Too bad we spent so much time getting people to be <i>really good</i> at recycling. It turns out that municipalities making recycling free was just a subsidy for more plastic. (I mean, I'll still recycle. It's free garbage service!)<p>I think if we just made it clear that plastic is garbage and goes in a garbage bin and needs to go to a landfill and you have to pay for the garbage bin, we may be surprised by how much needless low quality plastic packaging would disappear.<p>But still - plastic is pretty dang useful stuff. I'm sitting in a faux leather chair typing on a 15 year old plastic keyboard wearing comfy polyester-blend clothing. I don't begrudge oil companies for somehow forcing me to buy this stuff. And I would rather oil get used for stuff like this than burned and turned into CO2.
> "Recycling does not work, it never will work, and no amount of false advertising will change that," said report author Judith Enck, a former EPA regional administrator.<p>Yet cross-checking a few other countries, Germany seems to be leading and its plastic recycling rate seems to be close to 100% according to statista.<p>Am I missing something?
More on this topic:
<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/single-use-plastic-chemical-recycling-disposal/661141/" rel="nofollow">https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/single-use...</a>