At the beginning of the article, the author raises a question: The recovery of waste plastics in the United States is declining, so why is recycling still being promoted as a way to solve plastic pollution? When stakeholders ask major companies to take action to reduce plastic contamination, companies usually make statements stating that they are committed to recycling and plan to use recyclable materials for packaging.
As we all know, the production of plastic waste in the United States is increasing, as a result of China's ban, the number of exportable plastic scrap is declining and plastic recycling costs are increasing, as more trucks are needed to collect widely dispersed waste, and the expansion of plastic production makes the price of new plastics relatively low.
however, The authors argue that these factors are contrary to a key premise that waste plastics will someday have enough value to promote recycling rather than deal with it. The authors start with the 2015 solid Waste and recycling statistics released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in July 2018. According to these figures, the plastic recycling rate in the United States was 9.1 in 2015. The 2015 statistics are ' an unwelcome surprise ', as it shows that ' the amount of plastic waste produced in the United States is rising, and the amount recovered is lower than the previous year '.
This happens when China still imports nearly 1 million tonnes of American plastic scrap.
According to the U.S. Environmental protection agency, The U.S. Waste Recycling Association (ISRI) statistics and Industry news, The authors estimate that the U.S. plastic recycling rate will fall from 9.1 in 2015 to 4.4 in 2018. If other Asian countries follow China's import ban or proposed amendments to the Basel Convention to prohibit the United States from transporting plastic waste to these countries, the recovery rate of 2019 may be reduced to 2.9. Although it is impossible to make accurate predictions, this is a reliable estimate based on historical data and current Events.
If the export increases, or better yet, the production of plastic waste is reduced, the recycling rate may be slightly higher.
The author also provides its computational data:
1, The total amount of plastic waste produced in the United States increased by 3.8 per annum (2015 compared with the Epa's growth rate in 2014), from 34.5 million tonnes in 2015 to 38.5 million tonnes in 2018. 2, The amount of plastic recycled in the United States was 2015 flat (940,000 tonnes). There is no conclusive evidence that plastic recycling capacity or company purchases has increased since 2015. On the contrary, according to the 2016 Napcor Pet container recycling activity report, 28 Pet Recycling Enterprises in 7 closed, thereby reducing the processing capacity of 16.6.
The expansion of new cheap plastic production along the Gulf Coast will continue to challenge the economics of plastic recycling.
3, U.S. plastic waste compost weight kept to zero, because the United States does not have municipal solid waste of industrial composting facilities
4, plastic waste burned by the United States for power generation remains flat with 2015, as new waste is converted into energy facilities that are not yet online and some facilities are Closed.
5 in 2018, China imported only 150 million pounds of plastic waste from the United States (based on the recycling of U.S. export data). 6 in 2018, the weight of waste plastics imported from other countries was the same as in 2017.
This is a reasonable estimate, because although several countries initially increased imports, they now issue temporary bans and import restrictions.
7 in 2019, China and Hong Kong imported plastic waste from the United States at 0.
8, in 2019, other south-east Asian countries, due to their own concerns about environmental degradation and/or the Basel Convention restrictions (proposed by norway), imported plastic waste from the United States to 0.
The authors hope that these predictions will awaken people whether the US recovery system is a reliable solution to plastic contamination. the authors believe that the real solution to plastic pollution:
Reduction in disposable plastics, including ' plastic bags in fast food and retail business, plastic straws and foamed polystyrene foam containers ';
In addition, ' beverage and retail companies should be authorized to operate reverse vending machines and encourage them to sell plastic bottles of drinks in all parts of the container for Returns. Plastic recycling rate to 4.4% in the United states, Recycling is a false promise?
