# The vast majority of plastic that people put into recycling bins is headed to landfills **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 25, 2022, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728 "2022-10-25T01:24:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/41 "2022-10-25T17:01:04Z")
> [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](#): > > > [@Kimstu](#): > > > > Screw-top glass jars are in demand among the hobbyist beekeeper honey producers I know, and my social circle passes around the same reused containers when transferring food etc. > > If food manufacturers switched to glass packages wholesale, hobbyist beekeepers would be flooded with them until they couldn’t take them any more. This isn’t really a solution. I buy honey from a vendor at the farmers market. It comes in glass Mason jars. For a while I would wash the jars and save them once the honey was used up; they are useful for storing certain leftovers in. But long ago I reached the point where I have more jars than I can use, so now they just go into the recycling bin. For this sort of thing, a system where I could return the jar to the beekeeper would probably be ideal, since the beekeeper is almost certainly local. But if _everyone_ switched to glass jars/bottle, sending all of them back to their respective manufacturers might get pretty labor and energy intensive. ---
**Author:** ![CorpusNeptune](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corpusneptune/32/17561_2.png) [@CorpusNeptune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CorpusNeptune)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/42 "2022-10-25T17:03:10Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > When one bought a pack of soda in those days, part of the purchase price was a deposit on the bottles; if you brought the empty bottles back to the grocery store, you would get your deposit back. > > It was, of course, kind of a hassle for the stores, and the system largely got phased out in favor of aluminum cans and plastic bottles. Speaking of aluminum cans, are they viable to use over plastic or glass? Here’s a thing I found from a quick Google search: “Cans are lighter than glass and aren’t made from fossil fuels either, like plastic. Because of the processes involved in making them, cans also contribute less to environmental problems like acid rain and oxygen-free zones in the ocean.” I don’t specifically endorse the quote, but I’d love to hear if aluminum containers are viable for the environment. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/43 "2022-10-25T17:06:20Z")
Individual efforts on a household basis are worthless; indeed, they may be worse than worthless because they create the impression that something is being accomplished. To do anything, we must address policy at the top level and regulate the large corporate producers of the hoods, not the end users. Everything else is a waste of time and might be making things worse rather than better. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/44 "2022-10-25T17:10:12Z")
I would think aluminum, or any metal, would be preferable to plastics, as they are easier to recover and separate from their other components, and there is a market for them. That last part is key. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/45 "2022-10-25T17:33:31Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Individual efforts on a household basis are worthless This may be the case with regards to recycling plastic (and probably is), but is definitely not the case for recycling metal. It is far cheaper and less energy intensive to recycle metal than to mine new metal. The value of recycling glass, paper, and cardboard is going to be a more location dependent calculation. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/46 "2022-10-25T17:39:16Z")
Wouldn’t that be regressive, in that it would tend to increase prices on food and other necessities on those that can least afford it? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/47 "2022-10-25T17:39:30Z")
I would like to buy cheese without any plastic wrapping. For ordinary cheddar, this is basically impossible: either it comes wrapped in plastic, or you order it from the deli and they swathe it in plastic before handing it over. How did people manage this before plastic? Wax and wax paper? Would those be environmentally sound today (as I presume wax paper cannot be recycled)? Better or worse than plastic? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/48 "2022-10-25T17:41:47Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > How did people manage this before plastic? Wax and wax paper? Or butcher paper, I imagine, in the case of buying at a deli. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/49 "2022-10-25T17:42:45Z")
I thought perhaps wax paper could be composted but Googling, I’m told no. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/50 "2022-10-25T17:47:15Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Wax and wax paper? Yes. If you want to avoid using plastic, [waxed cheese paper](https://cheeseandyogurtmaking.com/products/waxed-kraft-paper-for-wrapping-cheese-100-sheets) is your best bet. I’ve also had some cheese wheels that came in cheesecloth and were sealed in wax, and one could reseal the wheel with minor effort. But those are not common these days. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/51 "2022-10-25T17:48:34Z")
Maybe a different thread in FQ would be better, but what exactly is so hard about recycling plastic? Why can’t they be depolymerized and turned back into the monomers that they were originally made from? Is that something that is hard and hasn’t been developed yet, or is that something that is more or less impossible and can’t be? Failing that, why not just melt it down and form it into 2x4’s, maybe mix in some recycled paper for tensile strength? I’ve seen the price of lumber in recent times, seems an alternative could be useful. The problem with plastic is that it _is_ cheaper and better than most alternatives. A glass bottle requires hundreds of times the energy to produce than a plastic bottle. The same with straws or bags or most other items. The only problem is with the end of life, where they don’t get recycled, and even worse, often don’t even end up in proper landfills. If we could do something with the end of life of plastic products that is environmentally sound, that would go much further than trying to use more expensive and inferior substitutes. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/52 "2022-10-25T17:50:11Z")
I’ve wondered for fifty years why the burden of saving the planet is always on the individual and never on the corporations. Which is why we are in this asinine state where consumers must remember, do without, or be inconvenienced, multiple times in the course of their handling of an object, while the factories that make them keep on churning out billions of pieces of plastic without the slightest consumer control over it. What if, for example, companies were forced to accept all their packaging back unless it was compostable at the point of use? There are other solutions too. But they must be directed at manufacturers and have teeth in them. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/53 "2022-10-25T17:50:25Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > This may be the case with regards to recycling plastic (and probably is), but is definitely not the case for recycling metal. It is far cheaper and less energy intensive to recycle metal than to mine new metal. And aluminum is so useful to recycle that they will actually pay you for it. Most other items you have to pay someone to take off your hands. ---
**Author:** ![CorpusNeptune](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corpusneptune/32/17561_2.png) [@CorpusNeptune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CorpusNeptune)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/54 "2022-10-25T17:52:40Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I’ve wondered for fifty years why the burden of saving the planet is always on the individual and never on the corporations. Because that would cost corporations time and money, and they want to spend as little of both as possible. Corporations couldn’t care less about the environment; they just want profit. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/55 "2022-10-25T17:54:46Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Maybe a different thread in FQ would be better, but what exactly is so hard about recycling plastic? Why can’t they be depolymerized and turned back into the monomers that they were originally made from? Many can, but part of the issue is that there are many different plastic polymers used in packaging, and they need to be sorted before being recycled as individual polymer types. A second major issue is that many plastics degrade when they go through the recycling process. This article lays out some of the challenges: > [@](#): > > Out of all the materials that end up in our recycling bins, plastic is probably the most difficult to recycle. > > This is because plastics are composed of several different polymer types. Hence, it’s almost impossible to recycle different plastics together as they melt at different temperatures. Before plastics can be recycled properly, they need to be separated. This is not only time consuming, but costly. Black plastic food trays are a nightmare to separate as their dark colour makes it difficult for sorting machines to spot them. > > To complicate things further, only certain types of plastics are worth recycling. For example, most plastics worsen in quality when recycled, this is known as downcycling. Such plastics either have to be mixed with virgin plastics and other materials to become valuable. > **[What are the problems with recycling plastic?](https://www.tylerpackaging.co.uk/problems-with-recycling-plastic/)** > > Recyclers across the globe are questioning whether they’re actually saving the planet. So, what are the problems with recycling plastic? ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/56 "2022-10-25T17:54:52Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Maybe a different thread in FQ would be better, but what exactly is so hard about recycling plastic? Look it up – lots of stuff has been tried, but there are lots of defects and problems. Basically, plastic just doesn’t recycle well. What uses it can be put to are few and contrived – think plastic boards (“trex” is a brand) that are ugly and aren’t nearly as strong as wooden ones. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/57 "2022-10-25T18:01:36Z")
If we could convert plastics into their constituent elements mostly hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon it’d be easy. Doing that takes a vast amount of energy to break all the bonds. So not practical. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/58 "2022-10-25T18:01:58Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > If we could do something with the end of life of plastic products that is environmentally sound, that would go much further than trying to use more expensive and inferior substitutes. This is how the plastics industry will think about the problem - let’s find ways to use recycled plastic, and make people think that is how the problem will be solved. Of course the real answer to the problem is not something they want to support - using less plastic in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/59 "2022-10-25T18:05:05Z")
My town has an award-winning recycling and disposal center. (Generally referred to as “the town dump”.) Every year we get a summary of how much they can sell stuff for, and how much they pay to get rid of stuff. They make money on aluminum. Recycled aluminum is legally the same thing as “virgin” aluminum, as the process of recycling it cleans it. This is feasible both because it’s processed as very hot temperatures and because it’s very different from most contaminants. It’s a lot harder to separate out plastic from oil-soluble toxins. They also make money on type 2 plastic. They do this by having very strict standards on what they accept, so their plastic isn’t contaminated with other plastics, food, etc. They used to be able to recycle glass, but the company that bought it went out of business. Even then, they were able to sell it because they had consumers separate the glass by color, so it was “clean”. Now they sell glass as “clean fill” to a company that makes road pavement. Or maybe they pay that company less to take it off their hands than it costs to dispose of landfill items. They pay someone to haul away paper and cardboard for recycling for less than the landfill cost. And they can one do this because again, consumers keep the materials clean and deposit them in separate areas. The sign as you enter the dump says “recycle right. When in doubt, throw it out.” I’m dubious that single stream recycling works anywhere. On the other hand, I’m also dubious about the evils of landfills. A good sanitary landfill is environmentally pretty neutral. And future generations might find them valuable to mine for rare earths or metals or whatever. I think it’s a good idea to tax packaging (or products in general) to reflect their disposal costs. But those should be real disposal costs, capped at the price of landfill space for anything that’s not too dangerous to dump in landfills. (Mercury, for instance, needs special processing.) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/60 "2022-10-25T18:06:44Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > If we could convert plastics into their constituent elements mostly hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon it’d be easy. Doing that takes a vast amount of energy to break all the bonds. So not practical. When I do it I use a special tool. [![](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/images/thumb/match_noun_002_22630.jpg?version=5.0.267) ](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/images/thumb/match_noun_002_22630.jpg?version=5.0.267) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728.md?page=4)