Posted on 02/17/2024 2:47:17 PM PST by nickcarraway
Plastic producers should ‘pay for the damage they’ve caused’ after decades of deception, the report's authors say.
Recycling has been promoted as a solution to plastic waste management for more than 50 years.
But big oil companies and the plastics industry have known for decades that it’s not a technically or economically viable solution, a new report reveals.
Combining existing research and recently revealed internal documents, the report by the Center for Climate Integrity Research (CCI) could form the foundation for legal action, its authors say.
“When corporations and trade groups know that their products pose grave risks to society, and then lie to the public and policymakers about it, they must be held accountable,” says CCI President Richard Wiles.
“Accountability means stopping the lying, telling the truth, and paying for the damage they’ve caused.”
Plastic producers misled the public about recycling The report unveils the fraudulent marketing and public education campaigns used to promote plastic as recyclable, despite knowing that it is not a workable solution.
These strategies allowed the single-use plastics industry to expand, while avoiding regulation to effectively address waste and pollution, the report says.
“Recycling cannot be considered a permanent solid waste solution [to plastics], as it merely prolongs the time until an item is disposed of,” reads a 1986 report by industry trade group the Vinyl Institute (VI).
The group’s founding director, Roy Gottesman, highlighted the issue again in 1989 at a conference, warning, “Recycling cannot go on indefinitely, and does not solve the solid waste problem.”
Why is plastic so hard to recycle? With thousands of different types used in everyday products, plastic is expensive to collect and sort. It also degrades after just one or two uses, becoming more toxic each time it is repurposed.
Despite knowing this, oil and plastics companies pushed forward with campaigns promoting recycling.
'I feel abandoned': These Spanish towns haven't had clean tap water for 10 months Amazon tipping point: Up to 47% forest threatened by climate change and deforestation, study warns Picture the triangle of ‘chasing arrows’ symbol to denote that packaging is recyclable, for example. This was introduced even though the VI had noted that the system was unlikely to work due to the trend towards composite containers, made up of multiple types of plastic.
“We are committed to the activities, but not committed to the results,” Exxon Chemical Vice President Irwin Levowitz said in a 1994 meeting with the American Plastics Council (APC).
The following year, internal notes from an APC staffer acknowledged the impossibility of recycled plastic competing with virgin materials. “Virgin supplies will go up sharply in [the] near future [and] kick the shit out of PCR [Post-Consumer Recycled material] prices,” they wrote.
How could companies be held legally accountable for lies about plastic recycling? This public deception could be a violation of laws designed to protect consumers and the public from corporate misconduct and pollution, according to the report’s authors.
“Attorneys general and other officials should carefully consider the evidence that these companies defrauded the public and take appropriate action to hold them accountable,” says Alyssa Johl, CCI’s vice president of legal and general counsel.
It adds to a growing list of complaints against plastics producers, including a 2022 California investigation into ExxonMobil’s role in the plastic pollution crisis, and New York suing Pepsi Co in 2023 over plastic pollution.
Is it still worth recycling plastic?
The best way to reduce plastic pollution is to avoid single-use plastics entirely. However, it is still better to recycle plastic at home than throw it away.
Around nine per cent of the world’s annual plastic waste is successfully recycled, and with many companies committing to using recycled plastic in their products, it can find a purpose.
Under the European Strategy for Plastics in the Circular Economy, the target is that 10 million tonnes of recycled plastics find their way into products in the EU by 2025. Almost 26 million tonnes of plastic waste is generated in Europe every year.
Burn stuff in big incinerators. Don’t let them scare you.
Tons of water and time wasted so the crazy greens can call it recycling ,LOL
Penn and Teller did an episode about this on Bullshit!. They found that the only worthwhile recycling scheme is aluminum. Everything else was just literal waste.
“Plastic Industry Knew Recycling Was a Farce for Decades”
FAKE NEWS - Where I live, they pick up plastic for recycling, so as far as I’m concerned, that means it’s getting recycled.
...otherwise I wouldn’t have that smug look on my face when I roll the RECYCLE BIN down my driveway.
No shit....
The Earth is already a giant recycling center. We manufacture plastic from Earth materials, that plastic is eventually eaten, degraded naturally, on the land and in the water.
I remember when the Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred. There were ‘scientists’ who tried to questimate the total amount of oil that was released into the Gulf. After they determined an amount, they set off to find the huge underwater and surface oil. There was much less than expected. What real scientists found were huuuuge plumes of microorganisms that eat, yes eat, oil. A massive (more than huuuuge) amount of oil naturally seeps into the oceans from the ocean floor every year. IT’S PART OF THE EARTH. It is food for some parts of the Earth.
A quick search finds much information on our little buddies that dine on petroleum and plastic.
“”Natural and synthetic plastics are degraded by the action of microorganisms including bacteria, actinomycetes, and fungi (Ishigaki et al., 2004; Alshehrei, 2017).””
They should just start burying it in NYC, Denver, LA, et al. That’s where all the trash is, anyway.
I think the enviro-kooks came up with a “solution” that did not solve the alleged “problem”.
And now they are trying to say their solution is to create another problem.
So they can use the stuff in a plastic (LOL) bottle to Rinse Lather and Repeat.
What a dystopic time to be alive!
We know a few peeps that just put plastics in he regular waste stream.
Hard to see why that is unwarranted.
Dixie Lee Ray, former governor of Washington state proved this decades ago.
BTW, she was also the Atomic Energy Commissioner, too, at one time.
Her most famous book was, “Trashing the Planet” which put the lie to the rabid environmentalists.
She was also a semi-regular guest on the Rush Limbaugh Show as an expert in environmental issues.
Light years ahead of everyone as usual, Rush pointed this out long ago.
It was always known. The payola in plastics is what kept the game going.
“They found that the only worthwhile recycling scheme is aluminum.”
I think Fe recycling is still working after all these years.
Al is clearly economic.
Cu too.
Many plastics are degraded by sunlight.
The recycling folks knew. Governments knew.
Everyone except fuzzy headed leftist environmental studies majors knew it was a farce.... for years.
We never recycled and just tossed everything into the bin. Occasionally someone would confront me and I would tell them that everything except cardboard and metal was going to the same trash to energy burner.
They would sputter and say I was not telling the truth. The trash guys would tell them I was right and Eventually a little bell would ding and another leftist would get his trip to reality.
“”otherwise I wouldn’t have that smug look on my face when I roll the RECYCLE BIN down my driveway.””
Just too good!
A few years ago, I witnessed one of the homeless zombies who had developed a newer way to take all the recycling from those recycling bins. Usually, after they take all the worthwhile items, cans, bottles, plastic, etc, all that is left is the cardboard. Well......the recycling bin this guy found must have been way full of the good stuff because he took the entire bin (it does, after all, have wheels) and was wheeling it down the center of the road. Who’ve thunk! Just wait until the Homeless Industrial Complex gets wind of this. I remember El Rushbo and his amazing publication, The Limbaugh Letter. One issue reported on the Homeless Industrial Complex funding grocery carts. Not grocery carts to replace the ones stolen from the grocery store. Noooooo. These were ‘special’ carts built exclusively for the homeless. Better steel, better wheels to last in the outdoors. The price of each one was crazy, but it was, of course, a liberal creation.
Good one!
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