Many plastics tossed into recycling bins never get repurposed, leading New York officials to push for policies that cut plastic use instead of relying on recycling.
Lucy Hodgman reports for Times Union.
In short:
- The 2018 ban on foreign plastic waste imports left U.S. cities struggling to process plastics, with much of it ending up in landfills despite recycling efforts.
- New York legislators are considering the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act, which would require companies to cut plastic packaging and support local recycling programs.
- Environmental advocates argue that plastic recycling has largely failed, with only 5-6% of plastics actually being repurposed.
Key quote:
“I am a big supporter of recycling, but plastic recycling has been an abysmal failure. We should keep recycling paper, metal, glass, cardboard, but plastic recycling doesn’t work.”
— Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics
Why this matters:
Plastic pollution has become one of the most persistent environmental threats of our time. Unlike organic materials that decompose naturally, most plastics break down into microscopic particles that remain in the environment for centuries. These microplastics have been detected in the deepest parts of the ocean, in Arctic ice, and even in human blood.
Efforts to address plastic pollution have largely centered on recycling, but the reality is sobering: less than 10% of all plastic waste has ever been successfully recycled. Much of it is either too contaminated or too complex to be processed efficiently. This has led experts to argue that reducing plastic production and consumption — rather than trying to manage waste after the fact — may be the only way to truly limit its environmental and health impacts.
Related: What is chemical recycling?
