The plastic recycling hoax

Plastic is just about everywhere, and there’s going to be a lot more of it. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development expects global plastic use to triple by 2060. So what are we to do with all the waste?

Tossing empty iced coffee cups, peanut butter jars and blueberry containers into a recycling bin might seem like the obvious solution. But while the plastics industry has been working hard to promote recycling as a fix since the ’70s, it turns out our recycling systems are not equipped to handle the various plastics we use.

“Think of your own home. On top of your washing machine, you probably have a bright orange, hard plastic detergent bottle. And then in your refrigerator, you might have a squeezable clear ketchup bottle. Those two plastic containers cannot be recycled together,” said Judith Enck, founder of Beyond Plastics and former regional administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

On the show today: the fundamental problems with plastic recycling and the ubiquitous chasing-arrow symbol, and what we should do about it.

Then, we’ll discuss Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s visit to China, and why it may be time for Chinese officials to make a visit of their own. And is Yahoo is making a comeback?

Later, we’ll hear some listeners’ thoughts on robotaxis. And this week’s answer to the Make Me Smart question comes from one of the economists behind our favorite nerdy econ game, Tradle.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

“Plastic Recycling Doesn’t Work and Will Never Work” from The Atlantic

“Toward a circular economy: Tackling the plastics recycling problem” from The Conversation

“The recycling myth: A plastic waste solution littered with failure” from Reuters

“Decades of public messages about recycling in the US have crowded out more sustainable ways to manage waste” from The Conversation

“The Plastics Industry’s Long Fight to Blame Pollution on You” from Tahe Intercept

“What a reporter learned after cataloging her plastic use for a week” from Marketplace

“UN Agency Provides Path to 80 Percent Reduction in Plastic Waste. Recycling Alone Won’t Cut It” from Inside Climate News

“U.S. Does Not Want to ‘Decouple’ From China, Raimondo Says” from The New York Times

“How Yahoo is coming back from the dead” from Axios

We want to hear your answer to the Make Me Smart question. You can reach us at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.