For decades, Americans have been sorting their trash believing that most plastic could be recycled. But the truth is that the vast majority of all plastic produced can't be or won't be recycled. In 40 years, less than 10% of plastic has been recycled.
A news programme Frontline, by NPR and the PBS, found that oil and gas companies — the makers of plastic — have known that all along, even as they spent millions of dollars telling the American public the opposite. The plastics industry officials said the industry is providing money for new technology that they believe will get recycling plastic up to scale. The goal, they said, is to recycle 100% of the plastic they make in 5 years.
But the more plastic is recycled, the less money the industry will make by selling new plastic. And those profits have become increasingly important. Companies have told shareholders (股东) that profits from using oil and gas for transport are expected to decline in coming years with the increasing use of electric cars. The industry leaders expect oil and gas demands from the chemical industry will be much greater than the demand from the transport side in the coming decade. Plastic production overall is now expected to rise three times by 2050, and once again, the industry is spending money on advertisements and public relations to promote plastic recycling.
Plastic is now more common than it's ever been and harder to recycle. Gas prices remain at historic lows, making new plastic cheaper than recycled plastic. And the industry now produces many more different — and more complex — kinds of plastics that are more costly to sort and in many cases can't be recycled at all. Efforts to reduce plastic use are mounting nationwide, but any plan to slow the growth of plastic will face an industry with billions of dollars of future profits to lose.
