Plastic producers have known for more than 30 years that recycling is not an economically or technically feasible plastic waste management solution. That has not stopped them from promoting it, according to a new report.
“The companies lied,” said Richard Wiles, president of fossil-fuel accountability advocacy group the Center for Climate Integrity (CCI), which published the report. “It’s time to hold them accountable for the damage they’ve caused.”
If your municipal waste is handled responsibly, then landfill at least seals the carbon away, whereas burning the plastic or some of the more controversial varieties of recycling put an equivalent amount into the atmosphere. It’s a big if, as there are loads of ways a mismanaged landfill can contaminate the environment, but it can be one of the least bad things that happen to oil once it’s been dug up.
I don’t think this nuance is what the other poster was driving at, though.