Companies knew for decades recycling was not viable but promoted it regardless, Center for Climate Integrity study finds

Plastic producers have known for more than 30 years that recycling is not an economically or technically feasible plastic waste management solution. That has not stopped them from promoting it, according to a new report.

“The companies lied,” said Richard Wiles, president of fossil-fuel accountability advocacy group the Center for Climate Integrity (CCI), which published the report. “It’s time to hold them accountable for the damage they’ve caused.”

  • cronosisma@feddit.itEnglish
    111·
    9 months ago

    people will start hypothesizing every type of plastic substitute imaginable at the cost of moving the entire Sahara desert to the Pacific Ocean and talking about “Western packaging” vs “Chinese packaging”. my loves, we live in a system that leads us to consume continuously and more and more, what do you think about stopping buying and producing what is not needed?

    • Worx@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
      9·
      9 months ago

      You’re not necessarily wrong, but also 90% of food is packaged in plastic. Cheap food especially, which is all that a lot of people can afford.

      • cronosisma@feddit.itEnglish
        1·
        9 months ago

        you’re right about that. I absolutely do not want to make a classist speech in which I think it is right to pour on those who cannot afford or do not have access for any reason to “unprocessed” food or products from a circular market. fuck the rich people with SUVs who have breakfast with fresh fruit, yoga and then a walk in the park. I don’t have time for this literally because of them.

        However, I come from Italy and the local products from the markets are cheaper and without packaging, produce less traffic and pay farmers more (and directly) as you eliminate the supermarket intermediaries. similar story for used products like clothes (vinted.com has been used here for a while) between private individuals obviously you use packaging to transport things but at least you are not producing something new that is manufactured by a country in an emerging economy with absurd working hours work and starvation wages (while here there is no longer local-national production).

        I think that deindustrialization was also possible collaterally to a cultural discourse in which well-being produces an increasingly greater desire to consume (but it doesn’t necessarily have to be this way). and obviously I’m on lemmy so I’m not a techno-luddite so even on the technological side I believe in software and hardware, repairable, open source, community driven etc… but I certainly don’t blame myself or other people for living in this system.

        we just hope to fix things little by little, also through discussions like this

    • Gerula@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8·
      9 months ago

      God forbid! Don’t you dare say that! We need everything, but especially what we haven’t bought yet and ridiculously overpriced branded shit! /s