# 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:** 4
**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, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/61 "2022-10-25T18:06:52Z")
> [@CorpusNeptune](#): > > 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. Yeah duh because capitalism. That’s why it has to be the government that enacts and enforces laws to protect us from shit like that. The wonder isn’t why corporations destroy for profit, the wonder is why we make our government so weak that they keep doing it. ---
**Author:** ![Yosh99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ccd318/32.png) [@Yosh99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yosh99)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/62 "2022-10-25T18:08:07Z")
I consider paraffin wax just a low Mw PE plastic with the same sourcing and disposal issues. ---
**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, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/63 "2022-10-25T18:13:05Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > When I do it I use a special tool. Fire does NOT reduce plastics to their constituent carbon/oxygen/hydrogen. Rather it produces many many toxic organic molecules. ---
**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, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/64 "2022-10-25T18:14:27Z")
And fails to capture most of them for reuse. I know **DG** was mostly kidding but that was a less than sterling example. ---
**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, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/65 "2022-10-25T18:15:06Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > The wonder isn’t why corporations destroy for profit, the wonder is why we make our government so weak that they keep doing it. Maybe the government is indifferent to all this, too. It _can_ be weakness in certain countries, but if it’s a country like the US, then it’s really indifference on their part. ---
**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, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/66 "2022-10-25T18:29:04Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > let’s find ways to use recycled plastic, and make people think that is how the problem will be solved. The point is that if we _can_ find ways of using recycled plastic, then the problem _will_ be solved. > [@snowthx](#): > > Of course the real answer to the problem is not something they want to support - using less plastic in the first place. It’s less the plastics industry, and more the consumers who don’t want to switch to more expensive and inferior products. > [@Ulfreida](#): > > Look it up – lots of stuff has been tried, but there are lots of defects and problems. I have looked it up, and it seems really complicated, but I do see some groups that are more positive in this direction of being able to recycle more plastics that are currently not recycled. Maybe rather than banning plastics for single use, we simply ban non-recyclable plastics for single use, which will incentivize the plastics industry to come up with ways of recycling their products. I am assuming that no one has a problem with plastics being used in durable goods, just single use items, right? ---
**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, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/67 "2022-10-25T18:30:57Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I’ve wondered for fifty years why the burden of saving the planet is always on the individual and never on the corporations Corporations have done this deliberately. It is not just an accident or quirk. In most cases they state things to make it sound like people are free to do whatever they want, and the corporations are blameless, because they’re just giving people what they asked for. People choose to smoke (but corporations market smoking, and hid the dangers). People choose to eat junk food (but corporations market it, and research ways to make food addictive). People choose to burn fossil fuels (but corporations fight against alternatives, and hid the dangers.) People feel bad about throwing away plastics, so offer a recycling alternative (but the alternative was just marketing, didn’t really exist, and in the years since plastic recycling has been mostly a failure). ---
**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, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/68 "2022-10-25T18:39:04Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > And fails to capture most of them for reuse. I know **DG** was mostly kidding but that was a less than sterling example. To be fair, reuse isn’t what’s important, it’s disposing of them environmentally that is. Making plastic is cheap. If it could be burned without releasing toxins, especially if you can make some electricity of something with it, then that’s fine, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/69 "2022-10-25T18:46:25Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > If it could be burned without releasing toxins, especially if you can make some electricity of something with it, then that’s fine, IMO. We heat our homes with it over here (Sweden, where land fills are illegal). Gigantic incinerator facilities heating water that is then distributed in pipe lines in all major towns and cities. It’s gotten where we’re importing trash to burn. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/70 "2022-10-25T18:46:40Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > 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. A pie shop near me sells pies in glass plates. If you return the glass plate to the store, they give you a pretty good credit off the purchase of your next pie. I think it’s a dollar or two. Not bad and I’m actually helping the environment that way. Unfortunately, i don’t like their pie. ---
**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, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/71 "2022-10-25T18:48:23Z")
How do you deal with the toxins? Are the plastics presorted, or do you just have really good scrubbers? ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/72 "2022-10-25T19:48:38Z")
A combination. What gets burnt is anything that can’t be recycled in one way or another. Note that this is not tax subsidized. They make money from selling the recycled stuff, from selling the hot water, and for taking care of the waste. There is some waste, of course. This gets packaged and wrapped [something, something] and made into some kind of slabs that are then used as foundation for e.g. roads. Utilities people from quite a few countries have visited to study. The final part of the tour is the creek flowing right by the plant, teeming with fish. Note, this has been a project 40 year in the making. The whole infrastructure had to be built, expanded, built and expanded. [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/Sysav%E2%80%93flygbild_06_september_2014.jpg/1044px-Sysav%E2%80%93flygbild_06_september_2014.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/Sysav%E2%80%93flygbild_06_september_2014.jpg/1044px-Sysav%E2%80%93flygbild_06_september_2014.jpg) ---
**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, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/73 "2022-10-25T20:58:52Z")
Too bad it’s in Sweden. Nobody in the US believes that there’s anything to be learned from European countries which have solved the same problems we face. Because we’re exceptional that way. ---
**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, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/74 "2022-10-25T21:50:44Z")
We are exceptional in the large number of our people who steadfastly believe any collective effort is evil. Once one starts from that perspective, the rest of what the USA does makes a lot more sense. Ignorant, stupid, pig-headed sense, but predictable sense. It also explains why a lot of very good ideas, such as this Swedish system are doomed to fail if applied here. Far too many Americans will delight in vandalizing it. ---
**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, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/75 "2022-10-25T22:02:08Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > To be fair, reuse isn’t what’s important, it’s disposing of them environmentally that is. Properly built landfills are environmentally sound. You do need to divert a tiny fraction of the waste stream to keep them safe, but plastics can be buried perfectly safely. And there’s lots of land in the US. No, there’s not room in Manhattan to bury Manhattan’s waste, but there is in upstate NY. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2022, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/76 "2022-10-26T09:19:52Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > It also explains why a lot of very good ideas, such as this Swedish system are doomed to fail if applied here. Another factor is the huge upfront cost for infrastructure and utilities. Even if they do pay for themselves most politicians\* are only looking through the next election cycle. The money for that plant came through a joint effort of about ten counties (to use an analogy) and required loans, coordination and quite a lot of pigheadedness. t’s a direct result of the oil crisis of the 70’s. Most single family homes were heated by oil back then. It was decided that we shouldn’t be dependent in the same way ever again (cf. Germany to this day). The hookup was expensive - about $20K in todays money - for every single house. My parents opted out, which came back to bite us when dad died three decades later and we sold the house for way less than we would’ve got. \*Not only American. Politicians everywhere are generally not very interested in programs that will pay off when they’re dead. ---
**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 26, 2022, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/77 "2022-10-26T11:58:37Z")
Agree completely with all you’ve said. Both parts of this snip is/are especially poignant. > [@Charlie\_Tan](#): > > … > My parents opted out, which came back to bite us when dad died three decades later and we sold the house for way less than we would’ve got. > > \*Not only American. Politicians everywhere are generally not very interested in programs that will pay off when they’re dead. To summarize, humans as a species are excellent at using hindsight today to see where they ought to have used foresight yesterday. But they utterly suck at taking those repeated lessons to heart and actually using foresight today to solve their problems of tomorrow. Time: It’s Nature’s way of ensuring human folly is eternal. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2022, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/78 "2022-10-26T12:38:43Z")
This plastics problem really ticks me off. We’ve become such a throwaway society and that ticks me off too. At our home we avoid plastic water bottles. I use a refillable bottle for water, that doubles as a portable coffee cup so I don’t use (and dispose of) the paper cups at the coffee shops, or in the office at work. I do not use the plastic throwaway cups provided in the office. I know there is more that we can do at home and I’ll be studying the posts in this thread to learn more. ---
**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 26, 2022, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/79 "2022-10-26T12:53:05Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Properly built landfills are environmentally sound. You do need to divert a tiny fraction of the waste stream to keep them safe, but plastics can be buried perfectly safely. Agreed, the problem is that not all the plastic ends up in a landfill. I mow about once a week, and I often have to remove a couple plastic bags from my yard that have blown in, as well as plastic bottles in my front yard that people have tossed out of their cars. The “recycling” scam is even worse, as what you put in your recycling bin apparently has a pretty good chance of ending up in the ocean. At least the stuff in your trash should end up properly removed from the environment. ---
**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 26, 2022, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-vast-majority-of-plastic-that-people-put-into-recycling-bins-is-headed-to-landfills/973728/80 "2022-10-26T13:01:47Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > I know there is more that we can do at home and I’ll be studying the posts in this thread to learn more. We have replaced plastic straws with reusable metal straws. I have been trying to get the family to reduce/stop using plastic ziploc type bags, especially as a single use item, and use a Tupperware type container instead. Granted, that’s still plastic, but can be reused many times. We always use canvas or reusable grocery bags now, but still somehow end up with plastic bags. There are probably lots of good ideas out there to reduce household plastic waste so I will be watching, too. [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=3) [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=5)