Does recycling help fight climate change? The Climate Question, BBC World Service

Reduce, reuse, recycle is a familiar mantra the world over - but how climate friendly is recycling?

Recycling has been described as "one of the easier climate-friendly acts” that individuals can do. A recent poll found that, globally, most of us believe that recycling is the single best thing we can do to tackle the climate crisis. But there isn’t much mention of “reduce” and “reuse”.

This week, presenters Kate Lamble and Neal Razzell explore how successful the world’s recycling system really is, visiting Port Klang in Malaysia where huge swaths of the globe’s recycling gets sent only to end up... well, watch and you’ll find out!

Kate and Neal will also learn how climate friendly recycling really is and whether there are other more important actions we can take to improve how we manage our waste.

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[leokaloper]

I lived in Italy, and there, (at least the town I lived in) there were two stores of second hand everything immaginable. For instance, you don't need a chair - you take it there, someone WILL buy it, you get a percentage. Than when I came back in my homecountry, big city, I saw (even though english is not our language, but many people speak it well) a stora called Second hand, got in expecting to see lots of stuff like above. However, I realised that here, the trend hasn't yet arrived. Only clothes were sold. In a couple years, the idea might spread here too.

[iggysixx]

I think it should be mandatory to make plastic waste into bricks or sheet material. (Not necessarily "made to look pretty" - just a caleidoscope of greys and colors).
_It would effectively make them 'carbon capsules' - reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere_

Because a lot of so-called "green" power plants have emerged, that rely on burning trash.
(But are somehow considered eco friendly)

In Amsterdam, we have a power plant that relies on this (it powers part of Amsterdam Noord - the other side of the IJ canal).

According to their website, they pride themselves on 'sorting out and reusing plastics'.
I was very interested to see how much they reused.
According to a downloadable report in PDF format... The amount of recycled material was 80kg per ton (i.e. 80 kg of every 1000kg...).
_Only 8%...!_
While every supermarket has reinvigorated their use of "single use plastics" since the ban on using Polystyrene (PS)...
(Cheese, bread, fruit, meat, meals, drinks, toilet paper, tissues... Almost every item in the supermarket has plastic in its packaging)
So _easily_ more than 60% of that 1000kg consists purely of plastics...

Most of that packaging is now made of PP (Polypropylene), which is not recycled, but discarded or burned, since it's too difficult to make it into uniformly colored, reusable pellets.

Effectively, the only 2 plastics that are recycled here are ♻️[1] PET, and ♻️[2] HDPE.
Because they are the only 2 plastics that are profitable to recycle.
_(Also, after quite some research, all sources seemed to confirm that, more often than not, HDPE packaging that contained cosmetics or cleaning products are not recycled either, because of the wide array of leftover chemical compounds inside the packaging...)_
. With all that in mind, it's no wonder that only 8% makes it through.

In a dystopian turn of events, the city has now privatized said power plant.
I fail to see how making the plant into a for-profit organization will help with safety concerns, or even with keeping costs for the city under control in the long run.
As companies try to increase profits, employees are let go of, and processes are made simpler.
And since plastic recycling relies heavily on manual labor... I forsee the burning of even more plastics.

--

We have found plenty of ways to reuse plastics by now.
And to reduce carbon emissions.

The problem - as you mention - is that solutions that do not result in PROFIT are simply not being utilized.

There needs to be a change in sentiment globally - a realisation that profit can not be priority number one.

[rickebuschcatherine]

Like very often, BBC make a fantastic documentary !

[jayz]

Very interesting, a little disturbing. I would like to have heard about recycling glass and the carbon emissions involved and whether, washing and reusing glass bottles would be a better solution in the marketplace.

[rickebuschcatherine]

There's a lot scandal about recycling platics in France, and metals in Belgium.... it not always done well !

[williamgwyntreharne]

Recycling of plastic or paper should not be allowed unless the process is powered by PV panels or wind turbines. There is too much plastic in our supermarkets. Packing materials must be compostable or 100% recyclable.

[annalauraparatore]

why do you sound like malbear from bear alpha

[rickebuschcatherine]

The problem is publicity in France for exemple a publicity to sell furniture to put book on shelf in a bulding near the stair in stead of buy less.... Or a girl who want to change hers bedroom.... by sale her furniture and to buy new furniture... instead of make a real choice in the first place... all that it's in fact false solution to sale furniture... a joke the solution it's to ask one'self do I realy need that....

[ms.pugsley]

Trump ❤️ is going to drill baby drill.