https://www.npr.org/2024/02/15/1231690415/plastic-recycling-waste-oil-fossil-fuels-climate-change
Recycling "does not solve the solid waste problem," the head of a plastics trade group said in 1989, around the time the industry was launching its recycling campaign.
Feels more like "News" than "Politics", but it's a good story worth reading. John Oliver has a good take on it too (NSFW):
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Yet from the early days of recycling, plastic makers, including oil and gas companies, knew that it wasn't a viable solution to deal with increasing amounts of waste, according to documents uncovered by the Center for Climate Integrity.
It builds on earlier investigations, including by NPR, that have shown the plastics industry promoted recycling even though its officials have long known that the activity would probably never be effective on a large scale.
The Center for Climate Integrity published its report two months before the next round of United Nations talks is held in Canada for a legally binding global agreement on plastic waste.
Negotiators from around 150 countries are expected to attend, as well as public health advocates, human rights activists, environmentalists and the oil and gas industry.
After the last round of negotiations ended in Kenya in November 2023, environmental groups complained that oil and gas producers blocked a final decision on how to advance the deliberations.
An ExxonMobil spokesperson said in a statement in November 2023 that the company is "launching real solutions to address plastic waste and improve recycling rates."
The original article contains 1,088 words, the summary contains 184 words. Saved 83%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!