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GoGreenNation news

Plastics industry under fire for recycling deception

News Feed
Monday, April 15, 2024

A CBS News report uncovers a long-standing campaign by the plastics industry to mislead the public about the effectiveness of plastic recycling.Ben Tracy reports for CBS News.In short:Despite widespread belief in plastic recycling, only 5 to 6% of plastic waste in the U.S. is actually recycled.The plastics industry has been accused of misleading the public about the feasibility of plastic recycling.Documents reveal that industry insiders knew recycling was not a viable solution to plastic waste as early as the 1980s.Key quote: "The plastics industry understands that selling recycling sells plastic, and they'll say pretty much whatever they need to say to continue doing that." — Davis Allen, investigative researcher with the Center for Climate IntegrityWhy this matters: With plastic production set to triple by 2050 and plastic waste accumulating on land and in oceans, understanding the truth about plastic recycling is important for informed decision-making and combating environmental pollution. Negotiations are underway for a global plastics treaty and parties differ on the role of recycling.

A CBS News report uncovers a long-standing campaign by the plastics industry to mislead the public about the effectiveness of plastic recycling.Ben Tracy reports for CBS News.In short:Despite widespread belief in plastic recycling, only 5 to 6% of plastic waste in the U.S. is actually recycled.The plastics industry has been accused of misleading the public about the feasibility of plastic recycling.Documents reveal that industry insiders knew recycling was not a viable solution to plastic waste as early as the 1980s.Key quote: "The plastics industry understands that selling recycling sells plastic, and they'll say pretty much whatever they need to say to continue doing that." — Davis Allen, investigative researcher with the Center for Climate IntegrityWhy this matters: With plastic production set to triple by 2050 and plastic waste accumulating on land and in oceans, understanding the truth about plastic recycling is important for informed decision-making and combating environmental pollution. Negotiations are underway for a global plastics treaty and parties differ on the role of recycling.



A CBS News report uncovers a long-standing campaign by the plastics industry to mislead the public about the effectiveness of plastic recycling.

Ben Tracy reports for CBS News.

In short:

  • Despite widespread belief in plastic recycling, only 5 to 6% of plastic waste in the U.S. is actually recycled.
  • The plastics industry has been accused of misleading the public about the feasibility of plastic recycling.
  • Documents reveal that industry insiders knew recycling was not a viable solution to plastic waste as early as the 1980s.

Key quote:

"The plastics industry understands that selling recycling sells plastic, and they'll say pretty much whatever they need to say to continue doing that."

— Davis Allen, investigative researcher with the Center for Climate Integrity

Why this matters:

With plastic production set to triple by 2050 and plastic waste accumulating on land and in oceans, understanding the truth about plastic recycling is important for informed decision-making and combating environmental pollution. Negotiations are underway for a global plastics treaty and parties differ on the role of recycling.

Read the full story here.
Photos courtesy of

Related News

Tories pledge to scrap landmark climate legislation

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says her party would axe legally binding targets to cut emissions.

The Conservatives have pledged to scrap the UK's landmark climate change legislation and replace it with a strategy for "cheap and reliable" energy.The Climate Change Act 2008, which put targets for cutting emissions into law, was introduced by the last Labour government and strengthened under Tory PM Theresa May.Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said her party wanted to leave "a cleaner environment for our children" but argued "Labour's laws tied us in red tape, loaded us with costs, and did nothing to cut global emissions".Environmental groups said the move would be an act of "national self-harm", while Labour said it would be "an economic disaster and a total betrayal of future generations".The 2008 act, which was passed when current Energy Secretary Ed Miliband was in the same role in Gordon Brown's government, committed the UK to cutting carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. In 2019, under May's premiership, this legally binding target was updated to reaching net zero by 2050 - meaning the UK must cut carbon emissions until it removes as much as it produces.At that time the legislation passed through Parliament with the support of all major parties.However, the political consensus on net zero has since fragmented.Badenoch has previously said the target of net zero by 2050 is "impossible" for the UK to meet and promised to "maximise" extraction of oil and gas from the North Sea.Reform UK has also said it would scrap net zero targets if it wins the next election, blaming the policy for higher energy bills and deindustrialisation in the UK.The UK was the first country to establish a long-term legally binding framework to cut carbon emissions and since the act was passed many other countries have introduced similar legislation.However, the Tories said the act forced ministers "to make decisions to meet arbitrary climate targets, even if they make the British people poorer, destroy jobs, and make our economy weaker".Badenoch said: "We want to leave a cleaner environment for our children, but not by bankrupting the country."Climate change is real. But Labour's laws tied us in red tape, loaded us with costs, and did nothing to cut global emissions. Previous Conservative governments tried to make Labour's climate laws work - they don't."Under my leadership we will scrap those failed targets. Our priority now is growth, cheaper energy, and protecting the natural landscapes we all love."However, Miliband said: "This desperate policy from Kemi Badenoch if ever implemented would be an economic disaster and a total betrayal of future generations."The Conservatives would now scrap a framework that businesses campaigned for in the first place and has ensured tens of billions of pounds of investment in homegrown British energy since it was passed by a Labour government with Conservative support 17 years ago."The Liberal Democrats also criticised the announcement.The party's energy security and net zero spokesperson Pippa Heylings said: "The reality is that investing in renewables is the greatest economic growth opportunity in this century and will protect the planet for future generations."Meanwhile, Richard Benwell, chief executive of the Wildlife and Countryside Link coalition of environmental groups, said: "The real route to lasting security is in homegrown clean power, not burning more fossil fuels."Without binding climate law, ministers will be free to trade away our future - and it is nature and the poorest communities that will pay the price."

Climate
Business
Government

Pope Leo calls for environmental action worldwide

The first American pope urged people everywhere to become politically active on issues like climate change.

The first American pope urged people everywhere to become politically active on issues like climate change.

Climate

Team Trump Will Spend $625 Million and Open Public Lands to Revive a Dying Industry

This story was originally published by Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The White House will open 13.1 million acres of public land to coal mining while providing $625 million for coal-fired power plants, the Trump administration has announced. The efforts came as part of a suite of initiatives from the Department of the […]

This story was originally published by Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The White House will open 13.1 million acres of public land to coal mining while providing $625 million for coal-fired power plants, the Trump administration has announced. The efforts came as part of a suite of initiatives from the Department of the Interior, Department of Energy, and Environmental Protection Agency, aimed at reviving the flagging coal sector. Coal, the most polluting and costly fossil fuel, has been on a rapid decline over the past 30 years, with the US halving its production between 2008 and 2023, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). “This is an industry that matters to our country,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a livestreamed press conference on Monday morning, alongside representatives from the other two departments. “It matters to the world, and it’s going to continue to matter for a long time.” “This is a colossal waste of our money at a time when the federal government should be spurring along the new energy sources.” Coal plants provided about 15 percent of US electricity in 2024—a steep fall from 50 percent in 2000—the EIA found, with the growth of gas and green power displacing its use. Last year, wind and solar produced more electricity than coal in the US for the first time in history, according to the International Energy Agency, which predicts that could happen at the global level by the end of 2026. Despite its dwindling role, Trump has made the reviving the coal sector a priority of his second term amid increasing energy demand due to the proliferation of artificial intelligence data centers. “The Trump administration is hell-bent on supporting the oldest, dirtiest energy source. It’s handing our hard-earned tax dollars over to the owners of coal plants that cost more to run than new, clean energy,” said Amanda Levin, director of policy analysis at the national environmental nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council. “This is a colossal waste of our money at a time when the federal government should be spurring along the new energy sources that can power the AI boom and help bring down electricity bills for struggling families.” The administration’s new $625 million investment includes $350 million to “modernize” coal plants, $175 million for coal projects it claims will provide affordable and reliable energy to rural communities, and $50 million to upgrade wastewater management systems to extend the lifespan of coal plants. The efforts follow previous coal-focused initiatives from the Trump administration, which has greenlit mining leases while fast-tracking mining permits. It has also prolonged the life of some coal plants, exempted some coal plants from EPA rules, and falsely claimed that emissions from those plants are “not significant.” The moves have sparked outrage from environmental advocates who note that coal pollution has been linked to hundreds of thousands of deaths across the past two decades. One study estimated that emissions from coal costs Americans $13-$26 billion a year in additional ER visits, strokes and cardiac events, and a greater prevalence and severity of childhood asthma events.

Climate
Energy
Pollution

Hundreds of Feet of Coastal Bluff in California Fell Toward the Ocean in Landslide-Stricken Town

A wealthy enclave in Southern California that has been threatened for years by worsening landslides faced more land movement this week, but it suffered minimal damage

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A wealthy enclave in Southern California that has been threatened for years by worsening landslides faced more land movement this week but suffered minimal damage. Four backyards in Rancho Palos Verdes were damaged Saturday evening by significant soil movement from the sinking land, but there was no structural damage to homes and no injuries were reported, according to a news update on the city's website. No homes were tagged. About 300 to 400 linear feet (91 to 122 meters) of a coastal slope sloughed off, falling about 50 to 60 feet (15 to 18 meters) toward the ocean, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. The movement’s cause is still under investigation. The public is being advised to avoid the shoreline where the movement occurred out of an abundance of caution.City officials said the event was unrelated to the continual land movement known as the Portuguese Bend Landslide Complex, about 4 miles (6 kilometers) southeast, that has wreaked havoc on scores of multimillion-dollar homes perched over the Pacific Ocean. About 70 years ago, the Portuguese Bend landslide in Rancho Palos Verdes was triggered with the construction of a road through the area, which sits atop an ancient landslide. It destroyed 140 homes at the time, and the land has moved ever since.More homes have collapsed or been torn apart since. Evacuation warnings have been issued, and swaths of the community have had their power and gas turned off. The once slow-moving landslides began to rapidly accelerate after several years of torrential rains in Southern California. Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for the area. The city is urging the governor to sign into a law a bill that would expand California's definition of emergencies to include landslides and events made worse by climate change. The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See – Sept. 2025

Climate
Water

Schwarzenegger at Vatican in Mission to 'Terminate' Fossil Fuels

By Joshua McElweeVATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Arnold Schwarzenegger came to the Vatican on Tuesday to throw his weight behind Pope Leo's efforts to...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Arnold Schwarzenegger came to the Vatican on Tuesday to throw his weight behind Pope Leo's efforts to encourage world leaders to address global climate change and transition away from fossil fuels."Every single one of (the) 1.4 billion Catholics can be a crusader for the environment and can help us terminate pollution," the former California governor, actor and bodybuilder said, referencing one of his blockbuster film roles, the Terminator."God has put us in this world to leave this world a better place than we inherited it," said Austrian-born Schwarzenegger, who is a Catholic."I'm so excited … that the Catholic Church and the Vatican are getting involved in this because we need their help."Schwarzenegger, a Republican Party member who is a longtime proponent of addressing climate change, spoke at a press conference ahead of a three-day Vatican meeting this week on the issue, where he will offer a keynote address alongside Pope Leo.The three-day event is tied to the 10th anniversary of a major environmental document by the late Pope Francis, which was the first papal text to embrace the scientific consensus about climate change and urged nations to reduce their carbon emissions.Leo, the first pope from the United States, has also emphasised the Church's environmental teachings.Earlier this month, Leo opened a Vatican-run ecological training centre on the sprawling grounds of a Renaissance-era papal villa in Castel Gandolfo, an Italian lakeside town about an hour's drive from Rome.Some 400 faith and civil society leaders are expected to take part in this week's Vatican event, including Brazil's environment minister, the director of the U.N.'s Faith for Earth coalition, and the CEO of the European Climate Foundation.Maina Talia, climate change minister for the Pacific Island nation Tuvalu, told Tuesday's press conference that his country is already suffering dramatic impacts from rising sea levels."Climate change is not a distant scenario," he said. "We are already drowning. Our survival depends on urgent global solidarity."(Reporting by Joshua McElweeEditing by Gareth Jones)Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.Photos You Should See – Sept. 2025

Climate
Pollution

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A Whale's Worth

The Canary Islands are a whale Paradise. Their waters hold more than a third of the world’s species, making it the most important enclave in the European Union, and one of the most relevant globally.Today, this paradise is being threatened by different human pressures, such as boat collisions, plastic consumption and climate change. This struggle aggravates their mortality each year and makes us face ourselves as the ones responsible for their survival, forcing us to rethink how much we value these animals currently.How much is a whale worth? Can you put a price on the life of such a majestic animal? How can we estimate that value? How has the value that human beings give to whales changed throughout history? What are whales used and needed for?To answer all these questions, Natacha Aguilar, an eminent Canarian scientist and whale expert, backed up by a group of scientists and non-profit organizations, will guide us in a spectacular journey through time and space to discover the never-told stories of the lives of these animals.

Animals
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In Pursuit of Passive

Follows the construction of the first net-zero, passive house built in the Greater Tetons-Yellowstone region near Jackson, WY, while explaining the Passive House building approach for designing and constructing more sustainable buildings and exploring the many associated climate and energy performance benefits. Features the home’s designers – Lindsey Love and Lindsay Schack, co-founders of a sustainable architecture and design firm based out of Bozeman, MT and Driggs, ID – along with building and climate experts.

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Beyond the Soil

Beyond the Soil is a short, poetic documentary which explores the emotional impact of climate change on farmers and ranchers who are on the frontlines of the megadrought in the Rocky Mountain West, and their innovation and resilience in the face of ecological crisis.

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CO2? CO-Nee!

Joep van Dijk is a passionate climate scientist. He likes to search for extreme examples that show how life can be lived sustainably. This documentary follows Joep on his CO2-neutral journey from Amsterdam to the United States of America and shows how this choice inspires himself and others to live a climate conscious life.

Climate
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Capturing The Fire

When Louise Coghill saw the first plume of smoke begin to rise behind her parents property, she could never have predicted that in less than four hours, it would become a wall of flames, swallowing everything in its path. A photographer by trade, Louise has travelled the world documenting everything from the nomadic wanderers of Mongolia, to base life at Mount Everest. Capturing the extraordinary comes naturally to Louise, so when her family home in the semi-rural Western Australian town of Gidgegannup became engulfed in flames, her first instinct wasn’t to take shelter, it was to pick up her camera.

Conservation
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