“A three-month national investigation by Beyond Plastics found that not a single tracked Starbucks cold-beverage cup ended up at a recycling facility — even when the cups were placed in clearly marked recycling bins inside Starbucks stores.”
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This is disappointing but also not shocking, unfortunately. We’ve been lied to for - what - nearly 50 years that any of this is being recycled so what else is new? It all just feels like theater.
I don't live in the US and would not have guessed the number was so low. I was also surprised to learn the recycling rate used to be around 9% until 2018 when China restricted waste imports. But this number was theater too — 100% of the plastic waste sent to China was counted as being recycled even though it appears most of it was not.
I looked up EU stats and found good documentation on the Eurostat site:
I read this post when it was published and I didn't think I was still going to be nerding out over it two days later. Beyond Plastics offers free grassroots training — it's US-specific but I'm signing up anyway. Maybe see one of you there?
it's recycling theatre worldwide. Please folks, bring a reusable cup! Make the effort please!
Coffee tastes better in your own mug, too
100% agreed!
Switching to reusable containers for coffee is so easy. Sure, once in a while you'll be caught without it and get a single use one. But you don't have to feel bad about it because of the 19 you DIDN'T use. Perfection isn't the goal!
https://bsky.app/profile/kottke.org/post/3mmh2ax4fgz2z
ProPublica investigation on an "advanced" form of plastics recycling:
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