The article in the url below contains some depressing statistics about plastics recycling:
“While some 52% of paper, 36% of metals, and 22% of glass get recycled, only 7% of all plastics do, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.”
In general, only No.1 or No.2 plastics are recycled. There is an insufficient market for Nos.3 to 7 to make recycling them sufficiently profitable. Most people, however, continue to throw all kinds of plastics into the recycling container:
“Sadly, all the things not labeled 1 or 2 get pulled out at the recycling facility and are trucked off to a big, smelly hole in the ground, where they will deposit their petroleum-based chemicals into the soil for the next 500 years.”
In addition to depressing statistics, the article also does a good job of explaining that there are no easy answers to this problem. The author describes how the environmentally aware firm Stonyfield Farm considered changing its yoghurt pots from No.5 to No.2 plastic, for example, but ended up rejecting the plan on the basis that it would increase the amount of plastic used in making the pots because No.2 plastic is less sturdy that No.5 plastic. In addition:
“… if Stonyfield switched, most communities wouldn't recycle them anyway -- turns out that No. 2 tubs can't be mixed with No. 2 bottles because they're made from different chemicals.”
And, of those firms that are recycling plastics, a lot of it is done off-shore, often in China, where reports indicate that:
“… employees in Chinese recycling facilities are exposed to toxic fumes from the materials they are recycling. Which means that my recycling options just got a whole lot more complicated. Some choice: noxious chemicals in the soil versus the health of Chinese workers. It really isn't easy being green.”
Have a good weekend.
Dave
Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
http://www.sagepub.com/Werther
Green Business: Plastic Potion No. 9
Recycling should be the easy way to get people involved in helping the environment. Too bad the businesses behind it are blowing it.
Fast Company Magazine
From: Issue 128 | September 2008 | Page 103 | By: Melanie Warner
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/128/green-business-plastic-potion-no-9.html
