"Another uncommonly known fact is that dark plastics — such as black, navy, or dark brown — cannot often be seen by sorters in recycling facilities and so they end up in landfills," says Sarah Dearman, vice president of circular ventures for. Also a problem for sorters: small packaging. According to TerraCycle's Szaky, nothing smaller than two-inches cubed is ever going to be recycled — that's pretty much every cap, lid, and a lot of beauty minis.
At the end of the day, recycling is a business. Recycling plants will only recycle what they can recycle at a profit — things like large pieces of clear plastic, clear glass, and aluminum. "The question is really not can something be recycled, but will it be," Szaky said at a recent sustainability summit.We are by no means suggesting you give up on trying to recycle the plastic that comes into your life. Even a nine-percent recycling rate is a lot of plastic that avoids a landfill.
of rigid plastic were created for beauty and personal care products, according to Euromonitor International.of rigid plastic. Plastic isn't endlessly reworkable, though — most plastics can only be processed once or twice. Recycling plastic essentially downgrades its resulting quality every time it is put through the process — and that means virgin plastic may have to be added to make a "recycled" package functional.
And, of course, there needs to be a demand for post-consumer recycled plastic for it to have anywhere to go. With reports of large amounts of plastic being incinerated or sitting in storage due to lack of need, this has been a real problem. However, with more companies working with recycled material very slowly increasing, there is some hope for the future.You may notice a shift toward plastic made from natural sources designed to break down more quickly.
Yet there's a pretty big "but" here. Some of these alternative materials can contain additives that "may actually result in more environmental harm," says Kachook. And the term "biodegradable" itself unfortunately doesn't mean much.