The Recycled Plastic Scandal
SPOTLIGHT: The widespread dumping of recycled plastic in poor countries isn’t helping the environment.
Mikko Paunio, a Finnish public health expert, reports that a large percentage of plastic gets recycled by businesses because it makes sense. In that context, plastic tends to be uniform, or at least limited to a few varieties.
Material collected curbside from private residences (aka post consumer plastic) is another matter entirely. Problem one is that many different kinds of plastic are mixed together. Sorting it is expensive. Problem two is that it needs to be cleaned. This is resource-intensive and creates a new challenge. As Paunio explains:
https://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2018/07/02/the-plastic-recycling-scandal/
