Every week, millions of Americans diligently separate their recyclables from their trash, earnestly advocating others do the same, and passionately convinced they’re making a difference for the planet. Special blue bins line the streets, filled with plastic bottles, food containers, and packaging, waiting to be transformed into something new. But what if I told you that the vast majority of that plastic is still ending up in landfills or being incinerated with the rest of your junk?

Recycling, as we know it, is largely a lie, sadly. It’s a narrative crafted by powerful corporations – particularly the fossil fuel and plastics industries – that works well to shift the blame for pollution onto consumers. Instead of taking responsibility for the massive amounts of plastic they produce, corporations have convinced the public that the solution lies in them sorting their trash. The reality? Less than 10% of plastic has ever been successfully recycled. The rest? It ends up right alongside regular garbage.

An Urban Myth And Corporate Distraction

The idea of recycling was initially promoted as a way to reduce waste and environmental damage. However, as plastic consumption soared, corporations found a clever way to use recycling as a public relations strategy rather than a true solution. The burden was shifted onto consumers to ensure plastics were “properly” disposed of, while companies continued to ramp up production.

Plastic waste has quadrupled in the past 30 years, yet global plastic recycling rates have never reached double digits. In the U.S., only about 5% of plastic waste is properly recycled. So why would this narrative and ritual of trash separation continue to propagate? Because corporations profit from maintaining the illusion that recycling works, while simultaneously fighting against policies that would actually reduce plastic production.

Big Oil and the Plastic Industry’s Disinformation Campaign

1970s: The Industry Knows the Truth

As early as 1974, internal reports from the plastics industry indicated that recycling was not an economically viable solution. The technology to efficiently recycle plastic simply didn’t exist at scale, and even today, most plastics significantly degrade in quality after just one or two uses.

1980s-1990s: The Recycling Illusion is Born

By the late 1980s, public concern over plastic pollution grew. Rather than cutting back on production, Big Oil and the plastics industry spent millions on ad campaigns promoting the idea that plastic was recyclable. They even funded the creation of recycling facilities – many of which shut down within five years due to inefficiency and high costs. But by then, the damage was done: the public believed that as long as they recycled, plastic waste wasn’t a problem.

2019: A Billion-Dollar PR Push

In 2019, the oil industry launched The Alliance to End Plastic Waste, a billion-dollar initiative to promote recycling rather than cutting plastic production. This allowed corporations to maintain high production levels while portraying themselves as environmentally responsible.

The reality? Plastic production is projected to triple in the next 30 years, ensuring that the recycling myth remains a convenient corporate shield.

The Resin Identification Codes (RICs): A Marketing Trick

Another corporate tactic used to perpetuate the recycling lie is the Resin Identification Code (RIC) system. These are the numbers 1 through 7 imprinted on plastic products, often surrounded by a Möbius strip (the three-arrow recycling symbol). The problem? Most people assume this means the plastic is recyclable.

The truth:

• Only plastics labeled #1 and #2 (like water bottles and milk jugs) are widely recycled (and even then, only at around 30%).
• Plastics #3 through #7 are nearly impossible to recycle, often ending up in landfills or being incinerated.
  Plastics #6 and #7 are especially problematic, with virtually no viable recycling options.

The use of the recycling symbol on plastics was never regulated, allowing the industry to mislead consumers into thinking their waste had a second life when it mostly didn’t.

How the Recycling Narrative Protects Corporations

The continued emphasis on recycling serves one primary function: it protects corporations from accountability. By convincing consumers that the problem is improper waste management rather than overproduction, companies avoid stricter regulations, taxes on plastic production, and bans on single-use plastics.

Instead of funding efforts to reduce plastic usage or develop sustainable alternatives, corporations pour money into lobbying efforts that oppose bans on plastics, fight against producer responsibility laws, and ensure that individual consumers, not manufacturers, bear the blame.

Does Anything Else Actually Get Recycled?

Not all recycling is a lie – mostly just the part that concerns plastic. Other materials fare a bit better:

• Aluminum: One of the most successfully recycled materials. 75% of all aluminum ever produced is still in use today, and recycling it saves 95% of the energy required to create new aluminum.
• Glass: Can be endlessly recycled without degrading in quality. Countries like Germany and Switzerland boast 90% glass recycling rates, compared to the U.S.’s 30%.
• Paper: Recycled at a higher rate than plastics, though the process can only be repeated a limited number of times – typically 5-7 times – before the fibers degrade.

Plastic, however, continues to be a false hope in the recycling system. Unlike aluminum and glass, plastic degrades after being melted down and can rarely be reused in the same form.

The Solution: Stop Plastic Production, Not “Just Recycle” It

If recycling can’t solve the plastic crisis, what can?

1. Reduce Plastic Production at the Source

• Implement policies that ban single-use plastics.
• Place a tax on virgin plastic production to make sustainable materials more competitive.
• Require corporations to use recycled content in packaging.

2. Invest in Alternatives

• Promote reusable materials like glass, aluminum, and biodegradable packaging.
• Support businesses that offer refill stations and package-free shopping.

3. Hold Corporations Accountable

• Demand corporate responsibility laws that require producers to handle the end-of-life disposal of their products.
• Push for extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs that make manufacturers pay for plastic waste collection and recycling.

Final Thoughts

Recycling, as marketed to the public, is a scam designed to protect corporate profits. While individuals are encouraged to feel guilty about plastic waste, the real culprits – the corporations producing it – continue to evade accountability.

The only true solution is to cut plastic production at the source. That means demanding policy change, refusing to buy into greenwashed corporate campaigns, and prioritizing materials that can actually be recycled.

Recycling alone won’t save us. But demanding real change can.