14 votes

I collected my plastic waste for a year, and learned the truth about recycling

3 comments

  1. [3]
    Algernon_Asimov
    Link
    I believe the intention of legislation like this is to create a local plastic recycling industry by stimulating demand for recycled plastic. If you force manufacturers to use recycled plastic by...

    Where are manufacturers going to acquire all these recycled materials from when plastic recycling is a system that barely exists in this country?

    I believe the intention of legislation like this is to create a local plastic recycling industry by stimulating demand for recycled plastic. If you force manufacturers to use recycled plastic by penalising them when they don't, they'll go looking to purchase recycled plastic for use in their manufacturing. They have to buy that recycled plastic from somewhere! And, as the author points out, there's plenty of raw material available to recycle. All that's needed is someone to do the actual recycling. There's a gap in the market, and the government is forcing it to be filled.

    In theory, at least.

    4 votes
    1. [2]
      alessa
      Link Parent
      The author also brought up that plastic recycling processes are horribly inefficient apparently so the whole thing still seems disingenuous... I was persuaded that the real solution is to address...

      The author also brought up that plastic recycling processes are horribly inefficient apparently so the whole thing still seems disingenuous... I was persuaded that the real solution is to address the culture of consumerism itself. That'd have to happen on a lot of levels at once.

      Along the lines of what you're talking about we could also perhaps penalize the manufacture and sale of disposable nonbiodegradable products and packaging. There's gotta be a million ways we can do things better.

      3 votes
      1. Algernon_Asimov
        Link Parent
        Sure. But I wanted to address that specific point that I quoted. This is why governments are imposing regulations and taxes on manufacturers to force/encourage them to use recycled materials: to...

        The author also brought up ...

        Sure. But I wanted to address that specific point that I quoted. This is why governments are imposing regulations and taxes on manufacturers to force/encourage them to use recycled materials: to boost the demand for recycled plastics, so that their local recycling industries will grow to meet that demand. This has become crucial since China stopped accepting the world's recycling at the start of this year.

        I was persuaded that the real solution is to address the culture of consumerism itself. That'd have to happen on a lot of levels at once.

        Of course. But that's a bigger problem to fix, and will be harder and take longer. In the short-to-medium term, encouraging more recycling is still a good thing to do.

        2 votes