Mixed-Use Plastic Waste is Ending Up in US Landfills

In 2018, China banned most US imports of mixed-use plastics labeled for recycling. As these types of plastics are not economical to recycle in the United States, they now end up being sent directly to US landfills, although they are designated recyclable. A recent Greenpeace survey of hundreds of recycling facilities found that of the over 350 recycling recovery facilities surveyed, none process coffee pods, and few process plastic clamshell containers used for takeout. Similarly, many items used for food delivery and takeout are not recyclable, such as plastic cutlery, cups, bags, and plates. Greenpeace's report found that although there is a market for recycling plastics #1 and #2 (e.g., soda bottles and milk containers), there is not a substantial market for mixed plastics (#3-#7). So although plastics might be labeled recyclable, mixed plastics are often dumped into landfills. In other words, even though a product might have a label indicating that it can be recycled, that label does not mean that there is a viable market in which to recycle those products. 

In the US, our current system of waste management relies on consumers and municipalities to bear the burden of the costs associated with waste disposal. This approach to waste disposal was somewhat cost-effective in the past but was not necessarily environmentally sustainable, as recyclables were shunted abroad, causing environmental devastation. Now that it is no longer as feasible to divert our mixed-use plastics abroad, we are directly coming to terms with the impact of our waste practices. Perhaps it is time for legislation to be enacted so that consumers are more aware of these changes and so that producers of mixed-use plastics bear the burden of the environmental impact and cost of disposing of these goods. In the long-run, better awareness of the limitations of recycling programs will hopefully lead to better outcomes such that the US will better manage the disposal of the waste that it produces.