Cheaper product than recycling. Of hundreds of millions of tons of plastic, only a small part gets to be reused
Plastic waste gathered from the garbage pits for recycling, at a warehouse located on the outskirts of Bengaluru, India, September 2, 2024. Photo source: Idrees Mohammed / AFP / Profimedia
The amount of recycled plastic stagnates in less than 10% of the total plastic volume produced worldwide, and the vast majority of the new plastic is still produced on the basis of fossil fuels, shows the results of a study published on Thursday and quoted by AFP.
Researchers at Tsinghua University in Beijing claim that only 9.5% of the 400 million tonnes of plastic were produced in 2022 based on recycled materials, although the total amount of plastic produced. The rest was made based on fossil fuels, especially oil and gas, writes Agerpres.
“The global recycling rate has remained stagnant … reflecting limited progress compared to previous years,” the study authors say.
“The high dependence on the raw material in the form of fossil fuels for plastic production will continue to compromise global efforts to counteract climatic changes,” the authors say.
These conclusions, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, come at a time when countries are preparing for a new round of negotiations for an international treaty against plastic pollution, after a successful meeting in December in Busan, South Korea.
Millions of tons of plastic arrive every year in nature or oceans. The recycling process is complicated by contamination with food or labels, as well as the diversity of additives in materials.
Another obstacle is economic: it is often cheaper to produce new plastic than to recycle it.
“This economic barrier discourages investments in recycling infrastructures and technologies, thus perpetuating the cycle of small recycling rates,” the study authors say.
The researchers identified the US, the largest plastic consumer per capita, as one of the countries with the lowest recycling rate, only 5%.
They also mentioned a “significant change” by reducing the amount of plastic that is thrown at the trash pits and about one third of the plastic waste are currently incinerated.
