MESSAGE
| DATE | 2020-04-01 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] yet another instances where everyone yelled at me
|
Since the 1980s I've told people that plastic recycling, and all
recycling actually, is a complete wast of time and maybe even bad for
the environment, and what we really needed was to just reduce our waste,
espeicially useless packaging.
OK - so here we go. Full disclosure...
Plastic recycling is still bullshit.
Plastic bag bans, and the most grevious of all bullshit.
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https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/plastics-industry-insiders-reveal-the-truth-about-recycling/
Plastics Industry Insiders Reveal the Truth About Recycling
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Plastic bottles and other refuse lay washed up on the banks of a tidal
inlet off the Delaware River in Philadelphia, PA, February 8, 2020. (AP
Photo/Jonathan Elderfield)
Plastic bottles and other refuse lay washed up on the banks of a tidal
inlet off the Delaware River in Philadelphia, PA, February 8, 2020. (AP
Photo/Jonathan Elderfield)
In partnership with:
March 31, 2020
by
Patrice Taddonio
It was the late 1980s, and the plastics industry was under fire.
Facing heightened public concern about ever-increasing amounts of
garbage, the image of plastics was falling dramatically. State and local
officials across the country were considering banning some kinds of
plastics in an effort to reduce waste and pollution.
But the industry had a plan; a way to fend off plastic bans and keep its
sales growing.
It would publicly promote recycling as the solution to the waste crisis
— despite internal industry doubts, from almost the beginning, that
widespread plastic recycling could ever be economically viable.
The strategy — and doubts — are revealed in Plastic Wars, an upcoming
investigative documentary from FRONTLINE and NPR.
In the documentary, three top executives who represented the plastics
industry in that pivotal era speak publicly for the first time, shedding
new light on the industry’s efforts to overcome growing concern about
plastic waste by pushing recycling.
“There was never an enthusiastic belief that recycling was ultimately
going to work in a significant way,” Lewis Freeman, former VP of
government affairs for what was then the industry’s chief lobbying
group, the Society of the Plastics Industry, tells FRONTLINE and NPR in
Plastic Wars.
The industry promoted recycling heavily anyway, counting on a simple
strategy: “If the public thinks the recycling is working, then they’re
not going to be as concerned about the environment,” says Larry Thomas,
who formerly headed the SPI.
In the below excerpt from Plastic Wars, Ronald Liesemer, a former DuPont
manager, describes being tapped to execute the industry’s recycling push
— and how by demonstrating a commitment to recycling, the industry was
able to successfully pre-empt nascent plastic bans:
But as Thomas, the former SPI head, tells FRONTLINE and NPR, the major
plastic makers knew that there wasn’t enough infrastructure for
recycling to actually amount to much.
Internal documents uncovered by the reporting team back that up. As this
excerpt shows, one such SPI document warned that there is “serious
doubt” widespread plastic recycling “can ever be made viable on an
economic basis”:
Sure enough, it hasn’t been. In all the years since the plastics
industry mounted this recycling push, it’s estimated that no more than
10 percent of plastic produced has ever actually been recycled.
To learn why, watch Plastic Wars. From FRONTLINE producer Rick Young,
NPR correspondent Laura Sullivan, and co-producers Emma Schwartz and
Fritz Kramer, the documentary is a powerful look at how the plastics
industry has used recycling to help sell more plastic — and why the
plastic waste problem has only grown.
Plastic Wars premieres Tues., Mar. 31 at 10 p.m. E.D.T./9 p.m. C.D.T.
Tune in or stream on PBS (check local listings), at pbs.org/frontline or
on the PBS Video App. NPR will air a story from the investigation that
same day on All Things Considered (see stations and local broadcast
times at NPR.org/stations), with additional radio pieces airing in the
coming weeks.
Patrice Taddonio
Patrice Taddonio, Digital Writer & Audience Development Strategist
Email:
patrice_taddonio-at-wgbh.org
Twitter:
-at-ptaddonio
The Trust Project Journalistic Standards
Plastic Wars
Watch the Documentary
Plastic Wars
Support Provided By
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See What FRONTLINE Is Working On Now
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When Does Recycling Your Plastic Make Sense? The Answer Isn’t So Simple
When Does Recycling Your Plastic Make Sense? The Answer Isn’t So Simple
March 31, 2020
Topics
Business and Economy,
Climate and Environment
--
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town
that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
http://www.mrbrklyn.com
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software
http://www.brooklyn-living.com
Being so tracked is for FARM ANIMALS and extermination camps,
but incompatible with living as a free human being. -RI Safir 2013
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