‘They lied’: plastics producers deceived public about recycling, report reveals

www.theguardian.com ‘They lied’: plastics producers deceived public about recycling, report reveals

Companies knew for decades recycling was not viable but promoted it regardless, Center for Climate Integrity study finds

Plastic producers have known for more than 30 years that recycling is not an economically or technically feasible plastic waste management solution. That has not stopped them from promoting it, according to a new report.

“The companies lied,” said Richard Wiles, president of fossil-fuel accountability advocacy group the Center for Climate Integrity (CCI), which published the report. “It’s time to hold them accountable for the damage they’ve caused.”

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The sad thing is that we don't even need 99.9% of this plastic in the first place. People were making disposable packaging, clothing, building materials etc out of non-toxic and biodegradable materials for most of history and it was fine. I seriously detest plastic and wish it was banned/not made unless for exceptional uses e.g replacement heart valves.
- It feels inevitable that our descendents will eventually say "holy shit, you stored your FOOD in it?!", after we discover we've been literally killing ourselves the whole time
  
  This is our version of ancient Romans using lead based makeup
  
  Or them using asbestos for napkins and tablecloths, or lead pipes, or mercury in household paint. The Romans loved to use toxic stuff.
  
  I mean we pretty much know that micro and nanoplastic cause all sorts of various cancers, and especially leech into water, so like, those disposable spring water bottles are all just a helping gulp of liquid plastic into bodies who are desperately repairing cellular damage and inflammation caused by said plastic shards lodging themselves deep into every membrane.
  But yes have you heard of our friend leaded gasoline, yet? C:
  
  I grew up with our friend leaded gasoline. Please pardon my ever increasing dementia.
  
  Descendants? On this planet?
  
  In this economy?
  
  Yup. Plastic contamination is absolutely insane already. A recent study found that each person ingests about a credit card sized amount of plastic every day. And it's been fucking with our metabolism and fertility, and causing other long-term health issues for decades now.
  We rightly talk about the long-term impact of tobacco and lead on the human body. But somehow the impact of plastic (and, unrelated, sugar) has been flying under the cultural radar for many years. Good to see it's finally getting the long-overdue attention it deserves.
  Last week I decided to count every time my body touched plastic or ingested something that had touched plastic. I gave up within a couple of hours because my internal monologue was constantly saying "touching plastic!"
  That shit is everywhere. Sometimes it makes sense (e.g. technology). But it's also in our clothing, stores our food, etc.
  I wish there were better options for storing food and drinks in containers made from materials other than plastic (like, for example tin cans - but even they are often lined with some plastic). But there aren't. At least not ones that wouldn't cause the economy to get hit hard You go to a grocery store and almost everything is housed or carried in plastic to some degree. Would be nice to have a database that promoted products that don't use plastic.
  I would say that we as a society need to decide which path to take: the hard path of getting rid of most plastic products and packaging from our lives, or continuing down the current path. But realistically, it's outside our control, at least for right now.
  
  Credit card sized amount every week, not day. And the data that went into that claim isn't great:
  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666911022000247
  Any amount of mp we consume is still terrible of course
  
  That last part is driving me crazy with frustration. If I identify a health hazard in my life, I take reasonable precautions against it, but when the whole system is inundated with that same issue, its hard to feel like you're aligned with "society". Like you said, it's literally in everything we eat, drink and do. I'll continue to support the plastics industry as little as possible, but it still has a stranglehold on industry. I've heard some promising reports from India about new developments in more sustainable packaging, but nothing's hit the mainstream yet.
  
  Yup I want corn and oil subsidies just gone.. HFCS, polyester and microplastics are terrible for health.
  
  Mmm microplastics. Delicious.
- Really. For the vast majority of packaging, what the fuck was wrong with just using cardboard? Even if 99.99999999% of the stuff winds up in a landfill, at least cardboard is theoretically renewable and will biodegrade in less than a thousand lifetimes.
  
  Cardboard and paper bags went out of style because of the "save the rainforest" narrative. Even though most paper products are made from trees specifically grown to be harvested for their wood.
  That's why we started using plastic bags at grocery stores, remember?
  
  That was what they told us. The reason they actually did it was because they were giving us the bags and they cost a nickel. where plastic bags cost them 5 for a penny.
  
  Hemp is very versatile and can be used to make similar paper products while growing at a much faster rate, which potentially makes it a good replacement. The association with marijuana is part of what prevented it from catching on though.
  
  Mostly it was the paper and textile industries lobbying against cannabis so that the superior products that can be made with hemp were illegal and didn't stand in the way of their infrastructure and market segment.
  That alone probably fueled the drug war against it as much as the government using it to crack down on any minority they could illustrate as using it more often.
  
  Their green washing BS lists that it has to be harvested more as a negative.
  
  ...like lumber doesnt take far more effort per harvest, as well as take longer to grow?
  
  Besides timber the no.1 reason is agricultural land
  
  So what about samples (amongst other parts of the entire process) for food-grade products from the manufacturer? I work at a corn syrup manufacturing plant, and there's no way you can ship corn syrup in cardboard. You would get mold, easily.
  
  I think it'd be very easy to use plastic when we actually need it, and other materials for everything else.
  Unfortunately businesses and stockholders disagree.
  
  Pretty much nothing biodegrades in a landfill though.
- I want a 100% tariff on virgin plastics, and a shift of corn and oil subsidies to hemp.

219 comments