I have seen several articles like this the last couple of days and I just want to say that you can in fact recycle (some) plastics.
Recycling is mandated by law in Sweden and almost every major grocery store has a small recycling center where you can deposit your bottles and cans and get a small cash back receipt or store credit voucher in return. The recycling (or return) rate for plastic bottles is 89% (the goal is 90%). The amount of material that is actually re-used for new bottles varies but recent reports put it at around 50%.
My point here is that stringent laws that put the responsibility on the plastic producers coupled with incentive programs for the consumer can and will make a difference.
That said the end goal is and should still be to lower our dependency on plastic and in the long rund phase it out entirely where possible.
Vardagshjalten t1_itrwdgz wrote
Reply to Recycling plastic is practically impossible — and the problem is getting worse by chrisdh79
I have seen several articles like this the last couple of days and I just want to say that you can in fact recycle (some) plastics.
Recycling is mandated by law in Sweden and almost every major grocery store has a small recycling center where you can deposit your bottles and cans and get a small cash back receipt or store credit voucher in return. The recycling (or return) rate for plastic bottles is 89% (the goal is 90%). The amount of material that is actually re-used for new bottles varies but recent reports put it at around 50%.
My point here is that stringent laws that put the responsibility on the plastic producers coupled with incentive programs for the consumer can and will make a difference.
That said the end goal is and should still be to lower our dependency on plastic and in the long rund phase it out entirely where possible.
If you want to read more on the Swedish recycling system you can visit: https://pantamera.nu/en/ and https://www.svenskplastatervinning.se/en/about-plastic-recycling/