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Hardly any plastics can be truly recycled, and producers have known for decades: Report
The Hill ^ | 02/15/2024 | ZACK BUDRYK

Posted on 02/15/2024 2:21:22 PM PST by ChicagoConservative27

Plastics producers have promoted recycling their products as an environmental solution for decades despite firsthand knowledge that it was not feasible, according to a report published Thursday.

More than 99 percent of plastics are produced using fossil fuels, and of these, the vast majority cannot be “recycled” in the sense of being processed and turned into entirely new products, according to the report from the Center for Climate Integrity. Viable end markets, or businesses that buy recyclables to make new products, only exist for polyethylene terephthalate and high-density polyethylene plastic containers, according to the report. Environmental Protection Agency materials have documented this since for at least 30 years.

Moreover, while some local and city recycling programs collect other categories of plastics, they do not fully recycle them. Those other plastics are burned or deposited in landfills, instead. In many cases, chemical additives or coloring make it impossible to recycle the same types of plastic together, while even plastic products that can be legitimately repurposed degrade in quality over time, and the cost of the process is more than that of producing entirely new plastic.

(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: chat; climatechangehoax; donatefreerepublic; fakenews; globalwarminghoax; oneword; plastics; producers; recycled; report
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Well no *&*&
1 posted on 02/15/2024 2:21:22 PM PST by ChicagoConservative27
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To: ChicagoConservative27

Well put!


2 posted on 02/15/2024 2:22:57 PM PST by mewzilla (Never give up; never surrender!)
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To: ChicagoConservative27

Islets throughout the Asian Pacific archipelagos are loaded with mountains of plastics, probably dumped by Chinese or Russian Mafias. Leaching into the food chain.


3 posted on 02/15/2024 2:23:24 PM PST by P.O.E. (Pray for America.)
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To: ChicagoConservative27

Yes. We’ve know... Since the BS started...

Glass? Paper? Wood? Plant fiber based cellulose? Those are relatively easy to compost, break down, or otherwise reuse...

Plastics? Not so much. That’s why China just dumps it in the ocean...


4 posted on 02/15/2024 2:23:54 PM PST by Dead Corpse (A Psalm in napalm...)
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To: ChicagoConservative27

One word, plastics…


5 posted on 02/15/2024 2:25:11 PM PST by EEGator
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To: ChicagoConservative27

On the other hand they are great fuel sources.


6 posted on 02/15/2024 2:26:17 PM PST by DouglasKC
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To: ChicagoConservative27

Yet another “Green Energy” hoax.

By the way, again, what exactly is fossil fuel? Everybody keeps using this term. According to estimates I have seen, from 1969 to 2018, a fifty-year span, the world has consumed 1.306 trillion barrels of oil. Over 1.3 trillion barrels are estimated to have been used, just since 1969. About how many dinosaurs where there roaming the earth? Hint: there is no such thing as fossil fuel.


7 posted on 02/15/2024 2:28:40 PM PST by Obadiah
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To: ChicagoConservative27

Bring back the giant incinerators. Take all of your trash there and just throw it in. Watch the smoke go up. It’s a better way.


8 posted on 02/15/2024 2:28:54 PM PST by ClearCase_guy
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To: ChicagoConservative27

9 posted on 02/15/2024 2:31:14 PM PST by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic... )
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To: EEGator

George Carlin’s amazing “Earth with Plastics”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rld0KDcan_w

Wonderful stuff.


10 posted on 02/15/2024 2:31:33 PM PST by cgbg ("Our democracy" = Their Kleptocracy)
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To: ChicagoConservative27
I grew up in the era before single-use plastics and would be very happy to return to that. Everything worked fine. Manufacturers used glass containers or cardboard. Even breakfast cereal was packaged in simple boxes with non-plastic liners, not the impossible-to-open plastic liners you have today.

Same with Hershey bars -- they were in simple foil-lined paper that slid into a paper sleeve. Today they are packaged in impossible-to-open plastic packaging.

I remember my Dad's "Veto" deodorant which came in a squat, white glass jar with a metal lid.

My Opa gave my dad his WW I safety razor blade sharpener. It was back in the era of the first safety razors with disposable blades (at least they were steel).

I bought my first outdoors water bottle around 1973. It was plastic with a simple screw-on top, but I used it thousands of times refilling from water fountains and spigots.

Of course, I'd be happy with the old black desk phone with the tangled cords.

11 posted on 02/15/2024 2:33:57 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (“Occupy your mind with good thoughts or your enemy will fill them with bad ones.” ~ Thomas More)
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To: ChicagoConservative27

Bookmark.


12 posted on 02/15/2024 2:34:51 PM PST by Inyo-Mono
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To: ChicagoConservative27

A couple of nukes and it will be vaporized


13 posted on 02/15/2024 2:38:49 PM PST by eyeamok
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To: ChicagoConservative27

90% of “recycing” is about behavior control.


14 posted on 02/15/2024 2:39:37 PM PST by Fido969
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To: ChicagoConservative27

They may not be able to be turned into other plastics, but they can still be turned in asphalt.


15 posted on 02/15/2024 2:41:44 PM PST by Jonty30 (In a nuclear holocaust, there is always a point in time where the meat is cooked to perfection. )
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To: Dead Corpse

And, hmmmmmmm, I wonder what is used to make them in the first place........ I momentarily bought in decades ago but quickly realized it was 🐂💨💩


16 posted on 02/15/2024 2:42:17 PM PST by rktman (Destroy America from within? Check! WTH? Enlisted USN 1967 to end up with this💩? 🚫💉! 🇮🇱👍!)
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To: ChicagoConservative27

All plastics can be recycled using pyrolysis, which a company in Kansas did for awhile. But the procedure is much more expensive per barrel of oil than drilling.

But, if you really want to get rid of plastic, that is the way.


17 posted on 02/15/2024 2:46:09 PM PST by wbarmy (Trying to do better.)
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To: Fido969

On a trip through Italy a few years back I was amazed this small tourist spot had a dozen recycling cans taking up the sidewalks. I watched as tourists dutifully sorted their plastics, papers, food, etc in to the appropriate bin like well trained little monkeys. When the trash truck came they tossed all the bins in to the general trash and drove it to the landfill. I was just laughing and when I asked the restaurant server why they bother with all the cans. He said the tourists revolt and leave their “recycleables” laying around all over the place because they are so offended by putting something “recycleable” in the regular trash can to be disposed of. So, they keep the recycle bins out and just dump it all in the same trash truck for the well trained tourists.


18 posted on 02/15/2024 2:50:00 PM PST by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eye)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom
I agree with you. Packaging could go back to what it was, pre 1975, with no loss of economic progress or convenience. If a product confronts society with long-term problems, then we need to restrict it by law.

I am told that plant based light packaging is a good alternative to soft plastics, and that needs to be looked at.

19 posted on 02/15/2024 2:50:14 PM PST by BlackVeil ('The past is never dead. It's not even past.' William Faulkner)
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To: mewzilla

Add paper and glass recycling to the list.

Recycling became cool in the 80s and you had the government get involved.

What happens when the “gubbermint” gets involved in anything?

There are a few things where recycling makes sense, aluminum for example. But much of the recycling programs we have today have become endless tax and pay programs (subsidies) for companies making billions off trash in the name of environmentalism. Most of it is make belief feel good nonsense where someone ends up cashing in.


20 posted on 02/15/2024 2:50:49 PM PST by Red6
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