How much plastic can we recycle?
The recycling rate varies depending on the location, plastic type, and application. Scientists estimate that only about 9% of all plastic waste generated globally is recycled. Most of our plastic waste (up to 79%) ends up in landfills or flowing into nature, with approximately 12% being incinerated.
Why don't we recycle more plastic?
In principle, most plastic materials can be recycled. However, in practice, recycling faces many obstacles:
Pollution: Plastic waste is often contaminated by labels, food residues, or other materials. For example, putting products that cannot be recycled into the recycling bin may contaminate the waste logistics and even damage the recycling equipment. This will lower the quality of recycled products and make the classification process more complex. If the pollution caused by waste logistics is too severe, it will be impossible to recycle and everything will be transferred to landfills.
Harmful chemicals: Plastics contain complex mixtures of chemical additives that endow them with specific properties such as flexibility, vibrant colors, or waterproofing. Many of these substances are harmful to human health. Recycling plastic products containing hazardous chemicals may have long-term negative health impacts on workers, local communities, and end product users.
High cost: There are thousands of different types of plastics, each with unique characteristics that affect its structure, color, and melting point. Due to the inability to process these materials together, collection, classification, and processing are more complex and expensive. For example, one of the most common plastics, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), is said to be 100% recyclable. But green PET bottles cannot be recycled together with transparent PET bottles.
How often can plastic be recycled?
Every time plastic is recycled, the quality of the material decreases. Due to the mixing of different materials during the recycling process, harmful chemicals can accumulate. Therefore, most plastics are only recycled once or twice before being thrown into landfills or incinerators. Most of today's recycling only postpones final disposal, rather than preventing waste. Food contamination and the presence of harmful chemicals are one of the factors that complicate or completely prevent plastic recycling.
How to recycle plastic?
Although the recycling process may vary depending on location, equipment, and other factors, the following steps are typically followed:
Collection: Consumers put plastic into recycling containers;
Classification: Facilities classify plastics and other materials according to different types of plastics;
Cleaning: Clean and dry the materials to remove contaminants;
Reprocessing: Plastic is ground into thin sheets, heated and pressed into new particles;
Production: The particles are melted and form new plastic products.
What is the difference between recycling and downgrading recycling?
Recycling means processing used plastic materials into new products. For example, recycling PET bottles into recycled PET particles. And downgrading recycling means transforming plastic into products of lower quality compared to the original materials. This situation occurs due to changes in the molecular structure during the recycling process, which makes the product less suitable for high-performance applications. For example, turning PET bottles into low-quality polyester fibers for clothing. Nowadays, most processes described as recycling are actually downgraded recycling.
What can we do?
Relying on recycling cannot solve the plastic crisis. But there are many measures in the plastic lifecycle that can help address the plastic crisis and protect people's health in the process, but this often requires the participation of all stakeholders in the plastic value chain. For example, reducing the use of unnecessary plastics; Establish transparency and traceability of chemicals used in plastics; Non toxicity of plastic products: gradually reducing and eliminating the use of hazardous chemicals in plastics; Stop recycling plastics containing hazardous chemicals; Simplify and coordinate plastic materials; Strengthen extended producer responsibility.
