Plastic Recycling is an Actual Scam | Climate Town

The recycling symbol on plastic is misleading, and most plastic is not recyclable. The resin identification code was created to trick people into thinking that plastic was recyclable.

During World War II, the U.S. government pushed early plastics companies to collaborate and produce flexible lightweight materials for military use. This led to the birth of the modern plastic industry, which emerged from existing fossil fuel corporations.

The Society of the Plastics Industry, backed by the chemical industry and lobby groups, aimed to persuade American consumers to buy more plastic due to its lightweight nature, affordability, superior performance, and support from the fossil fuel industry. Despite efforts by Americans to reuse plastic items, lobby groups encouraged them through advertisements to discard it.

In the 1960s, the plastics industry faced a challenge due to public outcry for environmental action. To counter this, they formed a front group called Keep America Beautiful with fossil fuel corporations and other companies. They created an advertisement featuring an Italian guy dressed as a Native American stereotype to shift focus from disposable products to individual responsibility for pollution.

The Italian Maneuver led to more trash being thrown everywhere, but it also initiated regional recycling programs. However, the plastics industry took advantage of the situation when a movement against single-use plastic items emerged in 1987.

In the 1980s, the plastics industry discovered that plastic cannot effectively be recycled due to its chemical properties. They concluded that recycling is expensive and labor-intensive, with no effective market mechanisms for mixed plastic. Despite this knowledge, they aimed to promote the belief in recycling as a strategy to prevent an actual plastic ban.

The Resin Identification Code is printed on every piece of plastic produced in America to indicate the type of plastic used. It's not a recycling symbol, but rather a way to identify the type of plastic material.

The recycling symbol is actually a resin identification code, not a recycle symbol. Only plastics with numbers one and two have a slim chance of being recycled.

The environmental movement faces opposition from the plastic industry and fossil fuels, who pour money into recycling campaigns to counter calls for plastic reduction. This cycle repeats with millions of dollars spent.

Only 10% of plastic has been effectively recycled, and it's crucial to change our perception of recycling. While recyclers are working hard to maintain this percentage, the real solution lies in legislative action against single-use plastics. The plastic lobby has preemptively banned legislation that could help solve the problem, so collective effort is needed to pressure governments for a ban on single-use plastics.