I have done my best to recycle my waste for decades, but that depends on the waste industry dealing with it as they should. This Guardian article is sobering. A lot of UK waste has been shipped overseas where our may get burned or just dumped. China has stopped accepting much of it.
There are projects to deal with the vast amounts your plastic we use. It can be turned into usable fuel as well as more plastic products.
The Guardian also has a story about Amazon using new packaging that is less recyclable than their cardboard boxes. A company of that size needs to be more responsible and customers will have to pay the cost. It may take legislation to force this through.
Each country should be dealing with the majority of its waste rather than making it someone else's problem.
As consumers we should take some responsibility too, but there will always be some who 'cannot be bothered'. You can get fined for contaminating recycling bins in some places, but valuable materials like aluminium cans can still end up in landfill.
There is some demand for alternatives. Old style milk deliveries in reusable bottles are making a comeback. Zero packaging shops are on the increase. Such things tend to have a premium price, but we are not paying the full price for the damage our convenience products cause.
There will be people who say 'I told you so' and a comment on the article says they have never recycled because 'it is a fad'. Modern consumerism ought to be considered a fad we can grow out of. Nobody will be smirking when our water is undrinkable and we are choking on airborne plastic. What sort of future do we want?
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