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this post was submitted on 31 May 2025
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The recycling industry begs to differ. Well, exceptions prove the rule.
Depends what materials you're recycling. Glass and plastic both require virgin material, else you'd get garbage out.
Paper works up to 6 times at best, if someone is able to track the same batch. But recycling paper uses more energy than using virgin, and if virgin paper sourced from a sustainable place like Canada, then recycled paper is actually worse for the environment because of the energy thing and de-inking water waste. Also the timber is cut for housing actually and only the edges of the logs are used to make chips for making paper. So trees aren’t being cut solely for paper (from sustainable countries). Until we meet again (insert Skeletor running away)
Everything I'm reading suggests the problem with glass recycling is contamination, and that once that's accounted for what's left over can be infinitely recycled without quality loss.
Source? Ive never found a factory that does this in practice. They all add virgin material
Unfortunately I'm not finding much explicit information on the specific processes, just that it's possible.
Now of course just because it can be recycled indefinitely, doesn't mean it is in practise. Could be contamination, colouring, or just plain cost.
I don't think infinitely recyclable doesn't mean it doesn't need virgin material. I don't know what that would be called