It is no secret that the recycling industry has been under the microscope for the last decade or so. For right or wrong, that microscope has revealed the uncomfortable truth that recycling – particularly plastic recycling – isn’t living up to its promises. We are trying to get things back on track by improving recycling processes. But are we collectively guilty of wanting it both ways?
Consider a company known as Brightmark Energy. They had plans to build a new chemical plastic recycling plant in Macon, Georgia. Local opposition was fierce enough that the company walked away.
Brightmark’s failure in Georgia is not unique. Similar plans for plastic recycling plants in other cities have faced significant opposition. On the one hand, politicians, activists, and even the general public say they want more and better plastic recycling initiatives. But when a company tries to give them what they want, they respond with, “Not in my backyard.”
Chemical vs. Mechanical Recycling
The NIMBY mentality in the plastic recycling space is mostly related to chemical recycling. Environmental activists look at chemical recycling as just a different way to pollute the planet. They insist that chemical recycling is just as bad as allowing plastic to end up in landfills or marine environments. So they oppose chemical recycling at every turn.
On the other hand, mechanical recycling is viewed as less polluting. Seraphim Plastics, a Tennessee company that recycles industrial scrap plastic in seven states, explains mechanical recycling as the process of using grinders and shredders to reduce plastic waste to material known as regrind. Regrind is sold to manufacturers who combine it with virgin plastic to create new products.
Unfortunately, mechanical recycling has its drawbacks too. The biggest among them is that the process cannot be used indefinitely. Eventually, products made from mechanically recycled plastics lose their integrity and go to a landfill or incinerator anyway.
No Perfect Recycling Method
The fact is that there is no perfect recycling method. Not for paper, glass, wood, or plastic. Every form of recycling produces some sort of waste. Every form of recycling has the potential to negatively impact the environment. The best we can do is minimize negative impacts by developing new processes and technologies.
To many in the anti-plastic community, the only real solution is to completely get rid of plastic altogether. They fight recycling efforts by opposing new plants for the simple fact that recycling will not lead to elimination. Therefore, it runs contrary to the primary goal.
Their efforts will ultimately fail. The world has become so dependent on plastics that there is no turning back now. The thought of eliminating plastics completely is as bizarre and far-fetched as the thought of eliminating the internet. It is just not going to happen.
We Have to Make up Our Minds
Given that plastics will not be eliminated at any point in the near future, we need to make up our minds. Either we want effective recycling, or we don’t. If we do, we are going to have to put up with new recycling plants being built in our cities. We are going to have to be patient while the industry figures out how to chemically recycle while simultaneously minimizing its environmental impact.
The other option is to continue claiming we want more and better recycling but opposing every effort to do so. Right now, this is the course our country appears to be on. It is a course that can never have a happy ending. We cannot have it both ways despite what appears to be a collective desire to do so.
