Plastic recycling: This much plastic is really being recycled

Recycling is a good thing in and of itself! Plastic products can be reused and don't have to be incinerated or end up in landfills abroad. This means that plastic that has already been used can be converted into a plastic recyclate through various treatment processes, from which new plastic is created. This means that no new crude oil is needed for new products, but resources that have already been used can be reused.

If it were that simple... Because there are a few hurdles in this process.

The first problem is that not everything that ends up in the yellow garbage can actually belongs there. Things are disposed of incorrectly every day. Only around a third of the packaging that belongs in the yellow bag actually ends up there. And around 40-50% of the products that end up in the yellow bag do not belong there!

Our tip: Find out about correct waste separation and avoid the so-called contaminants in your yellow bag.

This brings us to problem number two. Once the yellow garbage cans have been emptied and arrived at the recycling plant, the contaminants have to be sorted out in complex steps. The different types of plastic also have to be sorted and separated according to their recyclability.

This is because many plastic products consist of different plastics. For example, the classic yoghurt pot consists of an aluminum lid and a plastic cup. As long as these two items are not thrown separately into the bin, the plastic cup cannot be recycled and will be sorted out by the machine and therefore incinerated. Black plastic products cannot be recycled either, as the laser cannot detect these products due to their color.

Eddy current separators, magnets, near-infrared separators and scanners are used to separate the different materials from each other, sometimes manually. Once the plastics have been separated by type, they are washed and shredded. They are then processed into a granulate called recyclate, from which new plastic can be obtained. As only unmixed materials can be recycled, only 58% of our yellow garbage cans can be recycled at all.

Manufacturers of plastic products that combine different plastic thicknesses in one film create mixed ratios that are no longer recyclable and thus contribute significantly to the fact that so much waste is left over in the end.

If we now follow the path of the recycled plastic, it quickly becomes clear that there are further difficulties. Recycled plastic is twice as expensive to produce as new petroleum-based plastic. The coronavirus crisis has caused the price of oil to fall significantly once again, creating even fewer incentives to use recyclates instead of new plastic. As a result, some plants have recently had to be shut down completely, while others are only operating at low capacity. Recycled plastic saves up to 50% of the greenhouse gas emissions generated by new plastic. However, due to the complex extraction process, the recyclate costs twice as much as conventional PET plastic if the plants are able to cover their costs. For example, a tonne of PET costs 600-700€ and a tonne of recyclate 1,200-1,500€. Conversely, this means that although 58% was recycled in 2020, the factories end up sitting on their products because the companies fall back on the cheaper option.

Another problem is that recyclates are not suitable for all products. After initial and often single use, the plastic product loses 90% of its value. They are considered inferior plastic and cannot be used for food contact packaging, such as cheese or sausage packaging. However, they are suitable for products such as detergents and the like.

Our tip: To all consumers, when shopping, make sure that you buy products made from recycled or recyclable plastic. Avoid black plastic products. And separate different thicknesses of plastic (yoghurt pots and lids, etc.).

Did you know that microplastic particles are even hidden in some of the food we eat? You can read more about this topic in our magazine article.

But what happens to the waste that cannot be recycled? It is incinerated, known in technical jargon as "thermal recycling". When waste is incinerated, however, this also means that two thirds of the energy that could be achieved if the packaging were recyclable is wasted.

There are now two options. One is the classic waste incineration plant, which has appropriate filters for the exhaust gases. Unfortunately, however, plastic waste is often sold to energy-intensive companies such as cement works, which reduce their energy costs as a result. The consequence of this is that the lack of exhaust gas systems causes enormous environmental pollution.

No matter where it is burned, residues remain. Ash and gases that are harmful to the environment and even toxic. These have to go somewhere! So many companies dispose of them in old salt mines, deep underground. The salinated environment is intended to prevent the toxic substances from escaping from the deposits and entering the ground. However, this cannot be 100% guaranteed. Nevertheless, up to 40 truckloads with around 1000 tons each land there every day.

The incineration of plastic waste can therefore be used as a source of energy on the one hand, but on the other hand it leaves behind toxic ash and gases, which in turn have to be disposed of. This again illustrates the biggest problem with plastic products: We can't really get rid of the waste.

Despite these options, there are still around one million tons of plastic waste that are exported abroad every year. Germany simply produces too much waste, with 417.2 million tons of waste in 2018. As there is not enough capacity to process this plastic waste, it is sold abroad - and with it the problems it would cause us here.

This is because the waste also continues to exist in the countries of arrival and causes major ecological and social problems there. Illegal waste containers regularly arrive in the countries with mixed ratios that cannot be recycled there. Overall, sometimes only around 10% of waste abroad can actually be recycled. The rest is incinerated or dumped under low environmental standards and controls and ends up in rivers and oceans. Nevertheless, every tonne that goes abroad with the intention of being recycled there is included in our German recycling quota!

The waste is incinerated in the open air, which means that high levels of emissions and pollutants are released into the environment unhindered. Not only the environment suffers as a result, but also the population, as air, soil and water are polluted. People often lose their livelihoods or can no longer survive on agriculture alone. As a result, they have to scrape a living collecting garbage at landfill sites and try to fish for recyclable waste and sell it to traders.

Their health suffers enormously as a result, as the garbage dumps are full of diseases and germs. The huge plastic problem not only has a negative impact on the land and fields, but also on the fisheries. Plastic is displacing fish stocks and contaminating entire seas. Germany's affluent waste is becoming a disaster for countries and their environment. This is why China imposed a ban on waste imports in 2017 and no longer accepts foreign plastic waste. Unfortunately, this has not led to a rethink and more conscious consumption in our society, but only to the waste being distributed to other countries. An extreme problem with the export of waste is the fact that contaminated waste consisting of mixed materials is exported abroad, which is actually prohibited. However, due to poor control options, incorrectly declared waste regularly enters the country and causes immense problems for people, as the waste cannot be recycled.

Another disadvantage arises from the export of plastic waste, as the cheaper labor abroad means that the recyclate produced there can also be sold more cheaply. This creates new competition in the price war for cheap recycled plastic.

In addition, the recycling process abroad is difficult to monitor, which sometimes leads to counterfeiting and false declarations. This is a setback for German recycling companies. The recycling process is complex and cost-intensive, making it difficult for them to keep up with the competition. However, this also means a setback for the recycling rate in Germany. Regional factories have to shut down and untested recyclates are shipped hundreds of kilometers to pass themselves off as recycled plastic. This is the opposite of sustainable.

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Despite the awareness of the extreme disadvantages of plastic, especially when it comes to mixing ratios, only a very slow rethink is taking place. Stricter restrictions and laws on packaging production, waste separation and waste disposal should be introduced, especially by politicians. Unfortunately, the urgency of this problem is receiving little attention.

But what can we do now if we don't want to continue to stand idly by?

• Avoid plastic products as much as possible.
• Proper waste separation!

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This is because the drinking straw is made from sustainable and renewable raw materials from the EU, i.e. from biogenic waste. That means NO crude oil! This means it can be converted into CO2, water and biomass in industrial composting plants. So there are no leftovers that have to be stored deep underground in salt mines, nor does the drinking straw have to be shipped abroad, where it then causes further problems.

If our products accidentally end up in the environment, they decompose and therefore do not cause any problems for nature or wildlife. To see all the advantages of our plastic-free drinking straws at a glance, simply take a look at here .