"People see a recycling symbol and hope the item will be recycled, reports Robert Gebelhoff in The Post. For many plastics, this amounts to 'wishcycling.'"
Dismal recycling numbers from a 2022 Greenpeace survey of 375 recycling facilities in the US (cited by Climate Coach):
Find the link on that page and download the 100 page manual. It contains many specific examples of how to re-think the packaging of many of the items that we buy, and eliminate the plastic. This prevents the plastic from ever entering the waste stream in the first place and is called Upstream Recycling.
A new column from Climate Coach in the Washington Post is enlightening:
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGtwWCBdXNpGDtsdGwsmxCvsMph
"People see a recycling symbol and hope the item will be recycled, reports Robert Gebelhoff in The Post. For many plastics, this amounts to 'wishcycling.'"
Dismal recycling numbers from a 2022 Greenpeace survey of 375 recycling facilities in the US (cited by Climate Coach):
Plastic food wrappers: 0%
coffee pods 0 %
cutlery/straws/stirrers 0%
lids and plates 2%
cups 9%
#5 tubs 52%
Here's a fun read from the Washington Post's Climate Coach about trying to buy everything used for a month:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/05/23/buy-resale-store-second-hand-clothes-furniture/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wp_climatecoach&wpisrc=nl_climatecoach
Reader Kristin K. sent us a great link:
https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/upstream-innovation/overview.
Find the link on that page and download the 100 page manual. It contains many specific examples of how to re-think the packaging of many of the items that we buy, and eliminate the plastic. This prevents the plastic from ever entering the waste stream in the first place and is called Upstream Recycling.