Survey finds 'recycled' American plastic waste is actually clogging landfills

A survey was conducted by Greenpeace which revealed on February 18 that the plastic items Americans dump in the recycling bins aren't being recycled at all, as per reports. The research found that out of 367 recycling recovery facilities surveyed so far none could process plastic waste. According to the reports, various types of plastics are being sent to the landfills ahead of China's crackdown on US recycling exports. The findings of Greenpeace suggest that a lot of products named as recyclable have no market as new products. 

Greenpeace threatens to lodge complaints

The report revealed that there is a strong recycling market for bottles and jugs such as plastic water bottles and milk containers, according to the reports. These plastics are often landfilled as they are a bit difficult to recycle. Greenpeace threatened to lodge complaints against manufacturers who mislead the consumers about the recyclability of their packaging. 
The report took note of how dozens of cities from Erie, Pennsylvania to San Carlos, California have either stopped taking mixed plastics or are sending them to landfills. The director of The Ecology Center, Martin Bourque which handles recycling for Berkeley, California, told the media that his organisation is spending about $50,000 in an attempt to recycle material that largely isn’t recyclable.  

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600,000 to 800,000 metric tonnes abandoned

As per reports, about 600,000 to 800,000 metric tonnes of fishing gear is abandoned or lost at sea each year. Speaking of other plastic wastes, reports stated that another 8m tonnes of plastic waste flows in from beaches. Halfway between Hawaii and California, ocean currents have brought a vast patch of such detritus where it is kept in rough formation by an ocean gyre, a whirlpool of currents. This reported being the largest accumulation of plastic in the world’s oceans. 
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