights Watch (HRW) in 2019, “Global production disposal, and incineration of plastic emitted 850 million metric tons of greenhouse gasses (CO2e), which is the equivalent to the emissions of nearly 190 medium-sized coal power plants”. This is a major contributor to releases of greenhouse gasses and therefore climate change as a whole. While only a small percentage of plastics make it to the step of recycling, there are also negative side effects associated with recycling plastic itself. In order for plastic to be recycled it must be sorted, shredded, melted down, and formed into pellets to create new products. Studies have found that these processes release fine plastic particles, dioxins, and other harmful chemical additives used to make plastics. These are harmful to human health and have been linked to respiratory illnesses, cancer, and even reproductive issues. Additionally the process of recycling is a water intensive process which may take away water that could be used for drinking and has the potential to contaminate that water as well. Recycling is really not the glorified process it is made out to be

The United States and the UK have limited capacity to do our own recycling. Historically, these countries have sent most of their recycling out to other countries to deal with it. A very large portion of recycling was sent to China, but in 2018 they enacted a new policy banning the importation of most plastics. Prior to this ban the US was sending 70% of its plastics to China and the European Union (EU) was sending 95%. Following the ban other smaller and generally poorer countries received extreme increases in the amount of plastics being imported. Nations such as Indonesia and Vietnam had over a 200% increase in scrap plastics imports. Another nation which has had significant increases in plastic imports is Turkey. The EU in particular has started sending a large portion of its plastics to Turkey. According to the HRW Turkey was the largest recipient of plastics from the EU receiving nearly 450,000 tons. The growth of the Recycling industry in Turkey has raised human rights concerns ranging from work conditions to human health and environmental impacts. There have been a range of negative human health effects in workers and people who live near these facilities posing a threat to people's right to not only health, but to life. Additionally HRW reports children as young as 9 working in these facilities despite labor laws raising issues in regards to safe working conditions and child labor. These inadequate working conditions also pose a threat to health and life that needs to be addressed and regulated by the Turkish Government. While this is an issue within Turkey, The nations sending their plastic away should also bear some responsibility and create limitations on how much plastic they are producing and consequently sending away to be recycled.

Sources:

https://www.hrw.org/report/2022/09/21/its-if-theyre-poisoning-us/health-impacts-plastic-recycling-turkey

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/04/us-recycling-plastic-waste

https://earth.org/china-ban-on-imported-scrap-plastic/?gclid=CjwKCAjwkaSaBhA4EiwALBgQaMyQ8MruwHH-8cu-RaSoj06sTqA0sn6tcWabj181wVtPHwUOAPSyRBoCW_oQAvD_BwE