A new report analyzed previous studies and reached sobering conclusions about the plastic pollution crisis
Staff Writer
Engineer at recycling center (Getty Images/Pramote Polyamate)
Children in Western countries have long been taught the virtues of recycling. Because plastic products never decompose on their own, kids are instructed to dispose of them in specially-designated bins so they can be reused. The thinking is that if plastic products are continuously repurposed instead of being simply thrown away, it will lessen the plastic pollution crisis currently choking off life on this planet.
Yet a new report by Greenpeace USA reveals that recycling plastic not only fails to help the problem — it may actually make things worse. More significantly, the report reviews dozens of previous studies about plastic pollution to arrive at a sobering conclusion: If humanity does not get plastic pollution under control, the entire Earth ecosystem could be placed in grave danger.
Foremost among the report's notable statistics: Less than 9% of global plastics even wind up getting recycled, according to the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), indicating that the programs created to encourage plastic recycling have been minimally effective. Even if they were being more widely utilized, however, they do not offset the tons of new plastic products being created every year. Finally, there is evidence that the process through which plastics are recycled may actually make them more hazardous to humans who are subsequently exposed to them.
"Plastics contain more than 13,000 chemicals, with more than 3,200 of them known to be hazardous to human health," the report explains. "Moreover, many of the other chemicals in plastics have never been assessed and may also be toxic. Recycled plastics often contain higher levels of chemicals that can poison people and contaminate communities, including toxic flame retardants, benzene and other carcinogens, environmental pollutants like brominated and chlorinated dioxins, and numerous endocrine disruptors that can cause changes to the body's natural hormone levels."