So I was reading this thread over in GD: Why did blockbuster video fail
For some reason, during the discussion of clamshells, the question popped into my mind: When a company like Blockbuster, Netflix, RedBox or the library buys DVDs, do they come in the bulky plastic boxes that are then just thrown away? Seems like a huge environmental waste.
Majority of DVD clamshells have been and are made from polypropylene (PP). PP, which is the #5 on the plastics recycle code, is recyclable. Now whether it is recycled or the majority goes to the landfill is another debate.
Of late #5 has very little recycling done. We use to send the plastics for recycling to China but that ended back in 2017.
According to John Oliver, a Greenpeace report and my town { 
} only PET (#1) and HDPE (#2) are actually being recycled in the US currently.
Additionally even of these plastics less than a third are collected for recycling. So we are doing a terrible job of it all.
We need to step up collecting and recycling and try hard to end the use of the disposable plastics we don’t recycle.