Trash or Recycling? The Problem with Plastics. 

The recycling system largely leans on consumers to do the right thing, so why is throwing away plastics unnecessarily confusing?

After going to the supermarket, unboxing packages, or throwing away party cups, most folks find themselves squinting down at their products to find one simple symbol. This symbol is a Mobius loop; it consists of three-chasing-arrows in the shape of a triangle with round vertices. However, the symbol is oftentimes known as an international consummate representation of recycling. 

On a surface level, this might seem like an easy symbol to understand. If a product has the recycling symbol, we assume that it’s just a matter of finding a recycling bin to throw it in. How simple is that? Well, sadly, ingraining the recycling symbol on a product doesn’t actually mean that it’s recyclable. Manufacturers can print the logo on just about any product. That’s because its main purpose isn’t to say whether something’s recyclable, but to identify the type of plastic it’s made from. 

Turns out, the recycling system is the opposite of simple. The recycling symbol splits plastics up into 7 different categories based on the materials they’re made of, shown with a letter printed in the symbol’s center. Plastics with codes 3, 6, and 7 cannot be recycled at all and may pose a harm to the environment, and plastics with code 1 can only be recycled once. Therefore, it’s only codes 2, 4, and 5 that are safe to recycle. 

Though materials like paper or metals are widely recycled, less than 10 percent of the plastic materials consumed in the United States are recycled, according to the most recent estimates by the Environmental Protection Agency. Instead, most plastic is single-use waste and goes straight to the incinerators, or it’s dumped in landfills where plastic continues to harm wildlife and local communities. 

Fixing a Broken System

So what can be done to stop this downward spiraling system? States such as Oregon and Maine have passed laws overhauling their states’ recycling systems by requiring corporations to pay for the cost of recycling their plastic packaging. In Oregon, the law included plans to establish a task force that would evaluate “misleading or confusing claims” related to recycling. If nothing is done, the recycling symbol can “subconsciously tell the people buying things, ‘You’re environmentally friendly,’” said Heidi Sanborn, the executive director of the National Stewardship Action Council, which advocates corporations to shoulder more responsibility for recycling their products.

“Nobody should be able to lie to the public,” she said.

In California, a new bill circulated in 2021 that would make it a crime for corporations to use the chasing arrows recycling symbol on any product or packaging that hasn’t met the state’s recycling criteria. Products would be considered recyclable if CalRecycle, the state’s recycling department, determines they have a viable end market and meet certain design criteria, including not using toxic chemicals. This would wipe away any plastics with codes 1, 3, 6 or 7 from using the recycling system and reduce hours that recycling sites spend sorting through waste.

Yet despite the race to change our recycling system, the world is producing plastic at an explosive rate. Since 1960, plastics production has surged almost 100-fold. By one measure, the weight of all plastic ever produced is now greater than all land and marine animals combined. On top of that, more than half of plastic products are designed to be used only once, according to the United Nations. Think hotel shampoo mini-bottles, single-use tooth-flossing picks, all those at-home Covid tests.

Thus, there needs to be a change in the ways corporations and individuals operate on a day to day basis. Keep recycling materials that have been approved in your area by the state and local government, as well as papers, cardboard, and metals. 

Consider switching to different products or brands with recyclable or compostable packaging (Still be careful of greenwashing). In the bigger picture, buying fewer consumer goods in general, to the extent possible, can easily reduce the plastics waste stream. Getting involved in local efforts to improve recycling or reduce local plastic use is another option.

The road towards a promising recycling system is far from, but these tiny changes are the first dents in the mountains of plastic we have built.