Hacker News Reader

Comment by pilsetnieks | Hacker News Reader

In all that rant of yours, you don't mention once why recycling doesn't work, just implore us to stop believing in it. Why is that?

View on HN

It doesn't work because the packaging isn't recycled. You're not allowed to use post-consumer plastic to make food grade PP [1]. So %0 of food packaging is recycled as food packaging. Sometimes it is turned into insulation or polyester for clothing, but it rarely if ever is turned into hard plastic again. PP can only be recycled about 3 times as hard plastic before the mechanical properties become unusable and the plastic comes out visibly brittle and rough. ABS is similarly hard to recycle, and colored plastics cannot be turned into white plastic which can be used to make colored parts.

The only recycled plastic in your life is:

1. polyester clothing 2. building materials 3. agricultural materials

3 is pretty ironic. You're allowed to grow a plant in a recycled container, but once you harvest that plant, it must be stored in a food grade container which cannot be recycled.

[1] http://nextek.org/portfolio/food-grade-recycled-pp/

Why is 3 ironic? Living plants and processed food are different things even if both are based on organic material.

But it is not just processed food that needs food grade containers. Even the boxed zucchinis with food grade PP foil wrapping. And is it really so much different? The soil also gets wet, there is also acid in the soil, so why wouldn't a plant pot release toxins in the same way that plastic food packaging might?

Edit:

I recently watched this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTGpot7L7hA and it seems so ironic how dirty and industrial everything is, and then, all of a sudden the peas get washed and put in food grade plastic bags and we make this huge theater about sanitation.

It doesn't work because everywhere you look the world is full of garbage.

I went on a holiday to the pacific recently and stayed on a remote island and walked around it and every 10 feet - literally - was a plastic drink bottle.

Is that not enough to convince you that there's a problem?

I'm sorry but you're presenting us just some anecdotal evidence. Where I'm living, there's no obvious evidence to show that recycling doesn't work. These don't prove anything.

That's cause you're not listening to the message.

The message is not that recycling does not work.

The message is that because recycling half-works, you feel comfortable consuming vast quantities of garbage packaging.

Recycling is the mechanism that permits you to not question the packaging industry.

I did not say that recycling does not work.

The genius of recycling is that it half works, with the incredibly powerful outcome that people like you argue on behalf of the packaging industry.

Recycling is a sleight of hand. Like a world class magician, it is a redirection of our attention away from what the packaging industry is doing.

Recycling is the "look here, see everything is OK, we're not actually doing anything so bad".

What percentage of recycling industry is owned by packaging industry? Are there any examples?

Why doesn't recycling fully work?

Is the garbage generated from packaging higher in the countries where more recycling is made?

Sources with data and numbers would be very welcome.

So recycling doesn't work because you can see trash that isn't recycled?

There is a problem but it's not a problem with recycling.

What are you going to recycle it all into? It's just not economical to do. Sweden gets it, they burn their garbage for power instead.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com