[altarius]

> "Recycling does not work, it never will work, and no amount of false advertising will change that," said report author Judith Enck, a former EPA regional administrator.

Yet cross-checking a few other countries, Germany seems to be leading and its plastic recycling rate seems to be close to 100% according to statista.

Am I missing something?

[pfortuny]

What does it mean to be close to 100%? Is it that people “put the plastic into the recycling bin”? Because I fear that is what it means.

[Arnt]

That's what it is. The effect is a bit complicated. Nowhere near 100% of what's in that in that bin is made into new plastic, only about 20% in the city where I live. But the near-100% has two additional effects: there's little other than plastic (and metal) in that bin and there's little plastic in the other bins. Both of those have practical benefits.

[pfortuny]

OK, thanks for the detailed explanation. So nowhere near 100% recycling, but a somewhat good outcome in recycling and sorting (which is good per se).

Thanks!

[Tozen]

You are not missing anything. If Government doesn't step in and force oil companies and businesses to be more responsible for recycling and reducing plastic waste, then as far as they are concerned, anywhere on our planet is a good place to "take a dump". Nothing like plastic sh*t in birds, fish, and even in the blood of unborn babies.

[rasz]

German plastic is what is burning weekly in Polish illegal garbage dumps. https://portalkomunalny.pl/gospodarka-odpadami/pozary-sklado...

one example https://portalkomunalny-pl.translate.goog/dolnoslaskie-na-pl...

[tqkxzugoaupvwqr]

Must be a misunderstanding or different definition of recycling.

Each time plastic is recycled it degrades and becomes less fit for the original use. At some point the degradation is so large that the degraded plastic must be replaced with newly produced plastic. 100% recycling of plastic is not possible.