Recycling isn't the answer

(Source: dezeen.com)

Many of us live by the three Rs rule: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, with recycle always being the final option. However, recycling has been made out to be such a 'green' option in waste disposal that people often forget the first two options, thinking that if they recycle their waste they are doing their bit for the environment. But how beneficial is recycling? Does the material get used again in its entirety? If not how much is reused and what happens to the rest? Or is recycling just a means for people to feel like they're saving the planet?

(Source: Retail Gazette)

In general day to day life, it is hard to avoid plastic, especially when it comes to the weekly shop, with things like bread, milk and meat (to name but a few) often coming wrapped in plastic. So to ease the moral pain of purchasing plastic, we rinse it and throw it in the recycling bin, often not knowing that two thirds of plastic packaging in the UK is not actually recyclable, despite the fact that most polymers can technically be recycled but they are so costly and difficult to sort that it doesn't make economical sense. So what happens to the one third of packaging that is recycled?

It enters a sorting facility where machines sort and separate the plastics into their different types, such as polyethylene (e.g. drinks bottles), polypropylene (e.g. ketchup bottles) and high-density polyethylene (e.g. milk bottles and bleach bottles). These are then broken down and made into new items, for example plastic bottles are often transformed into synthetic fabric for clothing. By doing this we save on landfill space and the need for more oil to be extracted from the Earth to make virgin plastic. However, the new item is usually a lower grade plastic meaning this process eventually reaches a stage where the plastic can no longer be recycled and will make its way into landfill (or the oceans!), thus highlighting the importance for reducing consumption as opposed to relying solely on recycling.

Like most industrial processes, plastic recycling is market driven and in order for it to make market sense, the recycling process must be cheaper than the production of virgin plastic. By chucking all of our recycling into one bin as opposed to manually sorting it, there ends up being more items that can't actually be recycled, making the recycling process in the plant more labour intensive and therefore more costly. Also, cleaning the old plastic is very energy intensive and can contribute to the higher cost of recycling, although the production of plastic items from recycled material often uses two thirds less energy than using virgin plastic. This cost balance between recycled and virgin plastic may be tipping in recycled plastic's favour as the price of oil is expected to remain the same if not increase as bans on single-use plastic reduce its demand.

(Source: REB News)

But the main issue with recycling in the UK is that a lot of it is, or once was, sent abroad. For example, until the beginning of 2018, much of our plastic waste was sent to China to be "recycled", however, it would often be so contaminated or mixed with other materials that it would instead be sent to Chinese landfill. The reason we have been sending our recycled waste abroad is due to the government subsidy known as the Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) that recycling companies get for recycling one tonne of plastic. One tonne will earn a company 1 PRN and aims to encourage these companies develop their recycling infrastructure. The problem however is that the contaminants like glues and liquids may mean that only half of that tonne is actually recycled and therefore only half a PRN is issued, as opposed to exporting that tonne in which case the company are rewarded a full PRN (explained in more detail in the documentary below, between 23:00 and 26:35). Little is done to check whether this material is actually being recycled and results in companies knowingly sending off contaminated/non recyclable grade material.

China has now banned imports of UK's solid recycle waste (see documentary below) and the UK is struggling to deal with it. It may take some time for our recycling infrastructure to catch up, but in the mean time Michael Gove plans to alleviate some of the pressure on the recycling industry through his four point plan:

1. Reduce the overall quantity of plastic in circulation.
2. Decrease the number of different polymer types so that sorting and separation is made easier.
3. Improve the recycling rate which has actually increased noticeably (in plastic packaging) from 2008-2015 by 15.7% although seems to be stagnating at 40%.
4. Better educate the public on what can and can't be recycled.

Whilst these are all well and good, it is only the first point that actually addresses the need to reduce consumption, the first R in the three Rs. 

Unlike glass and metal recycling, plastic cannot be recycled indefinitely and therefore means its disposal to landfill is inevitable. So whilst plastic recycling is better than not recycling all, if we truly want to tackle the issue we must live by the three Rs in their exact order (focusing on the first):

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle 

Below is an interesting documentary by Sky News about the UK's recycling industry and how it will be effected by China's plastic recycling import ban.