Kristian Syberg writes in Nature about the need for reducing our use of plastics over and above the focus on recycling.
There is a reason why recycling is last the in the 'reduce, reuse, recycle' mantra. From the article, "For many years, the transition to a circular plastic economy has been understood to require a combination of efforts, often summarised by the mantra ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’. The principles are based on the top three levels of the waste hierarchy, whereby reducing is better than reusing, which is, in turn, more favourable than recycling."
"In practice, however, attention has primarily been focused on recycling, owing to an assumption that a massive improvement in recycling rates will be crucial for the circular transition."
"Reusing plastics and other materials is not enough. To achieving a circular economy, we must make less stuff to begin with."
"The idea of recycling being the optimal solution is built on the thinking that a near-perfect closed-loop system can be achieved, and that if materials are kept in the circular value chain we can use them indefinitely. This is unfortunately far from the truth. Actual plastic recycling rates are as low as 9%."
"Moreover, most plastic sent for recycling, especially that collected from households, is downcycled — that is, the recycled product is of a lower quality than the original — on account of its heterogeneous nature."
Read the full article here.
Comentarios