This article is
from an English
point of view:
BACKGROUND:
The Japanese were
recycling paper
in the 11th century.
Medieval blacksmiths
made armor
from scrap metal.
During World War II,
scrap metal was made
into tanks -- women’s
nylons were made
into parachutes.
In the late 70s,
we began trying
to recycle a lot of
household waste.
They were too often
contaminated with
non-recyclable materials,
food waste, oils and liquids
that rot, and spoil the bales.
SUMMARY:
Overall, the UK
is a successful
recycling nation:
45.7% of all
household waste
is sent for recycling,
although we
really don't know
where it ends up,.
especially plastics.
For the U.S.,
that's only 25.8%.
The packaging industry
has flooded our homes
with cheap plastic tubs,
films, bottles, etc.
Recycling aluminum
is profitable, and also
environmentally sound.
Making a can from
recycled aluminum
reduces its "carbon
footprint" by up to 95%.
Almost all plastics can
be recycled, but many
are not.
The process for
recycliing plastics
is expensive,
complicated and
the resulting product
is of lower quality
than the original.
If you ship the
plastics overseas,
where it is washed,
chopped up, and then
re-melted ... that will have
a negative overall effect
on the environment.
Recycling has been
a success story
for many materials,
other than plastics.
Two current alternatives,
of burning our plastics,
or burying them,
are not the right answers.
Developed nations
sending plastic waste
to developing nations
is not the right answer.
I suppose
the right answer
for now is using
fewer plastics,
by replacing plastic
containers with metal
or glass containers.
“It’s really
a complete myth
when people say
that we’re recycling
our plastics,”
says Jim Puckett,
the executive director
of the Seattle-based
Basel Action Network,
which campaigns against
the illegal waste trade.
“It all sounded good.
‘It’s going
to be recycled
in China !’
I hate to
break it
to everyone,
but these places
are routinely
dumping
massive
amounts
of [that] plastic
and burning it
on open fires.”
DETAILS:
The line at
Green Recycling
in Maldon, Essex,
handles up to
12 tonnes of waste
an hour.
“We produce
200 to 300
tonnes a day,”
says Jamie Smith,
Green Recycling’s
general manager.
An excavator grabs
trash from heaps,
and piles it into
a spinning drum,
which spreads it evenly
across the conveyor.
Along the conveyor belt,
workers pick out
the valuables
(bottles, cardboard,
aluminum cans)
into sorting chutes.
The waste
is stacked in bales,
ready to be loaded
on to trucks.
These materials
recovery facilities
sort waste
into categories.
About half of paper
and cardboard,
and two-thirds
of the plastics,
will be loaded
on container ships
to be sent elsewhere
in Europe, or to Asia,
for recycling.
Paper and
cardboard
goes to mills.
Glass is washed
and re-used or
smashed and melted,
like metal and plastic.
Anything else,
is burned or
sent to landfill.
That was the recycling
process before 2018,
when China, under its
National Sword policy,
prohibited
24 types of waste
from entering
the country,
claiming what
they were getting
was too contaminated.
National Sword
was a huge blow
for recyclers.
The price of
used cardboard
dropped 50%,
and the price
for used plastics
dropped so low
it was no longer
worth recycling.
The UK produces
more waste than
it can process
at home:
230m tonnes a year
– or about 1.1kg
per person per day.
The US produces
2kg per person
per day.
In 2018 waste began flooding
any country that would take it:
Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam,
and other countries.
They were countries that had
the world’s highest rates
of “waste mismanagement”,
where trash is left or burned
in open landfills, illegal sites
or facilities with inadequate
reporting, so we don't know
where it went.
Malaysia then became
a popular destination.
But in October 2018,
a Greenpeace Unearthed
investigation found mountains
of British and European waste
in illegal Malaysian dumps.
Just as in China,
too much plastic waste
was being burned
or abandoned, eventually
finding its way into
rivers and oceans.
In May 2019,
the Malaysian
government began
turning back
container ships.
Thailand and India have
announced bans on the
import of foreign plastic
waste too.
In the UK,
recycling rates
have stagnated
in recent years.
More waste being burned
in incinerators and in
energy-from-waste plants.
Incineration is preferred
to landfill, which emits
methane, and can leach
toxic chemicals.
Plastics are a big problem:
8.3billion tonnes
of virgin plastic
are produced worldwide,
but only 9%
has been recycled,
according to
a 2017 Science
Advances paper titled:
"Production, Use And Fate
Of All Plastics Ever Made".
“I think the best global estimate
is maybe we’re at 20% [per year]
globally right now,”
says Roland Geyer,
its lead author, a professor
of industrial ecology at the
University of California,
Santa Barbara.
Geyer also said:
“I think there’s a lot
of creative accounting
going on to push
the numbers up."
Other academics
have doubts about
the accuracy
the percentage
of plastics recycled
numbers too.
In June 2019,
one of the UK’s largest
waste companies,
Biffa, was found guilty
of attempting to ship
used diapers, sanitary
towels and clothing
abroad in consignments
marked as waste paper.
Since China's
"National Sword",
sorting has become
even more crucial,
as overseas markets
demand higher-quality
materials.
Green Recycling became
the recycling center
to invest in Max, a US-made,
artificially intelligent
sorting machine.
A robotic suction arm
marked FlexPickerTM
picks out 60 plastic
containers a minute,
versus 20 to 40
for a human worker.
In May 2019,
186 countries
passed measures
to track and control
the export of plastic
waste to developing
countries.
More than 350 companies
signed a global commitment
to eliminate the use
of single-use plastics
by 2025.