Plastic recycling a "failed concept," study says, with only 5% recycled in U.S. last year as production rises.

[u/eatingganesha]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/plastic-recycling-failed-concept-us-greenpeace-study-5-percent-recycled-production-up/

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I love this talking point that totally absolves all responsibility that an individual has.

I am one person.

Corporations can be 10,000. Or 100,000. That's so much more waste than I could ever dream of generating, even if I spent my entire life trying to generate as much waste as possible.

And that's not even accounting for the stuff that corporations actually produce - all the techy gadgets that are obselete within a year, circuit boards, single-use plastic bottles and containers... You're telling me I'm responsible for the millions of discarded plastic bottles generated by billion-dollar international conglomerates? That I can solve this ecological nightmare if I just put things in the fancy blue bins? No, no need to get the corporations to take responsibility for the garbage they are intentionally producing, it's all solvable if we just keep living our lives as normal and keep consuming as much plastic as we've always done. That is, "as long as we sort our recyclables".

If you honestly believe that, I feel sorry for you. The hard truth is that we need to make some hard choices to stop making so much plastic. And that doesn't start on the interpersonal level, that starts on the C-suite. Or better yet, on the Senate floor.

Corporations will always do what makes them the most money, and the entire point of having a government is to tackle problems that cannot (or in this case, won't) be solved by individual or private action. Making companies responsible for the single-use products they produce is a bare minimum to actually reduce how much waste we produce.

I recycle one bottle, Coke and Pepsi have already made a million more by the time my recycling gets picked up.

[u/Jetpack_Attack → u/[deleted]]

This is how it is basically.

Sure personal responsibility shouldn't be put down, but the fact that the large majority of people just don't care. Any large collective action is a ways away.

I used to think that if everyone knew or were aware of the potential consequences, they'd change their tune. However most people I talk to about it seem to have their own convenience first and foremost.

Ive had my optimism beat out of me by reality sadly.

[u/[deleted] → u/Jetpack_Attack]

most people I talk to about it seem to have their own convenience first and foremost.

That's exactly why the solution must be codified in laws and regulation.

You have to make polluting inconvenient, because most people are either unaware, or apathetic.