The myth of recycling in the developed world.pptx

Problems with the recycling system in the developed world

1. The myth of recycling

2. Plastics and polymers Early polymers were invented in the 1700s, and their use in materials like Bakelite increased through the 1800s and early 1900s It was used in weapons and airplane design during WW2, and new more cheap and durable polymers were invented for military use. Production took off after the 1950s  Easy to shape, lightweight, durable, flexible, and inexpensive to produce

3. Bakelite

4. Plastic products are ubiquitous to our lifestyles and consumerism

5. Scepticism about plastic products In the 1970s and 80s, plastic production started to raise some eyebrows. Landfills filled up with discarded plastic products and there was some talk of trying to ban or limited the production of plastics. Plastic products take around 500 years to decompose.

6. The recycling movement was largely funded by the Polymer Association, an association of multinational manufacturers who feared the ban of their industry. Reduce Reuse Recycle

7. 1980s-Present The recycling movement becomes ubiquitous, and more and more governments in developed nations pass laws to enforce recycling Consumers can feel good about their increasing consumption of plastics, thinking that most of them are going to be reused.

8. Recycling plastic has been a lie Initially, about 2% of the plastic (PETs and certain more costly types of plastic) were recycled, mostly for show. Today, it is still less than 10%. Government recycling programs were expensive and almost always lost money. It can be 5-10 times more expensive to recycle plastic than it is to make new virgin plastic from oil products. Most of our recyclable plastic and electronic goods was dropped off in China for them to recycle. Western governments gave the Chinese government lots of money to take our recycling. China was putting the plastic in landfills and allowing poor people to burn the electronics to harvest copper and precious metals.

9. In the late 90s/early 2000s China stopped taking our trash as they become a wealthier industrial power. We started dropping it off in other poor countries in Asia who would take our money. Some companies illegally dumped millions of tonnes of recyclable plastics In the 2010s no Asian nations want our trash, and garbage dumping shifts towards poor African countries. About a third of the trash is dumped illegally.

10. Environmental racism Rich countries can afford to hide the filth left behind by their consumerism by dumping it in poorer developing countries. Not In My Backyard – allows us to feel like we’re the clean ones and like poorer countries are dirty , even though we consume much more than they do. The COVID-19 pandemic caused the developed world to triple the amount of single use plastic products we threw out.

11. Great Pacific Garbage Patch Largely made up of our recycled plastics

12. Electronic Waste Similar to plastics in that more than 90% of them can’t be saved. (mostly copper wire and precious metals) To get at the copper, very poor people in developing countries usually burn ewaste , creating toxic pollution in their own environment.

13. Not all recycling is so bleak Metals and glass products are recycled efficiently. Think about this when you buy products.