This is just so disappointing......less then 10% of plastic produced is made from recycled material......

[a kennedy]

Less than 10% of the plastic produced around the world is made from recycled material, according to the first detailed global analysis of its life cycle.

The research reveals that most plastic is made from fossil fuels, predominantly coal and oil, despite rhetoric by producers, supermarkets and drinks companies about plastic being recycled.

The research analysed the 400m tonnes of plastic produced in 2022 in order to support attempts to reduce pollution and promote sustainable plastic management.

Plastic production has risen markedly since the 2m tonnes manufactured in 1950, and is projected to reach 800m tonnes a year by 2050. “As a result plastic pollution is a pressing and growing global issue, posing major challenges for the environment, economy, and public health,” the authors said.

Quanyin Tan and colleagues analysed key trends in the global plastic supply chain. Of the 400m tonnes of plastic produced over the course of 2022, just under 38m tonnes (9.5%) was produced from recycled plastic, 98% of the remaining 362m tonnes was produced from fossil fuels, predominantly coal and oil.

The research, published in Communications Earth & Environment, shows a significant increase in the amount of plastic being disposed of by incineration rather than recycling, with just 27.9% of plastic waste disposed of in 2022 actually being recycled.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/apr/10/just-95-of-plastic-made-in-2022-used-recycled-material-study-shows

[no_hypocrisy]

1. And yet in my town, you can be fined for not removing plastic from your garbage.

90 percent is going into landfills anyway . . . . .

[Traildogbob]

2. A whole lot

Of the high quality plastic goes into trump women, wives, daughters, daughters in laws, Jr’s girl friends, Cabinet members, News anchors, and staff for lips and kidneys. At least that stays out of oceans. That’s a lot of plastic not in our drinking water.

[Hugin]

3. Good point.

However, those dump sites are nearing capacity.

[Traildogbob]

6. I hear you

I also see all the glass just thrown into those crushing dumpsters at recycle sites and just smashed into everything. How the hell is that extracted.
While in college my room mate and I had 5 barrels of 50 gallons and separated every glass by color, as required to take to the site.
I wonder if those sites are for show only.
I remember the political battle to relocate the landfill after one was years past capacity here in WNC.
Nobody wants it near them. But just watch one days non stop traffic hauling in tons of garbage. Most never recycled.
Most people never see their landfill. Or know where the hell those dumpsters go.
Remember the New York barge stuck at sea looking for a state to take the trash 30 years ago?

[Hugin]

8. An attempt was made here years ago...

To use crushed recycled glass as road sand. Yes, it works, but real sand and ash is much cheaper. For a time it was also available as a decorative sand for xeriscaping. Same problem.

Plastic was pressed into a lumber like building material that was dyed to resemble red wood. I guess intended for use building decks. I bought a few pieces for a project once. Extremely heavy and it didn’t have the consistent properties of wood or other regular building materials because it was extruded from whatever plastic types were in the hopper at the time. This also caused it to be difficult to cut, shape, sand, grind, and paint. Eventually, gumming up anything I threw at it.

Yeah, I remember that barge to nowhere.

[Traildogbob]

11. Most of our

Outdoor wear with filling is made of plastic. North Face, Patagonia, Mountain Hardware and more. Guess where that’s made, Taiwan, China and Viet Nam. We think that stuff is expensive now!
We got tons of plastic so when trump brings all that manufacturing back here.
My friend and I got the idea to crush all that glass in the drums so our operation would be more efficient. Well, 50 gallons of crushed glass is so heavy you need a tractor to lift into the truck, and then nobody would take it crushed. (Mostly wine bottles, like I said I was in college🥹

[Srkdqltr]

4. So, if it is worrying to you, set up a company who does that. Just saying, it's easy to complain.

Someone has to do the work. Assuming it's profitable but complain because that helps.

[demmiblue]

5. What a strange response. n/t

[Srkdqltr]

9. Not strange at all See other responses. Its easy to say "why don't they" without doing anything.

[Wonder Why]

10. Because few have the money, the backing, the expertise, and the capability to do it.

And recycling will most often be uneconomic so the only solution is to have the government require that those that produce it, pay for it. If they don't recycle as much as they produce, then they should be fined for five times the difference and the money used to subsidize the recycling.

It is the manufacturers doing the producing who can best come up with the money, the backing, the expertise, and the capability to do it.

[onethatcares]

7. true story

here in sunny St Petersburg FL we have a robust recycling program that requires labels be removed and bottles of all types be cleaned of food or other residue before they will be accepted for recycling. So we have these blue containers that get filled with plastic detritus and then get shipped off to the landfill because one uncleaned bottle or jar contaminates the entire container. Not a very efficient way to save the planet or the city.

Anyone can see what goes on by driving up the on ramp of I 275 at 5th Ave N and looking at the city warehouse to the east of said on ramp. All day a bulldozer pushes the recyclables back and forth until they fill a semi trailer and take it to the county waste to energy plant where it buried or burned.