The Real Truth About the U.S. Plastics Recycling Rate
The Real Truth About the U.S. Plastics Recycling Rate documents a recycling rate of 5-6% for post-consumer plastic waste in the U.S. for 2021 and reveals that while plastics recycling is on the decline, the per capita generation of plastic waste has increased by 263% since 1980.
Recycling Lies: “Chemical Recycling” Of Plastic Is Just Greenwashing Incineration | NRDC Issue Brief
As public concern grows about mountains of plastic trash, the plastics industry is promoting technologies that it misleadingly calls “chemical recycling” (also known as advanced recycling, molecular recycling, and chemical conversion) and touts as a solution to the plastic crisis. But it is a false solution.
Understanding Beverage Container Recycling
Recycling rates are declining, even though the tonnage recovered is relatively flat. Reasons for this include: the fact that growth is dominated by PET containers (with an emphasis on single-serve beverages often consumed away-from-home); increasing range of beverage types (that may complicate recycling education and/or may not be covered in recovery programs); the maturation of curbside and drop-off collection programs (i.e., few new programs are being added); declining support and funding for recycling; and the declining relative value of deposit amounts adopted in past years.