• bustAsh@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I recently bought a pair of pants. The label said they were made from recycled plastic bottles. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    Also I’ve seen videos of people in other countries who are making various products with plastic they’ve cleaned up from their beaches.

    • SpacetimeMachine@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Ah so of course that must mean that these scientists are wrong!

      Plastic bottles are made using PET or PETG and it is one of the few plastics that are easily recycled. Most plastics however are not. And just because people are using plastic they found to make custom products does not mean the plastic itself is recyclable. It needs to be recyclable on a large scale where it can be reused in large scale industries to not have a negative impact on the environment.

    • Varyk
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      2 months ago

      The article isn’t claiming that it is impossible to recycle some certain types of plastic, the problem is that only 5% of plastics are being recycled at extremely high cost and risk.

      Plastics companies are misrepresenting plastic recycling capability while writing and influencing laws that profit plastics corporations and directly poisoning the health of almost every living thing on the planet.

      https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/10/12/1081129/plastic-recycling-climate-change-microplastics/#:~:text=How much plastic is actually,each year—a paltry rate.