Our Global Recycling Problem, Explained

Since China implemented stricter purity standards on the recycled goods they're willing to buy, recycling facilities are turning to A.I. and robotics to reduce contamination and maximize profits in a transforming industry.

If you'd like to learn more about human efforts to cleanup plastic then watch these videos

#Recycle #recycling #recycledplastic #Plastic

[southdrum]

As a residential garbage/recycle truck driver, easily 70% of people do not recycle properly. And that expert was not joking about the diapers.

[rc]

I teach environmental economics at a small college. This video is really well-researched, accurate, and informative. I'll be sharing it with my students.

[ridgoro]

there should be a tighter public policy on garbage sorting. this would make recycling much easier and more efficient.

[ty_sylicus]

REDUCE
REUSE

And Please do you damn homework and recycle properly!

SHOW SOME EFFORT AMERICA!

DO IT!

[taiipoc]

This video shocked me. I want to do something for this world through recycling. I will start studying about recycling right now

[ahmadeido]

Use reusable bags when you go to the store, dont drink bottles water, carry your own reusable bottle, and dont be wasteful

[TheUtuber]

We need to go back to glass bottles for beverages, and recycle those, like we did until the late 70's.

[dwellspompano]

Here in Florida, Publix has plastic film recycling collection bins outside every store.

[mikedennington]

Disposable diapers should be banned use cloth ones like the old days don’t be idle

[Vlican]

Reduce and Reuse is the only way to go. Recycling is a sham.

[cheapalopod]

Why this recycling documentary so emotional?

[captkirkconnell]

Manufactures need to make the contaimer with ONE type of plastic. A plastic bottel has a film lable, the cap and the bottle each a different material.

[clavo]

WE need to start building robots that can make a house out of recycled plastic. Nothing fancy just a basic 3 BR 1 bath house with a rain water harvester in the middle and a roof that drains that way. Since plastic is toxic when it burns it will need a built in sprinkler system and a fire detection thingy too.

[othoapproto]

no longer recycle, the blue bin is dead to me

In the 50's my father started me on a lifelong discipline of recycling. Over my 60 years, I've grown distrustful of the system. I think the best we can do at this point until some other method comes alone is the following. To mitigate pieces of plastic I no longer fully cut off the tops of packages. Leaving a part of the plastic to hold that opening to the contents intact. This reduces one fewer piece of plastic. Next, I'm using the bigger packages to stuff smaller flexible/compressible packaging into to condense the bulk of my waste. This goes to landfills not recycling for the simple reason of the waste of energy used in our current system.

[davidmeier]

Remember when we used glass and even returned soft drink bottles to the store for wash and refill? I really think we should stop making single-use plastics especially around drinks (Gatorade, Coke, Water) and bags at big-box stores. Recycling is a such a flawed concept. Don't make it and we won't have to recycle

[WATCHINGTHEWATCHERS]

I drink alot of bottled spring water and have 5 black bin liners full of them. Are local recycaling locations require that there are no labels of lids. So sorting the bottles takes a long time and I know most people definitely do not recycle like I do.

[thomashill]

The biggest problem we have it that the city is to easy on polluters, fines are not the way PUTTING offenders on a work program 6 hours of community clean up. We must make people responsible for not respecting their city. Reuse plastic bottles for storing things like spices, pasta, nuts, buttons, screws, bolts, nails, peanuts butter jars, mayonnaise jars.

[lesterksi]

Whats the point of having these green initiatives and credentials when it actually dumping at 3rd world countries?

[sisyphusvasilias]

we need a big change....I dont have any faith in humans to adopt sustainable practises but I have some faith science might come up with a technical recycling solution. I read about a "nuclear furnace" that can take anything and breaks it down it down to individual atoms and separates them.

[peterbourke]

This is a great video (LHRD=Lactote Home Recycling Depot)

1. The answer, in large part, for capturing the Ocean small plastic bits is the no cost LHRD. There will need to be drop off points like Waste Transfer Stations using bins made from waste plastic for the mixed ingots. Yes the LHRD will take all the plastic films the guy is talking about. And the flexibles will be compacted in the bottle making them less of a fire hazard amongst other things.

2. AI will handle the larger rigids like bottles and such. Plus sort aluminium cans, glass bottles and paper.

3. Disposable diapers should be discouraged and a return to washable nappies encouraged

4. We need more people with end market product option knowledge to get the ‘end-use’ markets developed for the industrial post-consumer plastic waste. I have designed numerous very large items for Integrated Recycling which are currently in use across Australasia.

5. We should ban the use of timber in transport pallets – plus all outdoor bollards and similar that don’t require structural certification – change to waste plastic options.

6. We need more plastic Extrusion/Moulding operations [phone]