5 reasons why recycling is not the answer
When I collected all of my plastic waste for a year, I found out that only 4% of it would end up being recycled in the UK. And based on the results of The Everyday Plastic Survey so far, that figure appears to be consistent.
So why are we being told to recycle more? Here are just five of the reasons why recycling isn’t working.
1. There is too much stuff
Recycling will never, ever, EVER be able to deal with the amount of plastic that is currently being pumped through the system. There is just too much stuff being produced, used and thrown away.
The majority of manufacturing industries follow a simple supply and demand economic model. The basic premise is that we are sold stuff only as we ask for it.
However, the market for plastic packaging is supply-led – there is so much being produced that it far supersedes the demand for it. It needs a destination, and you can bet that the sales teams for plastic producers are active, sweet-talking the likes of Tesco, Amazon, Unilever and Coca Cola to buy their products for next to nothing.
2. Infrastructure is incapable
The results from The Everyday Plastic Survey so far estimate that only 5% of the plastic waste collected by 200 households would end up being recycled in the UK. By these calculations, even if recycling was ten times better, we’d still only recycle half of what is being thrown away.
According to our research, only 37% of the plastic we’ve analysed is considered recyclable by the UK’s local authorities. Even the British Plastics Federation – the representative body of our national plastics industry – admits that “the UK does not have capacity to recycle all of the plastics it produces.”
We need to invest £billions in order to bring our infrastructure to a point where we can even begin to make headway on recycling. Much more than the £20million that was allocated to improving recycling infrastructure in the Autumn Budget 2018.
3. Recycled plastic has a low market value
I hate to tell you this, but plastic production is only just hitting its stride. The shift to renewable energy and electric-powered transport means that the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries are hedging their bets in plastic packaging.
The coronavirus pandemic drove oil prices down further and they went to their lowest price for over a decade. This paved the way for already cheaply produced virgin plastic (plastic made from brand new materials) to become cheaper to produce.
Global awareness, corporate commitments and impending legislation have driven demand for recycled plastic. Contrary to the supply-led market of virgin plastic, recycled plastic is demand-led, meaning that recycling processors can now sell at a higher price.
How is recycling going to work if it doesn’t even make economic sense?
4. Most of the stuff we use is non-recyclable soft plastic
Thanks to the 500+ people who have taken The Everyday Plastic Survey, I can safely predict that most of the plastic packaging thrown out by UK households is soft plastic. At the time of writing, we’ve analysed over 23,000 pieces of plastic for The Everyday Plastic Survey. A whopping 66% of that is soft, flimsy, low-grade, low-value plastic film – and barely any of it will get recycled here in the UK.
In December 2016, WRAP stated that “there is a limited UK market currently for recycled household plastic film packaging and most of this material goes to landfill, energy from waste or may be exported for reprocessing”.
Nothing really has changed since then, in fact, the picture could be getting worse. According to RECOUP, only 16% of councils now collect plastic film – a figure that has been getting smaller for the last 3 years.
5. Plastic has a very limited recyclability
Plastic packaging has about 2-3 recycle cycles in it before it becomes too poor a quality to use in new products. Unlike our old mate, glass.
Take the glass milk bottle for example. It’s delivered, its contents consumed, returned, washed, sterilised, refilled with milk, delivered, consumed etc.. After it’s been through this cycle around 25 times, it’ll get melted down and turned back into a milk bottle, ready to start the sequence again. It is the perfect example of a circular economy.
Until there is a significant (like, really significant) investment in innovation, our ambition for a circular plastics economy is just not achievable.
These are just some of the reasons why recycling isn’t the answer. Recycling definitely has a part to play in solutions to the plastic problem, but it won’t play a starring role.
We’ll discuss more on our blog in the future – subscribe to receive the latest posts to your inbox.
Further reading/watching:
The Recycling Myth – Greenpeace
What we throw away and where it goes – Everyday Plastic (Daniel Webb and Dr Julie Schneider)
Recycling is not enough - GAIA and Zero Waste Europe, January 2018.
Recycle now – check what is recycled in your area
Dirty Business: What really happens to our recycling – Sky News