The perception that recycling presents a viable solution to plastic waste is widespread. Many believe that if individuals simply recycled all oftheir plastic waste, then the problem of plastic pollution might be mitigated. However, this does not align with reality. Recycling rates for plastic in the US have never exceeded ten percent. Even more fundamentally, plastic cannot be recycled indefinitely; it may only be downcycled into increasingly lower quality products. If recycling is an inherently ineffective solution, it begs the question of why itbeen so strongly promoted within our cultural discourse.The answer lies in an ongoing public relations campaign by the plastic industry. Started in the 1970s with the famous “Crying Indian” ad, these efforts have sought to create a certain attributional narrative. Similar campaigns continue today in opposition to plastic bag bans. This decades-long campaigning has successfully framed the narrative of plastic waste around individual failings, rather than corporate responsibility. It has likewise convinced us that plastic pollution is a problem to be solved by consumer recycling, rather than by regulation of the plastic industry.
Thank you to our interviewees: Judith Enck, Matthew Wilkins, and Rebecca Altman.
