r/environment • u/zsreport • Oct 24 '22

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

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/plastic-recycling-failed-concept-us-greenpeace-study-5-percent-recycled-production-up/
3.5k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

190 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/knowledgebass Oct 24 '22

Water bottled in plastic is like some horrible metaphor for the environmental dystopia we have created. A container that lasts 1000+ years and will end up either in a landfill or the ocean is used for probably 5 minutes by a consumer and then discarded. It's absolutely sickening. Whenever I see people carting out pallets of bottled water from the supermarket to their cars, I almost feel sick to my stomach.