Embedded Files
The Recycling Solution Illusion
The Recycling Solution Illusion
Posted by Yudai Tadaki on June 13, 2019
In 2017, the world produced 480 BILLION PET bottles. Could “recycling” alone be a solution? Let’s take a look at a best-case scenario.
Only a TINY number of PET bottles are actually recycled into more PET bottles (about 6%). Most of the rest is downcycled in to other products; mainly, polyester fiber which is used to make products such as cheap rugs, and curtains.
25 PET bottles can create enough polyester be woven into 1 fleece sweater. Simple calculation shows that:
480,000,000,000 bottles ÷ 25 bottles/shirt = 19,200,000,000 shirts. That's almost 3 shirts for every person on earth, every year!
In addition, PET can only be recycled 2 to 3 times before molecular degradation and contamination make it unfit for recycling.
The fact is, recycling (even under ideal conditions) has its limitations. The real solution to the current plastic crisis remains reducing the amount of plastics we use in the first place.
6%
6%
Of the 480 billion PET bottles produced every year, only 6% is recycled into PET bottles.
20 billion sweaters
20 billion sweaters
It takes 25 PET bottles to make 1 fleece sweater
480 billion PET bottles
= 20 billion sweaters
EVERY YEAR!
2 x
2 x
PET plastic can only be recycled 2 times before it needs to be landfilled.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse