12/05/2026
In , most plastics items are slated to lose the chasing arrows ♻️ (recycling symbol). This is a GOOD thing because it is progress towards the goal to .
- Majority of the bottles, packets, chip-bags, takeout containers, that use this symbol, are rarely recyclable by the user
- Curbside waste pickup programs do not pick up a majority of these items as they cannot process them -- these are plastic films, foam, PVC and mixed plastics
- Only PET, HDPE and polypropylene, mostly in the form of bottles and rigid containers, deserve the ♻️symbol.
- Corporations mislead the public by turning the ♻️ symbol into a marketing device that masks the fact that only a small fraction of plastic is ever processed.
- 'Plastic recycling' was a Band-Aid solution to buy time, until they could find a better solution.
- This move by 7 US states shifts the onus on to the manufacturer (EPR), rather than the consumer, to make a responsible decision about use of packaging materials
- Each year the world produces about 460 million metric tons of plastic, not even 10% of which we have the capacity to recycle. The tsunami of plastic engulfing society has nowhere to go but into our bodies, the biosphere and landfill or incineration.
- As Bangladeshis, we should care because majority of plastics will be burned, buried, shipped to poor countries or thrown on the ground or into the ocean. The climate impact affects us disproportionately.
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