Only 9% of plastics have ever been recycled, and China has decided to no longer accept plastic recyclables from other countries. This is a massive shift from 2016 when they took 51% of the plastic recyclables in trade globally. 

In response to China’s refusal to import the surplus of recyclable plastic, companies planned on improving recycling infrastructure in the US, but there was fear that without trying to taking care of the excess, these materials will now be burned, which causes harmful emissions such as organic pollutants, heavy metals, and greenhouse gasses. The US could also seek new countries as their dumping grounds for the overflow of plastic, which would cause devastation to those nations and almost certainly seep into the ocean, contributing to massive garbage patches. 

The recycling process for plastic has many issues. Companies add chemicals and colors to their products that prevent their items from being recycled, and if included in a batch of recyclable plastic, could contaminate the entire thing. Additionally, cheap plastic contains toxic additives that are harmful to the recycling workers.

The true problem is plastic production. The US has invested 164 billion dollars and infrastructure for plastic production, and the industry plans to quadruple the amount of plastic ever produced by 2050. Plastic recycling lacks efficiency and is expensive, as new plastic is cheaper than recycled plastic. Clearly, the best solution is to minimize the use of plastic, replacing single-use items with reusable ones, which won’t be thrown out and therefore don’t need to be recycled.

Maybe just don’t use plastic.

I have really enjoyed this research on plastic, and it’s nice to see concrete evidence on things I’ve heard in the past. I’ve heard so many people, including my family, brush off the purchasing of single-use plastic because “it will be recycled.” This proves that buying plastic with the intention to recycle is never as good as just buying something reusable or compostable.

Don’t know what I’ll look at next, but stay tuned to learn with me!

Arkin, Claire. “China’s Ban on Plastic Waste Imports Is a Wake-Up Call for the United States.” Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2022. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/XRKYBX173818070/OVIC?u=ante588&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=b78fc56b. Accessed 4 Dec. 2022. Originally published as “China’s Ban on Plastic Waste Imports Is a Wake-Up Call,” Earth Island Journal, 15 Feb. 2018.