Plastic recycling is declining despite increasing plastic waste

Paper, cardboard, glass and metals are recycled at a high rate, but plastic remains waste.

A new report by Greenpeace USA concludes that most plastic simply cannot be recycled. The published report «Circular Claims Fall Flat Again» finds that U.S. households generated an estimated 51 million tonnes of plastic waste in 2021, of which only 2.4 million tonnes were recycled.

Most plastic simply cannot be recycled, writes Greenpeace USA in the report.

The Greenpeace report offers a wealth of statistics and a concise diagnosis: mechanical and chemical recycling of plastic waste has largely failed and will always fail, because plastic waste is:

• extremely difficult to collect,
• virtually impossible to sort for recycling,
• environmentally harmful during reprocessing, and
• often composed of or contaminated by toxic materials, and
• not economically viable to recycle.

The report also finds that no type of plastic packaging in the United States meets the definition of recyclable used by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastic Economy (EMF NPE) initiative. Estimates suggest that plastic recycling will fall to approximately 5–6% in 2021, down from a peak of 9.5% in 2014 and 8.7% in 2018. At that time, the United States was exporting millions of tonnes of plastic waste to China and counting it as recycled, even though much of it was incinerated or landfilled.

Under the EMF’s NPE standards, an item must achieve a recycling rate of 30% to qualify for the designation «recyclable» to be maintained. Two of the most common plastics in the USA, often considered recyclable – PET #1 and HDPE #2, typically bottles and jugs – fall well below the EMF-NPE threshold, achieving recycling rates of only 20.9% and 10.3% respectively. For all other types of plastic, the recycling rate is below 5%.

While PET No. 1 and HDPE No. 2 have previously been considered recyclable, this report shows that acceptance by a recycling facility does not necessarily mean they are actually recycled – effectively disproving the claim of recyclability.

Corporations such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestlé, and Unilever have worked for decades with industry front groups to promote plastic recycling as a solution to plastic waste. Yet the data are unequivocal: in practical terms, most plastic is simply not recyclable. The real solution lies in transitioning to systems of reuse and refill.

Lisa Ramsden, Greenpeace USA Senior Plastics Campaigner

According to the report, which is an update of a 2020 report, the mechanical and chemical recycling of plastic waste fails because plastic waste is extremely difficult to collect, virtually impossible to sort for recycling, environmentally harmful to reprocess, frequently composed of and contaminated by toxic materials, and economically unviable.

Ramsden said: «Single-use plastic is like trillions of pieces of confetti distributed every year by retail and fast-food outlets to more than 330 million US citizens across more than 3 million square miles. It is simply not possible to collect the vast quantities of these small plastic items sold annually to consumers in the USA. More and more plastic is being produced, and an ever smaller percentage of it is being recycled. The crisis is worsening and will continue to escalate without drastic changes, as the industry plans to triple plastic production by 2050.»

In New York City, recycling one ton of plastic costs at least six times as much as disposing of it at a landfill. This is according to a 2020 study by the Manhattan Institute, which estimated that the city could save $340 million annually if it disposed of all its waste in landfills.

Ramsden continued: «We are at a critical point regarding plastic pollution. It is time for companies to turn off the plastic tap. Instead of continuing to deceive the American public, the industry should stand on the right side of history in November and support an ambitious global plastics treaty that will finally end the plastic age by significantly reducing production and increasing reuse and refilling..»

More than 99% of plastic is made from fossil fuels, and as major brands continue their dependence on this harmful material, they are amplifying climate impacts and endangering communities in the name of profit. Around the world, communities of color are disproportionately exposed to health burdens from the plastics industry, whether through incinerators, landfills, petrochemical plants, polluted waterways, or harmful plastic packaging imposed on communities.

The environmental cost is also so high because plastic from American recycling bins has ended up in developing countries with rudimentary waste management systems. Much of it is illegally dumped, burned, or processed in primitive facilities, generating toxic fumes, with some of the plastic entering rivers. Virtually all consumer plastic polluting the world's oceans originates from “poorly managed waste” in developing countries.

The report calls on companies to take several additional steps to mitigate the systemic problems associated with plastic recycling. These include phasing out single-use plastics, committing to standardized reusable packaging, and adopting a global plastics treaty intended to help establish international standards.