Attacks on Plastic Recycling Only Worsen the Plastic Waste Problem
Raising doubts about the efficacy of plastic recycling isn't doing anything to stop virgin plastic production, but it may be doing a lot to keep plastic out of recycling bins.
In the current dialogue around how to reduce plastic waste, a troubling trend has emerged. Too often, plastic production and consumption gets conflated with plastic recycling. And a simple, inaccurate phrase - "recycling doesn't work" – gets substituted for the real conversation we need to have about how we can improve and grow recycling in our country.
Plastic recyclers are not the same as the plastics production industry. Recyclers are the managers and mitigators of what would otherwise be plastic waste. Approximately 5 billion pounds of plastic packaging are collected, sorted, processed, and effectively recycled annually in the United States. That's 5 billion pounds of plastic that is not only kept out of landfills and oceans but is also used to make new products. When new products are made from recycled content, we make fewer virgin plastics from fossil fuels, meaning recycled content is the most direct substitute to reduce the use of new plastic.
That's why, once you've used a plastic container, the best option is to recycle it.
Nearly all – 80% – of rigid plastic packaging is made of three types of plastic resin: PET, HDPE, and PP. These are your soda and water bottles, milk jugs, and yogurt containers. When these containers are put into recycling bins, they are collected, sorted, processed, and effectively recycled through North American markets.
Several studies confirm the majority of properly recycled plastics are effectively recycled back into new products and packaging. A recent MIT study found nearly 85% of recovered PET bottles were recycled. The 50 States of Recycling report found over 70% of recyclable plastics were processed into new materials.The numbers from both studies would increase if they included recyclable side streams such as bottle caps and closures. Yet another 2024 national study found US recycling processing facilities effectively sort an average of 85% of recyclables collected from US households. This is a LOT more than the misquoted statthat "only 9%" of plastics are recycled (learn more about the problems with this stat). It's also worth noting that no materials are recycled at 100% because there are always manufacturing losses along the way.
One of the biggest problems is that most plastic containers are not getting back into the recycling system, and recyclers simply cannot recycle what we don't collect. For example, only 3 out of 10 water and soda bottles get put into recycling bins, despite those bottles being 100% recyclable right here by U.S. companies. And the problem goes beyond plastic. American households are not recycling many recyclable products as much as they could. Less than one-third of cardboard boxes and aluminum cans are collected from households.
These statistics make plain the risks of perpetuating negative narratives about recycling. Criticisms of recycling, usually offered under the banner of environmental concern, can cause more harm if recyclable materials are instead put in the trash.
Today, plastics remain the material best fit for use for many applications. And demand for plastic continues to rise. When people hear over and over that recycling doesn't work, they probably will not or often cannot stop buying plastic. They will probably just start putting their used plastic in the trash.
The decision to not recycle has ripple effects down the chain. APR members process recycled plastic to be used in place of virgin plastic; if we collect less plastic for recycling, then more products will be made from virgin plastic. This is counter to the goals we're trying to achieve and an outcome that we cannot accept.
It's also worth stepping out of the US context for a moment. The entire world recognizes recycling as an essential solution to reduce plastic waste. Nearly 170 countries are right now negotiating a global treaty to reduce plastic pollution, and improving plastics recycling has been identified as one the solutions. There is no doubt that plastics recycling plays a key role.
In this context, we must focus on real solutions to make recycling work better here in the U.S. The truth is that recycling has never had adequate, sustained funding, and it has been left for local governments to manage. This strategy has resulted in an inequitable, largely inefficient system. Robust state and national policies are needed to invest in recycling collection, processing, and remanufacturing into new products.
Recycling can and should work better, and improving recycling to enable the use of more recycled content also improves our environment, our health, our local economies, and our national leadership and competitiveness. The only thing we should be trashing is the "stop recycling" soundbite. Let's move past the distractions and start the real work.
