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Is recycling a scam? (lemmy.world)

submitted 6 months ago by cheese_greater@lemmy.world to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.ca

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I've randomly heard various iterations of the claim recycling is a scam but never received a fleshed-out explanation or anything

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[–] scoobford@piefed.blahaj.zone 27 points 6 months ago (2 children)

It depends on your location and the material, but plastic recycling is kind of a scam. Basically, it requires a lot of labor and energy, the resulting plastic is kind of shit, and as a result plastic is rarely recycled once and basically never recycled twice or more.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_recycling

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[–] zout@fedia.io 4 points 6 months ago

The numbers in that link are quite old, I see 2015 and 2010 mentioned. In the Netherlands where I live recycling is a lot higher than ten years ago. That said, a lot of recyclers went bankrupt the last two years because virgin materials are a lot cheaper.

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[–] BCsven@lemmy.ca 4 points 6 months ago

There is labour and energy but it is less than drilling new oil and all that processing and energy to make new material.

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