Patrick Reany
Last update: October, 2024
Preface:
It's in vogue these days to make the outrageous claim that recycling is a sham and that it's impossible to recycle plastic, just to name one of them. Well, I don't believe it. I do not believe that there is such a thing as a non-recyclable plastic. Just figure it out! Look, humans are capable of converting uranium into plutonium, so I suspect that we are quite capable of finding some way to recycle (convert) plastic or anything else into simpler forms, or just other forms that can be used. I believe that if you have the desire to turn waste into a useful product, then your attention to the tricks used by the clever recyclers before you might give you the inspiration on what to do and on how to do it. The advances in recycling go from poor people in Third-World countries to top chemists doing Green Chemistry.
So this is what I say:
Put your thinking cap on, gin-up a positive attitude about a needed solution, and go work the problem, people!(Perhaps there's a fungus or bacteria or algae out there that will gladly reduce plastics for us, free of charge. Even better, there's probably some half-educated person in a third-world country with a positive attitude about it and some mental moxie to figure out how to do it.)
Recycle, reuse, repurpose, use less, keep longer, find less harmful substitutes. It matters because it's your future you have to live within.
Look for: Look for clever methods of sorting mixed recyc.
Disclaimer: I cannot independently vet the claims made in the following videos or websites.
Introduction:
Before I recently took to serious study of 'modern' recycling techniques, I naively thought that the goal of recycling was to take a throwaway item and to resolve it back into its fundamental raw materials to reuse them in similar forms. For some waste products this still makes sense, such as for retreiving gold from waste circuit boards.
But the most cost-effective and energy-saving recycling uses a minimal amount of reduction, leaving the throw-away material as close to the form it is received in as possible -- perhaps only washing it before reusing it. Another category of clever reuse is to use biowaste and use it in place of wood or plastics. Yet another way to use this world's material effectively is to employ materials that are low-environmental impact and/or reduction of energy use, reduction of poisonous side effects, and reduction of matter dumped into landfills.
We can also judge green technologies that provide work for people and benefits to local economies. There is a world of throwaway materials out there that could be reused. The question is, Are we clever enough and dedicated enough to figure out how to do it? Some people out there -- even in third-world countries -- figure out how to do it!
To all the recycling naysayers out there who say that it can't be done or that recycling is a sham, I proclaim:
Recycling finds a way!
Note: Some of the links below are about pollution and pollution clean-up, as well as with recycling.
Set-up:
There have been a lot of surprises waiting for me in my study of modern recycling efforts worldwide. Besides those efforts being highly successful at sustaining our environment, it manages to surprise me how creative and innovative are the low-tech solutions found for reuse of waste materials.
I intend to present short summaries of both YouTube videos and print articles that teach us how the inspired human mind can do wonders to improve our stay on this planet. If we fail to do this right, we are in trouble. After I present some relevant facts and definitions, we'll begin.
What is a successful recycle? It is when a substance that is destined to end up in a landfill or waste product in the environment that is instead recycled and made into something of human use, usually being sold for a small profit. Ironically, usually the smaller the recycling production the more people the process can employ in ratio to the mount of product made.
Where to recycle electronic components in your area:
Links provided "as is," but not vetted by me. Follow safety precautions if the device has a lithium battery in it.
Facts and Definitions:
Fact: The world currently creates about 2 billion tons of trash every year, and that is projected to go even higher if we don't do something about it.
Fact: One person's trash is another person's valuable raw material.
Fact: Polyester is a non-natural material made primarily from petroleum-based raw materials.
Fact: By the year 2000, polyester was used in fabrics more than was cotton, and it has grown in percentage ever since.
Definition: Biowaste -- waste in the form of organic matter, such as manure, wood cuttings, etc..
Definition: Bio-plastics -- plastics made more of biological materials, than of petroleum.
Definition: Upcycling -- making use of a waste product that would otherwise be taken to a landfill,
converting it into a product of higher value than the original.
Definition: Downcycling -- making use of a waste product that would otherwise be taken to a landfill,
converting it into a product of lower value than the original, in the sense of being less clear, less pure,
but making a useful product anyway.
Definition: Greenwashing -- According to Wikipedia, Greenwashing (a compound word modeled on
"whitewash"), also called green sheen, is a form of advertising or marketing spin in which green PR
and green marketing are deceptively used to persuade the public that an organization's products, aims,
and policies are environmentally friendly.
Definition: Reduce -- this is a term I'm stipulating to mean 'to break down into simpler components'.
Definition: Recyc -- a recyclable material or object.
Definition: CCU -- Carbon capture and utilization.
Definition: E-waste -- electronic waste.
Definition: Green chemistry -- similar to sustainable chemistry or circular chemistry,[1] is an area of chemistry
and chemical engineering focused on the design of products and processes that minimize or eliminate the use
and generation of hazardous substances -- electronic waste. [Source: Wikipedia]
Green chemistry Page:
Sequestering CO2 from burning waste:
Consider a Career in Waste Management or Waste Sciences:
References provided as is. Please shop around and vet these and other sources before making a long-term commitment.
Top 5 Future Career in Waste Management & Sustainability Thrash the Trash. [I'll add more videos here, if I can find them.]
Plastics Alternatives:
5 BEST Alternatives to Finally Replace Plastic Undecided with Matt Ferrell. | Hempcrete (a building-material
alternative) can work as a nontoxic, compostable alternative to plastic-derived insultation. Pest and mold resistant, too.
Yay! | Chitin -> chitosan.
The Elephant in the Recycle Planning Committee Room:
Why don't we just mine landfills for their effectively sequestered resources?
WHY AREN'T WE MINING LANDFILLS FOR VALUABLE MATERIALS LIKE METALS AND SOIL?
Mining landfills for their effectively sequestered resources: Metals, biomass, building materials like concrete,
rare metals like iridium. etc! Urban mining.
Video and Print Resources:
17 Ideas To Tackle The 2 Billion Tons Of Trash We Make Every Year - S1 Marathon Paper
16 Ways to solve the trash problem.
Recycling aluminum cans. Objection: It takes energy to recyle aluminum cans, right? Of course it does, but it takes a lot more energy to 1) dump the cans into a landfill and then 2) go out into the wild to find aluminum ore and mine it and refine it.
How Garbage Is Recycled At The US' Largest Recycling Facility. "The Sims Municipal Recycling Facility in Brooklyn is the largest recycling facility in the country. In just one day, the facility sees about 800 tons of recyclable materials."
Nigeria’s Genius Solution to Recycle Massive Amount of Used Tires. "In this episode on Tekniq, We shall venture into the "FREEE Recycle Limited" tire recycling facility in Nigeria, producing various products from the highly shredded remains of car tires."
Amazing beach trash recycling. ECO-HERO!. "I made a special net with which I cleaned the beach where I usually spend my time. You won't believe how much I found! And I had a great idea for recycling this metal!" [8.00 min]
How Millions Waste Plastic Bottles convert into PVC Pipe through Recycling. [10 min: Feat. archimedes screw.]
What Happens to Your Recycling After It's Collected? NowThis. "We followed the recycling process from the bins to the plant to understand where our recycling actually goes -- here's what happens to your recycling." [5.46 min: Feat. Recycle plastic bags (not all plastic) to a receptacle labeled to receive plastic bags in particular. 12,000 tons of trash thrown out every day in New York City.]
Life Inside Giant Recycling Facilities Treating Tons of Waste Every Day. Fluctus. [12.27 min: Feat. Combustible waste is incinernated to produce useable heat and electricity.]
How They Recycle Tons of Used Paper to Produce Massive Cardboard Rolls. Tecniq. [11.02 min. Mostly cardboard.]
Cable recycling machines QD-600SA cable wire recycling machines. Ency Well [2.46 min.]
Incredible Process of Metal Recycling | Factory Steel Production which Scrap Metal Asian Process X [15.33 min]
Incredible Wood Recycling Project // Unique Recycling Ideas From The Simplest Items Woodworking Guide [52.22 min]
Incredible Process Of Making Pressure Cooker From Soda Canes Recycling große Fähigkeiten [17.40 min]: From aluminum cans to aluminum ingots to sheet aluminum to disk aluminum to pressure cookers. Fascinating process.
MAKING MONEY: Recycling -- Turning waste into valuable raw materials | WELT Documentary [48.10 min] A German model of recycling.
DIF 2017 - The Circular Economy at Arcosanti, "Urban Laboratory?" [7:27 min]
How Organics Waste is Recycled [2:06 min]
Waste Management's - Recycling Sorting Facility in Arizona [3:03 min]
How Gasification Turns Waste Into EnergyGasification Turns bio-waste into ethanol, methanol, RNG, fatty acids, diesel, hydrogen, electricity. [15:45 min] (Every ton of biomass that goes into a landfill eventually puts 6.2 tons of CO2 equivalents into the atmosphere in the form of methane. Yuck! About 10% of the output is a stone-like material that can be used as a construction material.)
Inside a Recycling Centre | Veolia London Recycling [5:38 min]
How to Extract Gold from a Circuit Board | Earth Science BBC Earth Science [4:04 min]
Landfills around the world release a lot of methane, study says Reuters [1:13 min]
What *REALLY* happens to 'Recycled' Glass?! - (you might be surprised) JerryRigEvery[12:42 min] Glass is infinitely recyclable.
Biofuel from Water Hyacinth opens a world of possibilities for Kisumu residents WWF Kenya [5:45 min] High school chemistry teacher gets his students to think of uses to use the water hyacinth to reduce it as a threat to the region of Lake Victoria. They are working the problem, not claiming that nothing can be done.
How To Make Paint From Pollution | World Wide Waste Business Insider [6:26 min] Dealing with a shutdown coal mine. Abandoned old mines can be very polluting.
Plastic Hanger Making Process | Amazing Process of Plastic Scrap Recycling | Hanger Manufacturing Skill Secrets [17:04 min] (Video should be made a little shorter.) Large plastic containers made into plastic beads which are then used to make hangers.
PP bags shredder, Dual shaft Jumbo bags shredder, Maxin India Machinery [6:05 min].
PVC Recycling Process Explained VinylPlus [1:44 min].
Incredible manufacturing process of electric motors | Metal Recycling in factory Crafting [15:04 min].
Process of Metal Oil Drum Recycling Traditional Manufacturing Steel Pipe From Steel Oil Drum Factory S F Skills [9:51 min].
How 6 Million Pounds Of Electronic Waste Gets Recycled A Month Business Insider [9:43 min].
How Can We Fix The Massive E-Waste Problem? CNBC [17:05 min]. Recycling rare earths. Ames Lab.
Recycling e-waste - Good for business and the environment DW Documentary [28:25 min].
World Recycling Day: Thailand drowning in foreign plastic waste France 24 [5:32 min].
Can we really recycle our old clothes? DW Planet A [13:29 min].
How India wants to (literally) fix e-waste DW Planet A [13:07 min].
How Singapore fixed its big trash problem | CNBC Reports CNBC International [12:55 min].
What Is Behind a HUGE Landfill in California | Secrets of Mega Landfill ENDEVR Documentary [49:24 min].
Giant Floating Islands of Trash -- World’s Largest Garbage Dumps Be Amazed [27:36 min].
The World's Junkyard for Electronic Scrap | Digital Dumping in Ghana ENDEVR [23:32 min]. Maybe Western technology can come in and help these people (pickers) to make a living more safely and more profitably. That's how it's done in many other places. They could recycle gold from E-waste if they had the technology to do so.
How Recycled Plastics Granules are made For Automobile Industries Manufacturing Skills [14:14 min]. Old school plastic recycling.
How Glass Bottles Are Made Use In Perfumes / Factory Manufacturing Process Randomly Skills [8:01 min]. Very old-school.
Top 10 awesome RECYCLING BUSINESSES with high profit in future Eco Snooki [8:26 min]. Starting a recycling business.
What REALLY happens to used Solar Panels? Undecided with Matt Ferrell [13:23 min].
From Garbage to Stomach! The World's Largest Recycling Plant! ... [8:00 min].
Transforming Trash to Treasure: The Fascinating Journey of Glass Recycling The Process [5:10 min].
The Eco-Friendly Magic of Recycling Aluminum Cans for a Sustainable Future Today Now [6:36 min].
Recycling Biomass:
Biomass: How clean is energy from waste and plants really? One of the oldest recycled projects. Of newer attempts include algae farms. Some biomass harvesting could be very harmful to the world.
Dealing with CO2:
The Reality of Carbon Capture Undecided with Matt Ferrell | Josial Hunt | quarry by-product used for advanced weathering.
Aluminum from Bauxite is compared to the recycling of aluminum.
Definitions:
PET -- Polyethylene terephthalate
PP -- Polypropylene
HDPE -- High-density polyethylene
PVC -- Polyvinyl chloride
Plastic in our blood? That’s a problem. A podcast.
Potential Breakthrough In Turning Plastic Trash Into Something Expensive Anton Petrov.
Plastic bags used to eliminate toxins interestingengineering.com [readable]
Process of Making Fruit Crates From Waste Plastic is an Amazing Recycling Process Random Things [13.03 min]
Plastic bottle recycling process || how plastic recycle plastic bottles Making Unit [8:03 min]: This wasn't the best video.
CarbonLite: Inside the World's Largest Plastic Bottle Recycling Plant | SoCal Connected KCETSoCalConnected [6.30 min]. The philosphy of "closed-loop" recycling.
How Million Waste Plastic Bottle Convert into Plastic Rope Roll Amazing Skill [15.13 min]. It startsd off low-tech, labor intensive. Feat. Archimedes screw.
We Collected 300,000 Pounds of Plastic in 8 months! Make A Change [8.12 min]. Volunteerism! Low-tech, labor intensive. Data collecting.
What Major Changes are required for Plastics Make A Change [38:33 min]. Ecological drestruction. Urgent.
Can These Companies Solve The Plastic Waste Problem? CNBC [15:19 min].
How Plastic Shoes are Recycled to Make New Shoes | Recycling old plastic shoes [7.46 min]. Creation Bull.
Inside The Toys Factory | How to Recycle Plastic Convert In Awesome Riding Horse Toy [8.24 min]. Creation Bull.
How Avocado Waste Is Turned Into Plastic | World Wide Waste [4.58 min]. Business Insiders. Bio-plastics. "In short, our imagination is the limit."
How Plates Made From Sugarcane Could Help India's Plastic Problem | World Wide Waste [8.57 min]. Business Insiders.
Recycling Millions Waste Plastic Bottles to Make PVC Pipes - Trash Foundry [26.27 min]. Skills Unit. (Are they making PVC pipes of just plastic pipes?)
Econiture Turns Plastic Waste Into Sturdy Furniture, earns Rs 7-8 lakh/month | The Better India [2:05 min].
How Plastic Bottles Are Recycled Into Polyester Triwood1973 [5:29 min]. Plastic to clothing.
Most Amazing Recycling Process of Plastic Scrap to Plastic Plates Amazing Global Skills [19:00 min]. Plastic waste to plates.
WATCH This Modern Technology Remove MILLIONS of Plastics From The Ocean Lord Gizmo [10:37 min].
Turning Potatoes Into Plastic Amateur Chemistry [11:18 min].
How To Replace Plastic With Avocados, Algae, Mushrooms And Sugarcane | World Wide Waste Business Insider [28:32 min].
Meet 8 Young Founders Turning Trash Into Cash | World Wide Waste Business Insider [33:49 min]. Coastal Restoration: glass to sand.
The Process of Plastic Scrap Recycling Machine Process Of Old Plastic to Making Motorcycle Mudguar Factory Processes [16:35 min].
Plastic Fischer x River Cleanup - Stopping River Plastic in Bandung Factory Processes [3:01 min].
Who is polluting the ocean with plastic? The Economist [16:17 min]. Plastic reducing enzymes!
Why the Plastic Pollution Problem Is So Much Worse Than You Think Be Smart [15:54 min]. Use less plastics. Make the plastics we use recyclable.
A commercial outlook on transforming low-value material into resources. Aduro Clean tech [1:05 min].
Why Plastic Pollution Is Even Worse Than You Think Our Changing Climate [12:14 min]. Cancer alley. Mississippi. We need a re-envisioning of how we package things.
How worms could help solve plastic pollution DW Planet A[9:37 min]. Worms do the so-called impossible. It's based on an accidental discovery. Ask the Enzyme Man.
Inside America's plastic bag recycling problem | Nightline ABS News [10:04 min]. Modern plastic bags can be recycled, but that doesn't mean that they are. All this talk about how recycling plastic bags is a scam is only going to delay solving the problem, rather than to advance solving it. There is never a time to give up pushing for better recycling, and for the reduction of single-use plastics. Getting discouraged in the face of sluggish efforts to move forward is not an option.
Plastic Waste May FINALLY Have a Solution! Two Bit da Vi [16:04 min]. Has a breakthrough in plastics recycling been found? Broadly informative.
Plastic Buckets Making Process | Amazing Process of Recycling Garbage Skills Secret [12:08 min]. This first factory could use some ergonomic upgrades and some safety fixes.
Recycled Plastic Bricks - Do They Work? Brothers Make [16:49 min].
Why This May Be the Future of Plastic Recycling Undecided [---- min]. Bioengineering -- worms, larvae, algae, bacteria, etc: Fast-PETase enzyme.
Technology against plastic pollution Now We Know [7:12 min].
Can Bacteria Eat Plastic? Journey to the Microcosm [10:47 min]. Maria Pinto.
Cleaning Up Bolivia's 'Lake of Plastic' Bloomberg Quicktake [3:29 min].
Why Seaweed Could Be The Future Of Plastic Undecided [12:44 min]. 100% recyclable plastics? Seaweed grows fast and doesn't need land-based water. Fascinating stuff!
Sweden's Trash-to-Treasure Revolution: How Waste Became a Valuable Resource for Power and Profit The Traveler [8:04 min]. Some countries say; Sweden does. All-In.
Indorama Ventures: Recycling Process Indorama Netures PCL [3:07 min].
This Mutant Super-Enzyme Can Eat Plastic Waste Within Days Seeker [4:24 min]. Bacterial enzymes.
How to Make a Bowl from Recycled Plastic | Beginner's HDPE Project Brother's Make [10:52 min].
AEE, TANZANIA: HIDDEN POTENTIAL OF PLASTIC WASTE ARCHITECTURE AND EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS
[3:04 min]. Low reduction: plastic to window filler.
Zeroing down plastic waste with a circular economy solution ATC Wash
[3:12 min]. Low reduction: plastic to window filler.
This Indonesian woman makes $400k recycling plastic | ROBRIES Precious Plastic
[18:02 min]. Furniture from recycled plastics.
They turn trash into boats! Precious Plastic
[13:42 min]. Boats from recycled plastics.
Chessboard made from Plastic Waste! DIY Designer
[3:08 min].
Why not bead door curtains made from recycled plastics?
Paver bricks with recycled plastics Circa Africa
[14:29 min].
Making Shirts Out Of Recycled Water Bottles! Sand Cloud
[5:04 min]. Plastic bottles to shirts
How Japan Uniquely Recycles Plastic - Made in Japan Paolo
[8:59 min].
Plastic Waste May FINALLY Have a Solution! Two Bit
[16:04 min]. Many kinds of plastric can be processed in a single chain.
Can we really recycle our old clothes? DW Planet A
[13:29 min]. New technologies are at work for us.
How Plastic Made With Algae Can Clean Waterways Business Insider
[8:01 min].
How Chemistry Is Being Used To Save The Environment? Spark
[22:10 min]. Green chemistry.
Thermoset Plastic Serving Dish And Plates Factory Making Process The Skills Explorer
[8:24 min]. Old School.
Plastic Wars (full documentary) FRONTLINE PBS
[53:15 min]. People, we can do better!
What Can Be Done About The Plastic Crisis? (Part 1) | Drowning In Plastic | Earth Stories
[52:51 min]. People, we can do better!
Made of pollution: How CO2 is recycled to make your things | DW Planet A
[7:33 min]. Many clever solutions! CCU.
Can Indian Seaweed Replace Plastic? | World Wide Waste | Business Insider
[9:49 min]. They make the "good plastics."
How Big Business Broke Recycling (And Blamed You) | PBS Terra
[9:48 min].
There are solutions out thjere. We just need to impliment them.
Energy from Air While Removing CO2: How does it work? | Sabine
[6:18 min].
Catalytic Converters in the Recycling World? | Scrap Talk
[12:27 min].
How Bricks Are Made From Plastic Trash | World Wide Waste | Business Insider
[8:29 min]
How Waste Plastic is Converted into Fuel | Interesting Engineering
[9:06 min] Use of catalysts. Fractional distillation.
Can Chemical Recycling Solve The World's Plastic Problem? CNBC
[13:35 min] Pyrolysis. Brightmark.
Could Plastic-Eating Bacteria Save The Planet? Bloomberg
[12:25 min] Pyrolysis. Brightmark.
How Plastic Affects Climate Change 4ocean
[7:44 min] Plastic creation is CO_2 intensive air polluter.
How to make Plastic Rope by the Recycling of Old Plastics Material Wow Interesting Skills
[11:58 min]
The Problem of Plastic Pollution in the Rio Motagua, Guatemala | Rivers The Ocean Cleanup
[10:48 min]
Plastic eating enzymes just got even better! New breakthrough. Just Have a Think
[9:48 min]
#40 We made a roof from RECYCLED PLASTIC sheets Project Camp
[19:30 min]
Building our solar unit to recycle plastic with the sun The Flipflopi
[8:21 min]
How Waste Plastic is Converted into Fuel | Plastic Pyrolysis | Karthi Explains
[4:39 min] Pyrolysis = heating without oxygen can break down complex molecules.
What Life Is Like For 20 Million Waste Pickers | World Wide Waste Marathon Business Insider
[52:11 min]
Recycling Waste Plastics into Fuel Oil, using Pyrolysis Technology by FSK Builders Jervin Kabigting
[5:45 min]
Make an Amazing Roof from Plastic Bottles RJ FunTech
[13:09 min]
How Waste Plastic is Converted into Fuel Interesting Engineering
[9:06 min] Pyrolysis.
OVER 100% EFFICIENCY! - Plastic to Fuel: Large Batches in the Reactor | NatureJab
[20:42 min] Pyrolysis.
NEW Zinc catalyst dismantling plastics at room temperature. | Just Have a Think
[13:39 min] Can zinc help us?
Precious Plastic
This site showcases various means of recycling plastics. Yay!
The Beauty of Green Chemistry | Heidi Bialk | TEDxBoston TEDx Talks [5:29 min]. Intro talk on the subject.
There are journals dedicated to green chemistry.
What is Green Chemistry? Michigan EGLE [1:45 min]. Intro talk on the subject.
The Green Chemistry Revolution | Volvo Environment Prize 2021 Volvo Environment [10:32 min]. Intro talk on the subject.
Inside One of the World's Largest Landfills Ever Created Tekniq [20:01 min].
Recycling plastics -- Resource efficiency with an optimized sorting method VDI Zentrum Ressourceneffizienz [15.51 min]. "Yellow bag" -- a public recycling recepticle.
Why you haven't seen these wind turbines around (yet) DW Planet A [8:33 min]. Wind turbines -- large down to small.
Geothermal energy is renewable and powerful. Why is most of it untapped? DW Planet A [9:51 min]. Who knew?
Spark Plug Recycling: A Key to the Hydrogen Economy? DW Planet A [2:58 min]. We need to care about this.?
It may well be that not enough plastics are currently recycled, but we have seen that the ability to recycle all forms of plastics is in nature and in the minds of people who refuse to treat this issue as intractable. Here are some things we should do:
The plastic industry knowingly pushed recycling myth for decades, new report finds PBS NewsHour [6:32 min]. Look, any report on the status of plastics recycling that is older than ten yeasrs is probably obsolete. A lot has been revealed in the last ten to twenty years about new and innovative means of plastics recycling. I expect that this is just the beginning of innovative plastics recycling. The clear blue sky is the limit.
Making Polymers and Materials From Waste Biomass and Carbon Dioxide Green chemistry. [1:04:26 time]. Brandon University Science Seminar. A lot of information in the description. (Quite recent.)
Add to that these protocols:
Reuse.
Use reuseable cloth instead of single-use plastic bags.
Use less
[Comment: Sabine, the point is that every means of extracting energy should be
investigated, because there may come a time when some clever or inspired engineer
reads this paper and suddenly hit on an idea to vastely improve its efficiency.
Prove me wrong! Do not dispise the day of small beginnings (Zechariah 4:10)
]
Polybisphenol A Carbonaye + Zinc catalyst & menthol -> Bisphenol + Dimethyl Carbonate.
Green Chemistry
Recycling of Plastics, continued: Energy Recovery as well as recycling
Wind Power: Energy from wind energy
Energy from Geothermal
Recycling Iridum and Platinum and other scarce metals
The Lie that Plastics Cannot be Recycled
Why do we have to do these things? Because once the plastics are manufactured, they won't go away on their own. Somehow, they have to be dealt with, and owning a defeatist attitude is a dumb thing to do.
The vast amount of plastics in the world offers economies of scale for making money by recycling it. But even if the big companies will do nothing about the "difficult plastics" (DPs), there are some obscure people all over the world who will work for years to find a way to recycle or reuse them for a profit, and employ local people at the same time. Some of these solutions are high tech and some are low tech. The real plastics problem is the lack of faith in people that the problem can be dealt with by better means than merely dumping them into landfills.
The Science of Recycling