Plastic recycling: an underperforming sector ripe for a remake

International enviroment protection online news, the UN(United Nations) wrote an article "Plastic recycling: an underperforming sector ripe for a remake", that the plastic recycling industry is not performing well and needs to be reshaped!

The United Nations believes that there is currently no great solution to the influx of plastics into our oceans, but recycling must be part of the programme. Many experts believe that the problem is that the current process is not suitable for our purposes.

The world produces about 300 million tons of plastic waste every year. To date, only 9% of plastic waste has been recycled and only 14% of plastic waste has been recovered. The reason for this is complicated.

Not all plastics can be recycled, and public lack of awareness means that plastic collections are often contaminated. This will increase the cost of recycling.

In the United States, for example, the introduction of single-stream recycling - the recyclables did not separate in household collection - led to a significant increase in recovery, but as plastics became more complex, people began to put the wrong things in recycling bins. North America's largest residential recycling processor waste management company says one of every four items in today's recycling bins is not recyclable.

“Chemicals added to plastic polymers, products made from mixed materials, and food packaging contaminated with food waste make recycling difficult and costly,” writes the author of the UN's Plastics State report.

Since 1992, China has imported nearly half of the world's waste. In 18 years, China stopped importing foreign plastic waste, exposing the weaknesses of many other countries' recycling facilities.

Financial reasons. Depending on the price of oil, it is usually cheaper to make virgin plastics, and the market for recycled plastics is known to be unstable, making investors reluctant to invest in the industry.

For many years, activists have long believed that packaging manufacturers and retailers should pay more for the cost of disposing of waste. While many brands are committed to using more recycled plastics, they are under increasing pressure.

In the UK, the government is said to plan to charge tens of millions of pounds in recycling costs to supermarkets, retailers and major beverage brands. The strategy will include plans to increase the contribution of retailers and producers from an average of approximately £70 million per year to between £500 million and £1 billion per year. It is also planned to include smaller producers.

EU Plastics Strategy

The European Commission announced a plastics strategy in January 2018 that it is committed to making all plastic packaging recyclable or reusable by 2030, creating 200,000 jobs, but with a fourfold increase in recycling capacity. The EU produces 25 million tons of plastic waste each year, less than 30% of which is recovered, half of which was sent to China.

As part of its strategy, the EU will develop new packaging rules to increase the recyclability of plastics and increase demand. It would like to see improved and expanded recycling facilities and more standardized systems for the separate collection and sorting of waste.

United Nations Marine Cleansing Campaign

UNEP launched the Clean Marine Campaign in 2017 to promote the elimination of unnecessary disposable plastics and support the implementation of integrated waste management systems through its Japan International Environmental Technology Centre.

There is a clear need to support waste management strategies in poorer countries, and municipalities often lack the capacity to implement appropriate policies. Some of these countries are also the largest marine polluters: 90% of our oceans come from 10 rivers, 8 of which are from Asia.

The efforts of the first-line scavengers

In many developing economies, millions of scavengers (usually women, children, the elderly and the unemployed) are recycled. They may be at the forefront of sustainable development, but their own lives are often affected by unhealthy working conditions, lack of rights and social stigma.

In its What of Waste 2.0 report, the World Bank stated that when waste scavengers are properly supported and organized, informal recycling can create jobs, increase local industrial competitiveness, reduce poverty and reduce municipal spending.

The power of education

Citizens can also play a role, but education and information are essential. The World Bank cited the example of Jamaica, where environmental supervisors employed by the National Solid Waste Authority teach neighbors about environmental waste disposal methods. The community collects plastic bottles and removes plastic waste from shared spaces and drains, and then they sell the collected bottles to recyclers.

“There is no panacea to solve marine plastics and improve global recycling capacity. Investing in public education without infrastructure will not achieve results, and vice versa,” said Circulate Capital's Kaplan. “This is a challenge that requires a system solution.”

Conclusion

Countries all over the world are looking for solutions to solve a series of problems caused by plastic pollution. Recycling is indispensable. China has recycled half of the world's plastic waste, and how to improve China's plastic waste in the post-total era of waste ban. The recovery rate will be the direction of our joint efforts.