U.S. plastic recycling rate drops to close to 5%

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&#x27;ll still recycle. It&#x27;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&#x27;m sitting in a faux leather chair typing on a 15 year old plastic keyboard wearing comfy polyester-blend clothing. I don&#x27;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.

&gt; &quot;Recycling does not work, it never will work, and no amount of false advertising will change that,&quot; 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?

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