Biden officials consider whether symbol, created for first Earth Day in 1970, is misleading because of use on non-recyclable material
[…]the widespread use of the symbol on products that are not routinely accepted for recycling is helping stoke “consumer confusion about what is recyclable and/or compostable” and is leading to “deceptive or misleading” claims on packaging, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
At issue is the use of the logo along with the “resin number” of different types of plastics. Resin one and two plastics, such as bottles and jugs, are the most easily recycled products, but those marked with numbers three to seven, categories that include plastic bags, styrofoam and plastic trays, are typically not recycled and are instead sent to landfills or burned.
The placement of the chasing arrows symbol upon these hard-to-recycle single-use plastics “does not accurately represent recyclability as many plastics (especially 3-7) do not have end markets, and are not financially viable to recycle,” the EPA said in its comments.
I agree. But I think the largest problem is how much single-use plastics we have. It is ridiculous to me that we’ve gotten to the place we are with single-use plastics. The strength of plastics is their durability and longevity, and we’ve collectively decided that we should largely use them as temporary packaging.
Have we, though? I don’t think consumers have made that decision at all. I think companies have made that decision for us, because it’s so damn cheap. I would strongly prefer to buy products in degradable packaging, whenever possible, but that is so rarely an option. Toilet paper as an example. Why does that need to be sold in thin plastic that gets thrown out? Why can’t it be packaged in paper bags? Probably because manufacturers have decided that the fancy color they can print on plastic has an advantage with their advertising.
I digress. It’s not consumers who are thrilled about single-use plastic. We’re not even the ones doing the vast, VAST majority of polluting. It’s companies.
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I agree. But I think the largest problem is how much single-use plastics we have. It is ridiculous to me that we’ve gotten to the place we are with single-use plastics. The strength of plastics is their durability and longevity, and we’ve collectively decided that we should largely use them as temporary packaging.
Have we, though? I don’t think consumers have made that decision at all. I think companies have made that decision for us, because it’s so damn cheap. I would strongly prefer to buy products in degradable packaging, whenever possible, but that is so rarely an option. Toilet paper as an example. Why does that need to be sold in thin plastic that gets thrown out? Why can’t it be packaged in paper bags? Probably because manufacturers have decided that the fancy color they can print on plastic has an advantage with their advertising.
I digress. It’s not consumers who are thrilled about single-use plastic. We’re not even the ones doing the vast, VAST majority of polluting. It’s companies.