From Breakingviews: The days of carefree plastic use may soon be over, writes LJucca
This approach is misguided. Turning used plastic into packaging and other products is complex and expensive. And the world lacks sufficient infrastructure to sort discarded resins: only 9% of global plastic is recycled each year, thereckons. Trying to bulk up on waste management would be costly and come too late to fend off an environmental disaster. And even if the necessary infrastructure was in place, plastic weakens at each recycling step.
Taxes and other charges are the fastest and most effective means of reducing the allure of virgin polymers. Fresh plastic tends to be 30% cheaper than recycled alternatives. Until that gap is closed, packaging firms will have an incentive to produce bottles and food containers from new polymers. Recycled plastic is also scarce. “We cannot recycle our way out of this mess,” United Nations Environment Programme Executive Director Inger Andersen told Reuters Breakingviews last week.
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