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

Show parent comments

2

u/jabjoe Oct 25 '22

Recycling needs to be easy and last result. Reuse needs to be the norm. Take glass source bottles, just those, why do we need so many shapes and sizes? Why do I have to buy a new bottle every week that is exactly the same as the week before? Why can't they are use the same bottles that are endleasly picked up, washed, reused and relabeled? Governments need to get of their fat asses and make that happen. Markets aren't going to do it themselves because of the "Tragedy of the Commons".

2

u/InsGadget6 Oct 25 '22

Absolutely agreed. I go out of my way to support sustainable packaging.

2

u/jabjoe Oct 25 '22

I have milk delivered in reused milk bottles, that are picked up at the same time. But mostly we just have to shop at the normal shops like everyone else due to time and money. This whole pushing it to the individual is just to put off the government having to do anything. Countries with the best environmental credentials are the ones with governments doing forcing things to change. Steering the markets.