Even Greenpeace Says “Most Plastic Simply Cannot Be Recycled.”

For decades we’ve been told recycling helps the Earth. It really doesn't.
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Recycling is a “sacrament of the green religion,” says Science Writer John Tierney.
He once debunked recycling claims in an infamous New York Times column “Recycling is Garbage.”
“It’s even more true today,” Tierney tells me.
Greenpeace now says plastic recycling is a “dead-end street.”
Often it's also a costly scam.

[@TheInfamousCloaker]

It is always ironic that so many people go "You must recycle everything" instead of "You should reduce your usage of low quality disposable crap"

[@patrickbateman1660]

Reducing consumption? That's anti capitalist which means you are a communist

[@vonithipathachai8449]

But then if you're not buying as much low-quality disposable crap, you're not giving big companies as much money. It's a classic case of wanting to have your cake and eat it too.

[@migueluribe4249]

Like most of products. It does not mater any more who produce them. The ingeniers design with a lifetime programed to brake as soon as possible. Even Japanese cars are braking now like if they were from US companies.

[@buddyrevell6369]

@Patrick Bateman no it means your thrifty. That's what made this country and the greatest generation. People used to buy things and throw them oit when there was no more use for it. Communism would just flat out prevent you from consuming due to unavailability of product. Or provide you with a product that you didn't want or need.

[@samithesmooth2970]

Yes. Use furs instead of plastic jackets.

[@tadroid3858]

My Dad was a chemical engineer in the petrochemical business in the 50s-80s. He called it wish-cycling. They wish it could be recycled.

[@N8_R]

Plastic is recyclable, it's called thermal depolymerization. It's the same process as cracking crude oil, breaking long chain carbon molecules into short chain, aka oil and gas. But our society won't use this technology because it would make drilling obsolete before our existing oil rigs break even.

[@jaehongsong4904]

@@N8_R You would need a shit ton of plastic to use it for oil. And not even profitable. For it to be profitable crude oil will have to cost at least 3 times what it costs right now. You know what happened in the world last year when oil price went through the roof

[@jaydenwilson9522]

@@jaehongsong4904 and we can just burn it and filter 98% co2 lol Bjorn Lumberg for the win!!!!!

[@aymanhawari2589]

@@N8_R this I said turn plastic into oil. We make plastic from oil. It's easy to change. But nooooo. Glad someone else gets it

[@N8_R]

@Jaehong Song I see a shit ton of plastic in this video. And to say it's not profitable, that is a specious assertion at best. Where are you citing this 'three times the cost' idea? What heuristic data do you base that claim on? And of course the technology is not at an industrially scalable state of development, since banks and corporations have not put any R&D into it. And I ride a bicycle, so mostly Ive noticed food prices go up.

[@briandreggors9178]

The mantra growing up was 'REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE.' We seem to have forgotten the first two in pursuit of the most feel good action - Recycling. If people reduced the consumption of single-use plastics and continued to reuse them as secondary wrapping, storage, garbage bags around the home, etc., we'd go much further than just the hollow motions of recycling.

[@river4462]

Now the mantra is "order online" pollute even more

[@GregorMcIntosh]

Exactly

[@TheBandit7613]

@@GregorMcIntosh I toss everything in the trash.

[@mountainmover777]

Insane.. As a former logger in Alaska, I watched fully logged mountainsides repopulate with trees ready for harvest again in less than 20 years. The oldest, most abundant, and most renewable energy source on the planet is being treated like a rare commodity while we pump oil into the shapes of toys for our children.. I'm not crazy, you're crazy!

[@arvaneret_329]

“Energy source”, meaning -coal- charcoal?

[@hughjass2640]

Your lack of understanding is frightening. May you never hold any meaningful power. Imagine thinking oil is renewable.

[@LiberatedMind1]

Yeah problem with your logic is that the rate at which these trees grow 20 - 30 years, is far longer than it takes to cut them down (just months).

[@arvaneret_329]

@@LiberatedMind1 The rate at which they're cut down can be controlled, observed and distributed over a wider area while attempting to plant more trees than those which are cut down.

[@LiberatedMind1]

@@arvaneret_329 No you don't get it, the rate of cut down is dependent on industry demands. People need lumber for houses and such. You can plant as many as want, and its a good thing to do, but by the time those grow back many more will be cut in their place.

[@douglasjackson9691]

I remember watching pen and tellers video on BS decades ago as a kid and telling my parents recycling was mostly pointless outside our aluminum cans. This is nothing new, it's bizarre it took this long for some people to come around

[@DurzoBlunts]

Aluminum steel and glass, some paper. It should stop there and that's all

[@douglasjackson9691]

@@DurzoBlunts does colore glass work? I mean I know what multi colored paper tends to not be recycled just wondering if glass colors cause similar issues

[@forestcityfishing4749]

@@DurzoBlunts Glass is pointless....it doesnt cause damage and you can make more...same deal with paper. Put it in a landfill and it helps rot everything away.

[@forestcityfishing4749]

I wish more people would have watched BS...that episode changed how I think about recycling...now I know its a scheme.

[@toomanyaccounts]

@@forestcityfishing4749 glass is easy to recycle.

[@brianw612]

I worked in the plastics injection molding tooling industry for 30 years. Most plastic pellets (plastic parts come from pellets often supplied in bags) can only contain 2 or 3 percent recycled plastic. As one increases that percentage, the quality reduces. Plastic degrades every time it melts and reforms. Even at that low amount, it's mostly for very low grade junk stuff. You really don't want your expensive auto or phone parts to contain recycled plastic.

[@DecrepitBiden]

I used to believe in the lie, until around 2015, then I stop recycling. New plastic is better quality & cheaper. So why would anyone pay more money for crap?

[@pretol2730]

That's why they build low precision parts with recycled plastic... like trays, crude toys, etc...

[@sonicpsycho13]

That's why you use recycled plastics for cheap consumer goods, single-use products, packing material, etc. Do you think tires get recycled into new tires? No they get shredded into mulch for playgrounds and artificial fields.

[@peternorthe1912]

The only reason I recycle and compost is because my city has a 1 bag limit per week for garbage pick up. After that it’s $2.00 a bag. I wish there were practical alternatives to having such a wasteful society. I do what I can to reduce waste but it’s hard.

[@mrcsrkcrz]

That’s common knowledge dude no need to work in plastic injection to know this. What you apparently still don’t know is that recycled materials won’t necessarily go to the exact same use. As mentioned before for low precision or low longevity etc.

[@mwmdtexas4389]

I live in desert area where water conservation is a must, yet waste a lot of water rinsing plastic containers or metal cans for recycling. I’ve often wondered how this makes any sense at all. I also wondered about the added pollution caused by the extra trucks needed to pick up the recycling materials. You unequivocally answered my questions.

[@cw1044]

As a metallurgist, I will say that if you recycle any one thing as a consumer it should be aluminum (really any metal, but aluminum is most common for average households). It’s one of the few things that we can recycle almost infinitely, then takes less energy to recycle than it does to make from ore. It’s the one item I will go out of my way to make sure it gets recycled. I consider paper in a landfill to be beneficial as a good source of biomass 😊.

[@TheNewRobotMaster]

Does recycling batteries do anything good? Batteries are one of the things I recycle because I was led to believe that we wouldn't have to purchase as many rare metals from China if we recycled batteries.

[@ep4169]

Not coincidentally, aluminum cans are one of the few things that you can actually get money for in many places.

[@jonpatterson7211]

CW, I understand glass is pretty high on the list of recyclables. What's your take?

[@cw1044]

@@TheNewRobotMaster Recycling batteries is good mainly because they contain heavy metals, carcinogens, sulfuric acid, etc (depending on the type of battery), which will leak out in a landfill and contaminate the ground water. The extra benefit of recycling the NiMH batteries and other rechargeables, is that it does prevent the need to harvest new materials...athough I'll be honest that I'm not as familiar with the different types of rechargeable batteries and how they are recycled.

[@ep4169]

@@jonpatterson7211 Per my previous comment, if someone is willing to pay you money for it, then it is beneficial to recycle. If no one will pay you for an item, that means it cannot be recycled profitably, which means that the recycling process requires more inputs in time, energy, etc. than it outputs. Which means that it is actually wasteful to recycle that item.

[@ExilefromCrownHill]

I recall, as a 16 yr old in 1970, that the grocery store I worked in was trying to steer customers toward plastic bags, saying the slogan, 'Save a Tree'. This was in response to doomsday predictions that we'd run out of trees on Earth by [Insert Year Here]. Due to this mass hysteria, we now have a huge problem with disposal of these accumulated plastic bags, as opinion has now swung back in favor of paper bags once again. Nobody will step forward to take responsibility for bad policy of the 1970's

[@roybiv7018]

Paper bags make lousy bathroom trash can liners.

[@tbone0785]

@@roybiv7018 so what? Find something else. I don't even use them. They're not necessary.

[@countryjoe3551]

Leftists never take responsibility for their idiocy.

[@totaldramagamer5521]

@@roybiv7018 This sounds like one of those time memes... "Gravity was invented in 1665." People in 1664: *everyone floating away on flying landmasses I think we could have survived.

[@totaldramagamer5521]

Yep, plastic is the devil now, but several decades ago plastics were considered the environmental savior of the world... also, remember that plastic was the answer to glass bottles. It's why I don't like most environmentalists. Don't get me wrong, I hate seeing trash on the street and I loathe pollution, but there's a difference between an honest guy cleaning stuff up with his own hands and a billion dollar business asking for money for a solution that isn't even proven to work. -- What's your opinion on electric vehicles? I think at best they're overblown, but at worst, it's starting to rhyme like how plastic was lauded years ago.

[@lightning9279]

I live in a town of 250,000 people. My neighbor is a garbage truck driver. The city pays him $70,000 to $180,000 a year depending on how much he wants to work. Those recycling green cans create the need for 2 separate trips to an address. Recycling scam is money in the bank for that driver.

[@TeishaPriest]

I’m in my 40s for context. The older I get, the more I think that my grandparents were onto something. They weren’t the consumers that my generation tends to be, and many of their frugal practices were actually less wasteful to boot. If I can re-use something I already have instead of purchasing something new, I’ve saved money and generated less waste. Never thought I’d give up my electric dryer, but when it broke last year the cost of replacing it and the doubling of my electric rates made me decide to switch to drying my clothes on a drying rack “for a while”. Honestly, I may never get another dryer. My clothes are not wearing out as quickly and I don’t have to worry about shrinking something because I accidentally put it in the dryer. What do you know? Grandma wasn’t as crazy as I thought she was for air drying her clothes! ;-)

[@Psych0technic]

Using clothing dryer is obscenely decadent.

[@ripvanwinkle2002]

@@Psych0technic i use two i have one just to take the damp out of clothes and then another that i use to dry my laundry..

[@ripvanwinkle2002]

grandma would have preferred the automatic dryer.. the reason it seems better is the tech that frees up the your time in other areas still makes your day seem light. grandma has no such things. so her day was full dawn till dusk..

[@bikinggreg]

I've never recycled plastic. My cousin is a plastics engineer and said it was all BS 20 years ago.

[@rustyyb8450]

Wed pyrolysis with the cheap thermal potential of "spent nuclear fuel assemblies". Walk away with a sulfur free source of oil, super clean diesel.

[@Lot_2023]

How is it ALL BS when SOME plastics are recyclable?

[@bl8388]

@@Lot_2023 It sucks when people take one extreme side or the other. It clearly isn't all bs. In fairness the elites and the government lying to us so much, contributes towards people saying it's all bs.

[@ekothesilent9456]

@@Lot_2023 in my city we have to pay 35 dollars a month for a recycling bin. It goes in the same truck as the trash, it Never gets seperated and the city has admitted it only has the bin because of state law but that same law doesn’t require it to be recycled, only collected in a bin marked for recycling. That’s how it’s a scam.

[@zoltancsikos5604]

​@Lot_2023 Exactly. His cousin isn't a very good "plastics engineer".

[@davidcooke8005]

I was a carpet installer for decades, taking vanloads of old, petroleum based carpet and pad to the dump every week. I always found it amusing when people told me my juice bottle was going to make the difference.

[@dmsdmullins]

I do construction and demolition. In one hour we send more stuff to a landfill than 10,000 people do in a day, a tiny fraction of copper and metal is worth even separating for recycling.

[@RJT80]

We should be incinerating most of our trash for energy. Japan does that safely because they have no other choice. They have to actually take back the oceanfront to build new landfills so they switched to incinerating.

[@cobrajet4602]

People are Sheeple. They will do what they are told. And Greenies are disgusting, degenerate Commies. Let's "recycle" these phonies!

[@gwynedd1]

They actually do make a difference. Plastic food containers make tiny pee pees and and soy boys due to phthalates. I am environmentally minded , but the hysteria and propaganda divert most of the meaningful efforts. Plastic pollution is a problem and so is mercury in the oceans but the banksters want to make $$$ trading carbon credits etc. The move to plastic syringes is another non landfill based problem for example. They cannot be heat sterilized and this leads to all sorts of bad outcomes including actually reusing dirty needles to say nothing of just more plastic waste. But most of it is driven by liberal math making it worse and propaganda.

[@scottmcshannon6821]

and that is why bottled water is the stupidest thing ever.

[@autumnsun7379]

I am 61 years old. i grew up in the 1960's and 1970's having graduated high school in 1979. i am just old enough to remember when the school had milk in small bottles that were collected at the end of the day, returned to the dairy, cleaned and refilled. i remember switched to milk cartons and plastic bags were going to save the planet by eliminating paper bags. i remember the huge trash bags the school would have hauled away to be put in the dump and not returned to the dairy for cleaning and reuse. and plastic bags are now a bane to society.

[@mrstacyj9496]

did you save your bottle caps? me too. I miss little bottles of milk ...

[@migueluribe4249]

And products were made to last wile now they are programed to brake so you have to keep consuming what could last a lifetime. This is the mayor contribution to world polution.

[@skylark4901]

I'm with ya, turning 60 soon, it was save the trees! I mention a minute ago how I remember milk being delivered in glass bottles and we would put the empties out and like you say, they would be washed, things made way more sense back them! All around!

[@DS-gv5fs]

Glass. Can be recycled...containers reused. And it is old school...like me. 🤣

[@hermesmcclintok]

I think a lot when I go to the grocery store I wish I could bring reusable containers and just take the stuff home in those.

[@actionjksn]

I've been trying to tell this to my wife for years now. She doesn't seem to believe me and she believes all that stuff we're throwing in the blue bin is actually being recycled. The only reason I'm even going along with that is because it saves room in our regular dumpster during the times where we don't have enough room in our regular trash bin. I think I'm going to save this video and get my wife to watch it with me, maybe that will help.

[@xornxenophon3652]

Well, they sort of recycle the plastic - by burning the stuff to generate heat. It is called "thermic recycling". It is better than putting it in a landfill...

[@actionjksn]

@@xornxenophon3652 You ever light a piece of plastic and see what kind of noxious fumes come off of it? It is a big myth that we are running out of land to bury trash. Landfills makeup a tiny fraction of a percent of the land in the United States. It may be an issue in Europe I don't know but we have a massive amount of unused land in the USA. Once the landfill is full we can plant grass and trees on it and you can't even tell there was ever a landfill.

[@overbuiltlimited]

​@@xornxenophon3652 Did you not watch the video? Most of the plastic gets shipped over seas to countries like Malaysia. They burn it yes, not to create heat, but to get rid of it.

[@One-Day-After-Another]

After watching this video........the fact that all the plastic bottles could possibly end up in another country or in the freaking ocean instead of being recycled.... it's going in the regular trash now... the only thing I'm recycling is cereal/cracker/etc boxes, aluminum cans....metal cans, etc. I'm not doing this because I'm lazy.... but because I'd rather it end up in a safe landfill than in the ocean because i put it in the recycle bin.

[@insmileyfacemur4242]

​@@One-Day-After-Another I put all my plastic in the blue bin who gives a f*** where it goes😂😂

[@kimbishop4734]

Mr. Stossel, You have been one of my favorite and most trusted sources of information from way back in your 20/20 days. Please keep up the great work.

[@buddyrevell6369]

I remember probably 10 years ago recycling barrels were installed in Boston common. After a few years the local news got a tip that the "recyclables" were being thrown in the regular trash. So they went out and filmed it. Yup. The sanitation workers would open the recycling bin and into the dump truck it went. There were no facilities for recycling. But it sure made people feel good.

[@zz449944]

When I attended college in the 1990's, the campuses all had fancy color-coded recycling receptacles for each specific item. Then, one day a building custodian said hey, watch this -- as the recycling truck arrived and dumped all of those separated items into a single compartment of the truck. He even told me that there were not actually any compartments inside the truck -- it was one bin. So all that sorting at the source is pointless -- the truck mixed everything together, to be re-sorted at a fancy, expensive facility. About the only beneficial part of the recycling industry in my state is that it employs lots of otherwise un-employable people such as those with limited mental capabilities (Retards) to sort all of those recyclables.

[@bl8388]

I remember the local recycling did not take pizza boxes. But the leftist co-workers at my group home job swore I was destroying the world and they were saving it. I would throw the greasy group home pizza boxes in the trash and they would fish them out, and sneak them back in the recycling boxes and later chew me out. I arrived on recycling morning and got cursed out by the recycling guy who would throw the pizza boxes on the lawn if I didn't fish them all out of the big recycling barrel. It's like a cult.

[@rightlyso8507]

The same thing was done on the TV news, a long time ago, here in NYC. The dumping station (called a transfer station) was shown, where all the trash was piled. Once there was enough, it was all scooped up into trucks and taken away - along with the regular trash. But yet, not even a month ago, some neighbors were fined $50 when caught having three or four empty plastic bottles in front of their house at the curb from overnight. The fine for mixing recyclables with regular trash is $200 as another neighbor found out during this past Spring. Those neighbors didn't know how to hide those recyclables more effectively so as to avoid detection. It's all just another way to grab money. You live and you learn!

[@MyMy-tv7fd]

I have lived in the UK for decades and in the Rue D'Arlon, off Place de Luxembourg, Brussels, Belguim for five years. In both places I have seen 'recycling' wagons coming to empty bottle banks where people have put their bottles into separate green, brown, and clear bottle banks for collection. However, the trucks in both places just empty the green and brown and clear bottles into one large hopper, all mixed and smashed in an instant. The people who love this stupidity the most are pencil-neck bureaucrats infesting our public offices - it keeps them in a job.

[@cadthunkin]

@@zz449944 If true, what a horrible way to treat those who cannot defend themselves.

[@pup9892]

"they get a charge out of telling people what to do." That is the one liner that explains why common sense doesn't matter in our world today.

[@Gr3nadgr3gory]

It's not common at all anymore is it?

[@BicycleFunk]

Hearing this just shows bad faith on their part. Environmentalism is subject to ideology, but is not just made up to get libertarians are ruffled up.

[@mustang607]

Much of this garbage is about power and control.

[@V0YAG3R]

Yep, BLM/Antifa/DSA/DNC Karens on a power trip, totalitarian dictators who love to dictate people’s whole lives!

[@BicycleFunk]

@@JohnDoeSr you gotta relax

[@radiofreealbemuth]

Al gore in his Oscar winning documentary said the Arctic would be gone by 2013 and polar bears would be extinct. Polar bears are thriving right now and not even on endangered list. Media was also fearmongering about 10 years ago, citing "experts" that were predicting Florida would be underwater in 7 years. Australia even warned in 1999, that in 20 years, there would be no more snow. They just had historic record snowfall. Climate has always been changing. That's why ice age is cyclical and Sahara desert was lush 10,000 years ago.

[@xenomorphbiologist-xx1214]

That’s not what climate is. Yes it does change over time but climate refers to long term weather patterns. We have observed “hottest year on record” multiple times and polar bears, while there are a lot of them now, are threatened (not endangered) meaning they will go extinct if trends continue.

[@littled6698]

​@@xenomorphbiologist-xx1214"hottest year on record" from thermometers placed near air conditioning units, or in airports near runways. The climate alarmists do thier best to try and nudge the numbers up, to continue the grift.

[@TM-rc3ck]

No one says “consume less” and the corporations that create the problem for their gain (think bottled water) then put the onus on the consumer to handle the problem. Plastic made shipping soda, for example, easier and cheaper for the soda companies. Americans consume single-use plastic at an alarming rate, yet are told to recycle, even though it uses more fuel than creating new. Ridiculous.

[@robertsteinberger5667]

I believe within ten years steps will be taken to reduce the use of plastic but that isnt mentioned in the video. No solution is offered, just do as you please is not going to solve the problems of the world....

[@zg-it]

The plastic straw people were very successful. Now when I go to Starbucks I have to drink out of a cup with a plastic lid, but no straw. Mission accomplished. The disposable mask army has saved the environment!

[@lettucesalad3560]

The disposable condom people too

[@jimmyhughes5392]

ironically the only product starbuck's are able to recycle is the used coffee grounds which are recycled into fire-logs to be incinerate, everything else is either sent to landfill or incinerated as is.

[@kmac720]

The new plastic lid takes way more material to make than the old lid/straw as well.

[@ge2719]

i noticed that the other day when i got a drink and a hotdog at costco, no straws anywhere, but a plastic lid with a hole in it that didnt work. the lid fit so loosely i didnt trust it to stay on. so i just drank it out of the cup...

[@jimmyhughes5392]

@@ge2719 big pharma want us to have rotting teeth is the only logical reason behind this nonsense

[@gerikbensing]

Back in college I was preparing to do a “persuasive speech” and chose to do it on recycling. Once I started doing my research I learned how inefficient it was overall and decided to persuade people to reconsider recycling with “reduce, reuse, but think twice about recycling.” Unbeknownst to me I was giving my speech on Earth Day and my class ended up giving me a standing ovation. I think they were all as surprised as I was by what I had learned!

[@smokinhalf]

reduce, reuse, but think twice about recycling. I love that Gerik

[@mpokoraa]

yet you can't refrain yourself from buying cheap crap from amazon

[@poodledaddles1091]

That’s neat!

[@gerryboy3699]

great comment @gerikbensing

[@NeuroPulse]

You would get heckled and possibly chased out of town if you did that in a college today.

[@jaxonmattox9267]

This is great, a proper reality check on the illogical environmental policies created based on people's emotions and lies from corporations.

[@moushunter]

My town used to have 30 yard dumpsters at the transfer station for recyclables. One was specific for milk jugs. I toured the trash to energy plant in my town and was surprised to see the contractor that leased the dumpsters to the town hauling 30 yards of milk containers to the transfer station to have them burned. There was no market for that type of plastic. It would be a lot less expensive if they just told us to put them in our regular non recyclable trash but they were afraid it wouldn't look good to the town folk. They typically filled a dumpster a week just to haul it to be burned. People were also washing these containers prior to dumping them so they not only wasted the dumpster lease and the truck service but they also wasted a lot of the water from the limited municipal water system...that they won't let us use to wash our cars or water our lawns. Eco gain from this? In the negative of course.

[@troytreeguy]

Interesting too that the natural color number two plastic is the most valuable of the plastic commodities

[@kthulhukif]

I've tried to share videos like this with people and some of them have gotten incredibly angry at me, calling me a liar, and won't watch the video anyway. Religion runs deep, sadly.

[@jhoughjr1]

yeah it makes lazy people think we can just keep burying our trash and just always find new places to bury it.

[@ge2719]

@@jhoughjr1 what? did you not watch the video?

[@sanniepstein4835]

@@jhoughjr1 If you acknowledge that the current gestures are useless, you can develop better alternatives. Could it be that you don't want improvement? That it's all posing and power-grabbing at heart?

[@SamtheBravesFan]

People don't like to be told they're doing something wrong, so they're apprehensive at first. Just be understanding and try again. Maybe they'll come around.

[@allananderson949]

@@jhoughjr1 fuck me. You just watched a video that explains to you that 95 percent of what goes to the recycling plant is can't be recycled. 😂

[@ajfurnari2448]

I'm so old, I remember using paper milk cartons and glass soda bottles.... The amount of single use plastics that we've increased over the past 20 years, simply by slapping a 3-arrow imprint on it, is astounding

[@RealMTBAddict]

Glass IVs were used in hospitals.

[@anderivative]

You're so old that you are correct. Paper and glass work great. The main takeaway from this video is "recycling is dumb, stupid govt cant make me!" when it should be "The plastic lobby duped us in to thinking this shit is recyclable all for big biz profits" but that's not libertarian-loving/capitalism-loving for this crowd.

[@Baldbutstillhuman]

@@anderivative Not to mention plastics have been shown to have estrogen mimicking chemicals linked to low testosterone, breast cancer, and feminization. We can do without plastic.

[@Zebra_3]

@@anderivative I use the green bin for personal convenience...there I said it. ♻

[@McHobotheBobo]

@@anderivative Bro facts, they're lambasting greens for ideological blindness while actively engaging in it to an even greater extent lol

[@zpettigrew]

Funny how the first two "Reduce" and "Reuse" seem to have never caught on. "Recycling" was always supposed to be a last resort. Great video. Why no PR on reducing and reusing? Cuz it'd lower GDP by reducing consumption?

[@Corbrwl]

Recycling paper, as stated, does save trees, however it's not economic and increases emissions due to the recycling process. Trees are a renewable resource, we should just grow more of them and put the disposed paper into landfills which end up getting turned into usable land areas (the video mentions golf courses and parks, but in my area an entire shopping district was built on a landfill).

[@JReklis]

In Australia we unironically switched from plastic bags to bags made out of plastic

[@zeehero7280]

you just turn the bag inside out and upside down? Death to the Emus, glory to Australia!

[@robertadams2857]

I’ll remember that

[@JReklis]

@@zeehero7280 now we use heavier "Callico" bags that are clearly made of plastic products and contain a hard plastic bottom and cost $1 or we get a heavy plastic bag for 15c, both supplied with the supermarket brandings

[@davidsea1482]

@@zeehero7280 Don’t forget to turn it ‘back to front’ as well. Works every time. FOLLOW THE MONEY.

[@pantarkan7]

They banned 'free' plastic bags, but replaced them with... you guessed it, plastic bags... only now you pay a nickel for each...

[@paulevans8348]

6:52 "They get a charge out of telling people what to do." Nailed it.

[@jona.scholt4362]

Almost as much as religious people do shouting at people about morality. Or righteous conspiracy theorists screaming at people about whatever nonsensical garbage they've come up with this week.

[@anderivative]

This video is intentionally misleading, as you can see what people took away from it in these comments. It's 1) recycling doesn't work, 2) gov'ment bad, 3) "dont tell me what to do I don't wanna do it!!!". How about: 1) Recycling glass, metals, compostables is very efficient, 2) The plastic lobby fooled people and govt in to believing their crappy packaging was recyclable for the sole purpose of their own profit, and 3) Capitalism did this, not Greenpeace. The dude straight up shows how dumps become lovely ski resorts as if there's no issues in between. What a joke.

[@jona.scholt4362]

@@anderivative 100%, he is disingenuous in the extreme.

[@janicehopkins4432]

@@jona.scholt4362 like "safe and effective" with "rare and mild" adverse effects?

[@BOTCHIMHOT]

Thank you Mr. Stossel! I have been watching you in class since the 2010's and I am so happy to see you have youtube channel!

[@enjoyingend1939]

This is also a massive problem with EVs, they just aren't as recyclable as a conventional ICE car. Their batteries are not easily recyclable, and they are full top to bottom with plastic parts (kind of the same with ICE cars in the plastic department nowadays but almost the entire power train in an ICE car can be 100% recycled)

[@BlackPill-pu4vi]

The big problem with EVs is that they are marketed as direct replacements for ICE cars. That misrepresentation should be BANNED. EVs should be marketed as local commuters and built as good value for the money transportation. The key to a sane EV is to make AGM batteries as standard equipment and minimize the infotainment crap. Because the AGMs are upgraded lead-acid batteries, they are inherently 100% recyclable and can use pre-existing car battery recycling processes. The only drawback is that AGM batteries are quite heavy for their power output but, it must be emphasized that high performance and long range is NOT the objective. The car is for errands within a 50 mile radius of your home, where you recharge it in your driveway. I'm sure there are batteries besides the lead-acid type that are recyclable but, those can be optional equipment. In any case, the popular lithium batteries are not easily recycled. They should be removed by attrition, replaced with recyclable battery systems, and a massive public service campaign to remind people that EVs will be reined in to their proper role, going forward.

[@rasimbot]

EVs get regenerative braking almost for free. It saves a lot of energy. EVs consume much less lubricants. And it's good transferring fuel burning from car to power plants (to charge EVs). Excessive heat from power plants can be used to heat houses in winter while ICEs just waste it in air. This doesn't mean EVs are better, but it means that it's not so simple...

[@jsnsk101]

Being old, (50) i remember when we had real recycling. Glass bottles you took back to the store, your mum had good quality shopping bags that probably lasted a decade or more, and irony of ironys, milk delivered by an electric vehicle every other day. The 70's were the most advanced we ever got.

[@nommchompsky]

Where I live is moving back to that. Plastic bags are banned and people are charged for paper to encourage them to bring their own bags. The local milk producer exclusively uses glass and you get a deposit back when you return the bottle. I'd rather be forced to remember to bring a bag to the grocery store than forced to rinse and sort my garbage

[@astrecks]

I'm even older, 66 (this might start an age race). As you mentioned, in addition, meat was cut fresh and wrapped in grease paper. Loaves were wrapped in waxed paper (which was reused to wrap sandwiches). The local Cooperative store weighed out sugar, butter and cheese in the quantities you needed. I still have milk delivered in recyclable bottles, but sadly the delivery vehicle is not electric.

[@freedomrings1420]

@@astrecks Please tell me if you had an electric vehicle deliver your milk ,what was used to charge that vehicle? You people make me laugh. And also the original commenter saying a electric vehicle delivered his milk every other day. LOL 😂

[@darth3911]

@@freedomrings1420It’s possible, electric cars had originally been invented around the same time as gas cars. Reason why electric never took off til now is because Ford managed to make a cheap gas car, electric cars costed a premium. Funny thing is it’s still the same to this day, that said it is rather unlikely for a business to use electric but if it’s a personal vehicle being used for business then it’s game on.

[@astrecks]

@@freedomrings1420 Yes, when I was a kid the milk was delivered everyday by an electric vehicle. They were known as milk floats. The batteries were charged at the local dairy depot. When I went on holidays to my aunties, the milk was still being delivered by horse and cart. Why do 'us' people make you laugh? just curious!

[@kenyongray2615]

John is a true journalist. His "devil's advocate" style of interviewing gets his interviewee to talk. John has been outstanding for over 50 years. I saw John when he was a very young reporter for CBS in New York City and he is still the same. Tells truth. Yes, more than 50 years.

[@ArtOfHealth]

So you think he is over 70? He is doing pretty good.

[@JustinHall1976]

​@@ArtOfHealthhe's 75.

[@kenyongray2615]

@@ArtOfHealth Yes, he is. Cloer to 80 than 70. He is indeed doing well.

[@jayphoneuser2538]

He's right about this one, but he also lacks the courage to propose real solutions. "You can't tell people what to do". Well, somebody needs to tell everybody that we are either going to have to come up with some perfectly sustainable solutions ASAP, or else start giving up a lot of modern conveniences that are not sustainable. Anybody who chooses their own convenience over sustainability is an a whole, and sadly that is 99.9% of humans

[@sirsenior1861]

@@jayphoneuser2538 according to who, or what? This comment sounds like the same climate alarmism Stossel rails against, with no real argument, plus you didn't provide any solutions either lol. Or sources. Why do we need an immediate solution?

[@MichaelForte-jn5pn]

I'm from the government and I'm here to help....

[@DouglasMosley759]

Refreshing logic and many inspiring reality checks. Two of my favorite things about real journalism. Thank you, John Stossel!

[@williemaykit7940]

If I remember right, part of the push for switching to plastic bottles was because they were so easily recyclable. Same with paper bags to plastic bags. Save the trees. I would love glass bottles again. Everything tastes better when stored in glass vs plastic.

[@robertvirginiabeach]

I'm so annoyed about people wanting to conserve/recycle paper to "save the trees". Nearly all paper comes from "forests" that were planted for that very purpose. The nice straight trees, all the same age/diameter, simplify/economize the process of cutting them and shipping them to the processing plant. Large quantities of tiny saplings are soon planted so the process can be repeated years later. They're as much a crop as beans, wheat or corn. There's just a longer period between planting and the harvest.

[@williemaykit7940]

@@robertvirginiabeach absolutely correct man!

[@verreal]

You bought that story? It's lighter, therefore cheaper to ship. Notice I didn't say light, just lighter. A box of CDs is darn heavy.

[@williemaykit7940]

@@verreal I was a lot younger back then 😂

[@jeffreyhusack2400]

​@@robertvirginiabeachBut the more trees we have = more reduced co2 from the air and trees put back o2

[@italianviking80]

I remember when grocery stores switched from paper to plastic bags because everyone was so concerned about saving trees. Now, they're saying plastic is worse for the environment than paper.

[@ranger601]

I am from south Georgia and one of the biggest things is pine tree farms. We have thousands of acres of trees that are constantly being planted, thinned, and harvested on a rotation. Paper is a renewable resource.

[@andrewgill9489]

Yup, I thought the same thing!

[@iberianrider5361]

@@ranger601 the wood for sure, but the paper needs to be bleached as well

[@rhondakendrick2563]

@@ranger601 110% let`s go brandon

[@Lightsngear]

Here in NY, plastic has been BANNED and it's BACK to paper!

[@giorgiocooper9023]

Plastic is energy. Why only a few countries have figured out how to burn plastic (and garbage) quite inoffensive for the environment to heat homes, universities and hospitals, is beyond me ! Others have figured out how to turn plastic into « diesel fuel » and again ….. why not using existing technologies instead of constantly impose stupid interdictive laws ?

[@justajo2]

I've noticed that some of the motel/hotel chains, like Hilton, have stopped providing those little containers of liquid soap, shampoo and conditioner. In their place are large tubes attached to the wall near the sink. The tubes are upside down. Just squeeze and the substance comes out the bottom in the amount you want. They don't drip and free up space on the counter around the sink. To me those are more convenient and they surely save money for the hotel while eliminating plastic waste.

[@shakesitoff1122]

I remember when they told everyone to use plastic instead of paper to save the tree's.

[@debanydoombringer1385]

The video said making plastic bags is half the emissions of other types. The cloth ones and paper bags. Switching was still the right move.

[@barriolimbas]

Worse, for Christmas trees now, cutting and using real pine trees is better than a reusable plastic one, for the environment. WTF.

[@billschlafly4107]

I've been advocating against recycling ever since I toured a recycling facility during graduate school. The plant manager even admitted to sending most of it to the dump. Meanwhile, workers spend the day terrible conditions. It can't be good for their health.

[@aymanhawari2589]

I just throw it in the dump :/ I knew it was the right course

[@eugenetswong]

I volunteered for a recycling organization, where they encouraged people at events to recycle and guided them into depositing into the correct bins. We then had to dump out the contents and sort everything more precisely. The eye opening part was how much time it took to sort and clean those things after the event. On top of that the biggest eye opener was a manager telling us that it had to be this way, because last year, she took 100s of disposable plates home and washed them in her bathtub! It was so insane! 😞

[@spec24]

Well, towns have managed to get around this by charging people per bag for their trash, but charging NOTHING for recycled crap. So, unless you want to spend more money on their overpriced bags, you need to put your garbage in those stupid bins. I hate these people!

[@seankingwell3692]

"not worth" meaning not lining the pockets of trillionaires enough. This doesn't mean recycling can't work, but when most of the waste is up to the big money buyers, the problem isn't the people being taxed for it all. Put the Ministry of Plenty in charge of sand, guess what is suddenly "rare" on earth!!!!

[@eugenetswong]

@@seankingwell3692 I was thinking just a short while ago: maybe the best solution is to go directly to the dump, pour out the recyclables, pull out the profitable pieces, that are easy to get, then keep them, and then leave the rest at the dump as opposed to sorting everything.

[@psychmajortodd]

Interesting video. For the past few years, I adamantly recycled plastic bottles. But about a year ago, I was listening to a local talk radio station. The show's host said that plastic bottles are just ending up in landfills.

[@SR-gt350]

I recycle my paper and cardboard by making it into co2 and water. Excellent for plants. All you need is a lighter and a burning 🔥 barrel.

[@bobjoatmon1993]

I have done a lot of things and once I worked at a government grant project researching recycling of household garbage. We spent more time shut down cleaning the plastic bags out of the machinery than running. It broke down to one hour running, 5 hours clearing. Plastic gets wound up in the various rollers (conveyor belt, crushers, and especially the shredders) and actually from the pressure bonds to all the other plastic. We used small pneumatic chainsaws (12" with tiny chains) to cut the thick bonded (it would get 1 to 1-1/2 thick on the rollers and solid, not a bunch of film layers) and had to swap them out frequently because the plastic dulled the chain teeth quickly. The unsorted garbage piled up and they were taking it to the landfill anyway. The wet garbage was supposed to be dried and burned to dry the next wet garbage but the engineers had to put in oil tanks and fuel the fire that way because the dryed, burning garbage didn't dry the new garbage enough... Then they couldn't get the pollution down from the smoke of the burning dryed- wet garbage (wet garbage is food scraps and paper) and the stack scrubbers NEVER functioned right. It was a $80 million project and only ran a year, total failure and they shut it down and scrapped all the machinery

[@gregorysagegreene]

Wow, that's an incredible story. Might have been more effective just to incinerate everything in the plasma field of a research fusion reactor.

[@garylangley4502]

Thanks for sharing. That is a lot of good, useful information that everyone needs to know. Not a lot of pie in the sky rhetoric.

[@tifforo1]

That makes it extra-despicable that Amazon recently started putting a recycling logo on their packing materials, knowing full well that even though it's in fairly large print, people won't notice that it says you should take it in TO THEIR STORE to get it recycled. If I wanted to go to a store in the mall instead of using the convenience of curbside recycling pickup or a neighborhood recycling bin, why would I be shopping on Amazon?

[@tifforo1]

I guess I could save up a whole bunch of Amazon packages and take them in all at once...

[@shaundevrisky349]

Ever since the current "elected" so-called U.S. President decided to do everything in his power to raise gas and electric prices (thus increasing my utilities and everyone else's), everything burnable that used to go into my recycling bin now goes into the wood stove in my shop to keep my electric heat from running. Laundry detergent jugs, milk jugs, food containers, oil bottles, cardboard boxes, vitamin bottles.....you name it. All of this puts out an incredible amount of BTU's. And I don't feel the least bit guilty for doing it. The worshipers of the green environmental "god" are going to pay a price for their idolatry.

[@lesscobrandeau2451]

Here in Kawartha Lakes, Ontario, Ca., we are "forced" to perpetuate the sham with civic mandates and prosecution for failures to comply. We must use only clear garbage bags so the waste collectors can see whats in it, and if ANY "recyclables" are visible in it they tag it with a red sticker and leave it behind, then a waste management type enforcer comes to investigate and fine $. FYI clear garbge bags are more $ and harder to find than the usual green or black ones, but we MUST use them only or be prosecuted by the tyrants.

[@hansemannluchter643]

Yeah, but that's in The Peoples Democratic Republic of Canada, we all now what a totalitarian Hell-hole that country is..

[@lesscobrandeau2451]

@@hansemannluchter643 fu. That was nothing to do with my point. Where is your fn utopia boi.

[@hansemannluchter643]

@@lesscobrandeau2451 LoL.. You just whined about how your Socialist Overlords force you to put your garbage in see-through bags, so the garbage-Commissaire can inspect it, then you get offended by me calling Canada what it is??

[@alexislaisney3404]

Self defense is the first law in nature. Use it. You are a natural person. The government is made up. Unnatural

[@mzp6620]

😳😩

[@charleshogg4852]

I worked in plastic recycling for 21 years .tablet packs plastic foil mix can't be recycled crisp packaging can not be recycled you have to filter it . The foil clogs up the filter screen .other plastic has to have rigeours cleaning and dried before recycling.

[@johnhartley5261]

You missed an important point "resin symbols". John, you do great work, please update. Most of the "recyclable symbols" you see on plastic aren't really recyclable symbols. They are resin identification codes. Look in the middle of the arrows for a number. If there is a number there, it isn't a recyclable symbol - it's a resin identification code that conveniently looks like a recyclable symbol. The history of why/how they became a thing is interesting.

[@cincin2u]

Trust is gone.

[@harmagician1]

My daughter works for our community's recreation center. She said the recycling containers get emptied into the trash bin at the end of the day. At least people feel good when they put their disposable water bottles into the recycling bin.

[@DavianSinner]

LOL.

[@jimwerther]

Lol!

[@sunrise1776]

In Tempe Arizona we have recycling bins to set out every Monday. And to pay for this it's added to my water bill, along with other charges. So the bill for water usage is 23 dollars,but by the time the city gets through adding the charge for recycling and the other charges my bill Total is 73 dollars. When will this madness end?

[@cousin_raditzz]

Interesting video. It really shows that we need a economic system where the peoples (and thus the environment) needs are put before corporation's profits, and consumerism isn't pushed foward

[@Gitn2it]

I've always been concerned about the amount of water being used to rinse out plastic containers prior to throwing them into the recycling bin. I think preserving our natural resources is more important.

[@m4rvinmartian]

That's really only a concern west of the continental divide.

[@LizRealGirlBeauty]

Same here. And then all that stuff gets washed in water again the recycling facility.

[@anderivative]

In places where water is abundant, it's no big deal. And a splash to keep the raccoons away is more than enough.

[@bettye444]

Me too

[@PG-3462]

If it's food in that plastic container, then you can simply collect this water and use it to water plants outside. Thus, no water will be wasted in the process and plants outside will get some fertilizer.

[@thezuck8157]

You are doing amazing work, John. Don't ever stop.

[@user-ji2on8eg3l]

"Freedom taken for granted because we don't know what oppression means." Anthrax

[@michahsimmons7568]

You're a joy to watch Stossel, love your content!

[@timburton5950]

Was more eco friendly back when I was growing up 60s and 70s, much less throw-away products back then and you could get a refund on pop bottles, beer bottles, milk came in a carton, my parents saved bread bags for use around our home, used them for packing sandwiches. Is insane how much plastic crap we throw away today for the sake of convenience!

[@rjay7019]

👍 exactly what we did. We need to cut back.

[@taserrr]

Yes indeed, it's really an American problem. I don't know why, but America HATES implementing proper policies, especially on companies. It's not like low waste packaging, or recycled plastics don't exist, it's that the companies aren't forced to use them, so they don't care. This works rather well in Europe, most western countries have figured those things out by now, USA is again lacking behind.

[@CHMichael]

It kills me when people need a plastic bag to put their plastic milk bottle with handles in it. I still used glass for milk in the 90s

[@taserrr]

@@CHMichael In my country, you must pay for a plastic bag if you didn't bring your own bag. It's a good incentive to bring your own proper bag, which almost everybody here does.

[@CHMichael]

@@taserrr and they will actually give you one that doesn't rip . ... since you really need one.

[@brendanflynn5004]

He hit the nail right on the head when he said “they get a charge in telling people what to do.”

[@anderivative]

the high school young republican mindset is that anything that the government mandates or even suggests is bad, hence why you probably liked that comment. As Reagan said when he told people to just give their money to the rich people (trickle on your face econ), the government is BAD. Except for bombing brown people for profit and stopping gay ppl from marriage.

[@KellyS_77]

Also, the environmental movement has now just become an economic one. There's a lot of money to be made in sell green eco-alternatives.

[@crocidile90]

@@KellyS_77 it always was an economic movement, it is just that the first few move were helpful to the environment

[@ryanwolf4101]

Reminds me of all the mandates for the pandemic.

[@the_professor_of_reality]

You said exactly what I took away from this.

[@thomasjones5586]

People in the plastic industry have known since the mid 80's that the recycling idea was a waste. I worked for a company that made small plastic spools for sewing thread. The most recycled plastic they could use was 4%. Almost nothing.

[@donh6416]

Australia is experimenting a process of 2 types of plastic waste streams. Clean and dirty. Clean is used to remake packaging. Dirty is made into lumber style products or returned to useable oil.

[@54000biker]

I'm 67, I remember as a boy that our dustbin was emptied once a week and it was rarely full. My parents grew up during the war when everything that could be was reused. Pop (soda) came in glass bottles which could be returned for a small reimbursement, in fact all kinds of bottles, beer, milk, etc were recycled. Socks were darned until there was more darn than original sock. Parcels were in brown paper & tied with string, my mother would save both to re-use.

[@charlottesmom]

We DO need to go back to glass bottles, I used to live on Diet Snapple but they switched from glass bottles to plastic, I quit it that very day. My family has reusable water bottles so we don't "need" to buy plastic water bottles anymore, saves tons of money.

[@TheVenominside]

And unsurprisingly, your generation also has the highest percentage of hoarders 🤔

[@charlottesmom]

@@TheVenominside , Hoarding typically is brought on by trauma and it can hit all ages not just older folks. Hoarding is not making due with what you have as the first poster is exemplifying. They are saying stuff should be reused and repaired to extend its useful life or recycled that is not hoarding.

[@joemiller9931]

@@charlottesmom Correct. People who grew up during the Great Depression often became hoarders, rightfully so!!!

[@charlottesmom]

@@joemiller9931 , Yup, exactly. My grandparents lived through the great depression, they reused and saved whatever they could. My grandma even to almost the day she died washed out and reused plastic zip bags (even had a little rack to dry them on), she reused all glass bottles and jars and reused newspapers as packing material. All my grandparents were very thrifty...they hoarded what they needed to survive, not how some folks hoard these days.

[@colinklang]

I've been skeptical about recycling for as long as I can remember. I recall it being pitched heavily when I was a kid ( 90s) and thinking about how all this crap needed to be trucked, sorted, probably trucked again, reprocessed, trucked again ect until it was turned into something useful. It didn't seem very logical. Well as it turns out that is the case. It's also highly subsidized by government because it's not cost effective at all. It's a complete scam!!

[@wemcal]

Great video and extremely information. In my area recycling is bad, everything is dumped with the regular waste.. I’m trying to do what I can in helping the bags issues.. everyone take care and have a great week

[@Stones_Throw]

Put one time use drinks back in glass with a deposit just like 40+ years ago.

[@Paul-ou1rx]

The plastic industry itself came up with the 3 arrows recycle logo and the numbering category for recyclables to look like they were managing the issue and to give people a way to feel good about using plastics. "I use plastics but I recycle so I'm more ethical than you."

[@janeclayton151]

we should be making containers and packaging that is biodegradable.

[@cavalieroutdoors6036]

@@janeclayton151 that might work for some items, but isn't going to work for everything. If it's biodegradable it will be prone to rot, bacteria, mold, fungus etc. growing in/on it. No thanks.

[@matthewweng8483]

I don't think everyone thought they were 'more ethical', most people just wanted to contribute to fixing a huge problem. But yes, the plastics companies were incredibly deceptive and that's shameful.

[@wwiiinplastic4712]

It was meant to visually mimic symbols used by the Eco movement and fool people into thinking the industry was being compliant.

[@wwiiinplastic4712]

@@janeclayton151 Not always as easy as it sounds because some materials are picky about what they can be stored in, but I like to think more companies are trying than not. I like to THINK that.

[@CommodoreFan64]

I was a child of the 80's, and 90's, and I clearly remember multiple times having to sit through the recycling will save the earth BS in school growing up, with even one video being a parody of the Terminator called the "Recyclenator", and another with child celebrities in the early 90's(some from Doogie Howser) trying to fear monger us into thinking kids of the future will have to wear yellow hazmat suits just to go outside, and play if we don't change our ways!! it's 2023, and it ain't happened yet, but as Mark Dice says "Celebrities Know Best!!"😂😂

[@bristolauthentic401]

Remember Captain Planet ??? Captain Planet, he’s our hero, gonna take pollution down to zero! Omggggg shit is in my head till this day

[@ssgLunchbox]

I remember all of that stuff in the 90s and thinking it was bull then at 12 years old

[@hermesmcclintok]

It’s way worse for kids today. They literally cry about it and try to destroy valuable paintings and objects for attention to their pain.

[@Gr3nadgr3gory]

Yeah, environmentalists seem to think litter is radioactive or something. Paper litter is negligible to the environment. It gets broken down quickly, often hidden in piles of leaves, the cans and bottles on the other hand never go away. As a landscaper I see this shit happen at our commercial properties often. D&B has a forest area in front of them that everyone tosses their bottles and cans from pregaming. I see other litter there too but its only the bottles and cans I have to clean up.

[@moaningpheromones]

LMAO recyclenator can just picture the lame square sob that thought that was really cool. and they're greenwashing the kids with climate scaremongering. and their kids will get some other bs crisis.

[@kannanayagam6915]

in Singapore they will burn the trash , separate the e-waste and throw the soil like remain into to ocean to create artificial land , this method is eco friendly , ocean life is now living on the island , pulau temakau ..

[@basicprogrammer6147]

"We have to do it for the kids! Y'know, the 1 in 3 kids who are obese?" Maybe we should go on a diet and produce less trash.

[@IhateYoutube]

No more plastic straws in paper, just paper straws wrapped in plastic, congratulations - Tom Macdonald

[@ppumpkin3282]

I knew a man that worked in the trash collection industry. He told me recycling was invented as a way of increasing revenues, and in the end most stuff goes to the same place anyways.

[@anderivative]

Glass and aluminum recycle very well. Plastic not so much. Recycling was "invented" because some things become that thing again very easily.

[@ibleebinU]

One day my son left school late and saw the janitor emptying the recycle barrels into the dumpster with all the other trash. He learned more that day AFTER school. 😊

[@anderivative]

@@ibleebinU that's bad that all that plastic and aluminum didn't get recycled. What was learned exactly?

[@ibleebinU]

@@anderivative He learned about deception, a life lesson. You know, don't just believe, follow through, investigate, seek out truths. He pulls the curtain back on most everything of interest.

[@Troy_Built]

A couple of years ago our city finally admitted the whole recycling program was a lie. They had been dumping it all in the regular trash. I was surprised at the lack of outrage. Maybe like Santa Claus people had figured it out long ago and were just going along with the crowd.

[@Batya-Grace]

I think the laundry soap idea is ingenious!

[@jaydee_0079]

We do not have Recycling, we have Reclamation. Unless and Until we are Paid for the garbage, we will not have Recycling. If you pay them to take it away, it is a Burdon, if they pay you it is a Resource.

[@DdD-pi8jw]

He nailed it! “They get a charge out of telling people what to do.” It’s getting worse every single day.

[@joemiller9931]

And you never tell Americans what to do. I'm surprised we are still a nation.

[@zorby3774]

Okay. But don't you think this dude gets a charge out of saying the mainstream is wrong? Both claims prove nothing about whether recycling is worthwhile or not.

[@DdD-pi8jw]

@@zorby3774 no. I think he gets a “charge” out of exposing government lies, and proposing an alternative view. I know you libtards hate alternative ideas, but you better get used to it.

[@tifforo1]

I wish he had talked more about how the petroleum/plastics industry financially backed pushing the idea that plastics are recyclable.

[@durango8882]

I’m done with it

[@rainward2761]

The amount of information the general public is under informed about is insane! I learned about this particular issue when I managed a landfill project 20 years ago.

[@raven4k998]

plastic is recyclable and not recycled what a load of bs then why do we use plastic over glass then or something that is recycled?

[@spec24]

@@raven4k998 try forming a coherent sentence so people can respond to your ramblings.

[@anderivative]

@@raven4k998 Plastic is technically recyclable but glass is a far better option. We use plastics because they're cheaper for companies which means more profit. This is an issue of capitalism trashing the earth more than it is about recycling not working.

[@anderivative]

@@victorchiappetta3230 that "feeling" was manufactured by big biz to promote using cheapass plastic to increase profits. We wouldn't have gone down this plastic road if the FACTS weren't covered up that plastic doesn't recycle well. Maybe ppl like their feel feels but they didn't make them up themselves: Capitalism fooled them on purpose.

[@raven4k998]

@@anderivative yeah money over saving the environment what a thing

[@janeEriley]

We should collectively sue the plastics companies! I'm dead serious. Do you know how much time we've wasted, and we've been completely lied to by those money mongers!

[@elaine1743]

My friend that works at one of these places told me years ago that it all goes in the trash. They don't have the employees to sort it.

[@bearvonsteuben9675]

My dad was a polymer R & D chemist his entire career. I remember his outrage and headshaking when McDonald’s, under pressure of the greenies, ceased using styrene clam shells. That polystyrene was reused for many useful items. It was replaced by a multi-ply paper from which it was impossible to separate the layers to then re-purpose. Such is the stupidity and inanity of the green movement.

[@joospis]

There is conflicting arguments in the green debate and its not like there’s one belief. Stossel even said that the reason throwing plastic away is better is because landfills are regulated so that they don’t leach chemicals out. This regulation is by the green movement

[@seekgodfirst1605]

The green movement has a noble goal. But the rest of the world pollutes many times over what we we do. We need to make good choices and do our part, but this is getting ridiculous. These garbage companies are turning us into indentured servants, forcing us to sort our refuse. We’re facing fines if we put something in the wrong container. A container the charger us money for. We pay for a service, and they control us? The system is wack.

[@blue03r6]

The fda made them stop using one type of oil for another that turned out worse for your health.

[@deathharpproductions3094]

@@joospis In the 1970's the "Environmentalists raged against recyclable renewable paper products in favor of plastic. There are now islands of plastic 3 times the size of France in the ocean. Where are all the paper bags?

[@baileyhatfield4273]

@@deathharpproductions3094 They'll complain that the forests are gonna be killed, old growth forests (those are not being used for stupid crap like toothpicks and paper ect) but then they think plastic is the solution...crazy how they think. Biggest problem if it is one, is people buying junk products and throwing them away far too soon. Pay twice as much get 10 20 times a better product.

[@mr.bright_side]

It's incredible that if people were really about the things they claim to care about (beyond just recycling), they would do the opposite of most of things we are berated and/or mandated to do.

[@raven4k998]

dripping brown ooozz interesting they checked for that before saying it was in there🤣🤣🤣

[@michtig]

I love this channel; objective, critical, reasonable, and bit-size yet satiating.

[@genxer1]

Makes me glad I never bothered to recycle to begin with.

[@Ocyla]

My husband refused to get the recycling bin when we moved into this house because he said it was pointless. This was 20+ years ago. And he was right.

[@keywacat]

My wife bought one because it makes her feel better, as she finally admitted. The only thing I recycle is glass, because I like smashing them into the big collection bin. Although its changed a bit when I first got here I was amused to see the one thing Americans recycled was the one thing Czechs did not: aluminium cans.

[@robertadams2857]

We really have two trash cans, one is blue

[@robertb1610]

What about cardboard and aluminum?

[@Ocyla]

@@robertb1610 I don't know about cardboard but crushing cans and taking them in will get you a little money. They wouldn't go in the recycle bin though.

[@faelwolf1177]

When I was growing up, we bought dry goods in paper, carboard boxes, or burlap bags, grocery bags were paper, too. Soda came in glass bottles you took back to the store to be refilled, and had a nickel deposit, so us kids would gather them from along the road to get money for candy or other treats, they didn't litter the highway. We reused glass jars for canning or other purposes, and tin cans as well, I still use coffee cans for storage of nails, etc. in my shop. It was used, reused, and fixed or used for something else when it broke, until it was used up. Jelly jars were cast to use a standard canning lid specifically to be reused, and the company that didn't would go broke! Table scraps went to the dog, or into a compost pile. Paper got used to start the wood stove or burn pile, or used for wrapping parcels or crafts in the case of the paper grocery bags. Nothing was wasted if we could help it. There wasn't a trash pick up, we didn't need one. We'd go down to the landfill once or twice a year for what little we had to get rid of, if even that. When the plastic industry did it's big push, we were laughed at for being dumb hillbillies that were just behind the times. Not so dumb, were we?

[@mortkb]

Mr Stossel, I really appreciate you bringing this to light. I have known this for years. Plastic is not a good candidate for recycling for many reasons. 1. Companies don't want to use recycled plastic for new products because the quality of recycled plastic material degrades the quality of their end product vs. using new plastic (except for some clothing manufacturers that use it for nylon jackets etc.). 2. People have been brainwashed to think the recycle symbol perpetrated in the market makes them believe they are saving the planet 3. 5% of pretty much any socioeconomic narrative (including recycling) is not helping the social or economic factors - anyone that thinks 5% is a good return on investment is being deceived. I would like you to do a video that asks people to just stop, think for yourself, and look around your household and all the things you purchase. The amount of plastic out there makes up a significant (I don't have a percentage to share but it is huge) portion of the things we buy. Glass, aluminum, steel and copper (and almost any other metal), wood, and cardboard are all very good candidates for recycling. Everything else...No bueno.

[@DantesTyphoon]

Aside from the landfill vs recycling debate, the logo is a triangle because it represents "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle". If someone is preaching recycling without avidly doing the other 2 then they do not believe in thier own words.

[@Baileyind]

I did some work with a company that converted post consumer plastics into paint cans. The end result of mixing all types of plastic was an all black low grade plastic can. However, consumers demanded a metal lip and lid making it non-recyclable after one use.😆

[@donaldkasper8346]

Plastic lids on paint cans work much better than metal ones. The metal ones rust.

[@mikeingeorgia1]

I’ve got some cans of Behr paint I’m using right now. They are all plastic other than the handle and where it connects to the can side. The big lid has a smaller round cap that can be removed so a plastic pour spout can be put in it’s place. It seems to work pretty well so far but I’ve only had them for about a week.

[@mikeingeorgia1]

Upon closer inspection I realized that the places on the side of the cans where the handle connects are also made of the same plastic as the can. So it appears that the only part of the can that isn’t plastic is the handle.

[@noanyobiseniss7462]

Sounds like an oil company ad after fighting every regulation that was supposed to make them create recyclable plastics.

[@shoebert31]

I like the guy rinsing the water bottle

[@ShawnPitman]

The saving trees fallacy is potentially one of the best litmus tests for whether or not someone understands where raw materials come from and how recycling works. Trees for paper are grown on "paper tree farms" just like any other harvestable plant. When new paper use is high, farmers grow more trees... When new paper use is low (and recycling is high) they grow fewer trees. If you think recycling paper leads to more trees you don't understand one of the most basic aspects that relates paper to trees.

[@russr]

It's not just that, it's that most paper isn't recyclable. If it has colored ink on, if it has the shiny surface on it like ads, if it was any kind of a food container, like a pizza box with even a spot of Grease on the cardboard it's trash.

[@davidb2206]

That's not true. The acreage remains the same, as most of the pulp comes from paper company-owned land, such as Georgia-Pacific. The trees are already planted at the maximum efficient density -- this is an old science and industry. The only thing that changes is the harvested amount; so, it is true, that more recycling of paper would result in fewer trees cut down.

[@Psych0technic]

Which to soil exhaustion, which leads to increased demand in fertilizer, which leads to increase in energy consumption, which leads to bigger carbon footprint etc, hence climate change.

[@MC-kp7pz]

Brings me back to a time when an old owel was trying to save our forests. So our whole 6th grade class went to war over brown paper bags at the store. We collected money by selling our moms peanut butter cookies ( don't freak out back then it was ok to have peanuts in school. The kid that was allergic to them was smart enough and just didn't eat them). It was a hard fought battle but over time we did win and replaced all those brown biodegradable paper bag with cheap plastic ones. Fast forward a couple decades and our war caused a great plastic island in the middle of the pacific Ocean. What I learned from the whole thing is when these groups decide to save the planet whaT they're really doing is lining their pockets with our money and could care less about the planet...

[@brendapeterson7039]

THAT is the truth. In our state we now pay .08 tax for each sack we use to carry our groceries to the car. A store owner told me they have to pay extra for the “thick reusable” sacks, they can’t use their old inventory of sacks and the state keeps that as a tax!!! So the store owner of course charges us in raised good prices. It’s a fun little new trick they have found to make more money.

[@blackbrass1973]

Exactly

[@mirzaahmed6589]

What's an "old owel"?

[@janicehopkins4432]

No nut allergies in my schools in the 1970s. Vaccines are likely contributing to allergies and autoimmune disorders.

[@kathystoneburner4947]

And another freedom stepped on! Its just about more control besides the fact, who the hell are these people. America has more agencies that have zero faces.

[@OIdiesCentral]

It was about 10 years ago when i 1st heard a recycling plant manager on tv saying that most plastic won't be recycled because of their colors and a few weeks ago again on cbc another said the same.

[@virtual-viking]

Some things that are worth recycling: Metal, glass Some things that _can_ be recycled, if you must: Paper, cardboard Outright recycling scams: Plastic

[@McMillanScottish]

I was a super recycler. My recycling bin was always five times more full than my garbage and I was proud of it. But the moment I found out that recycling was a total scam, I stopped completely. Now I don’t waste a single brain cell on that bullshit. Everything goes in the trash. Edit: in response to the remarks about aluminum, glass, metal… If I can get paid for it (copper, steel, electronics, etc.), I take it to the scrap yard. If I don’t get paid for it, it goes in the trash. Sue me. Do you want me to recycle? Put a deposit on it. Make me bring it back. If there’s money in it, I’ll bring it back. I am old enough to remember eight packs of glass bottles of Coke and Pepsi that we used to have to return to the store. I thought that worked pretty well. Besides, putting a deposit on trash means the bums can clean the place up and get paid for it.

[@bhough410]

Recycling metals and clean cardboard are beneficial.

[@77Treasurehunter77]

Still the wrong attitude as: 1. Aluminum 2. Steel cans 3. Glass are still good to recycle and most get's reused. Paper & plastic are the ones that don't really end up working in the end.

[@patrickbateman1660]

You should absolutely recycle paper and aluminium. Those are 100% recycled. Everything else isn't.

[@dansanfrisco]

@@77Treasurehunter77 How does that make sense when spending time to recycle those things will ultimately cause more energy use and emissions that pollute the air from the factories that try to recycle? You are still thinking with your "lied to" recycling helps the climate brain. Think deeper here, it is a scam. Guess who are majority owners in these recycling companies? Big oil. You still think you are helping the climate?

[@xxxBradTxxx]

Aluminum and steel are the only recyclables. Maybe glass and paper, but I don’t think the resale value is worth it for glass and paper.

[@SvendleBerries]

I remember when plastic bags were introduced in the 90s because environmentalists were complaining about needing to save the trees. Now environmentalists are complaining about plastic being everywhere, so now we are back to using paper bags lol

[@Bateluer]

Doubly so since the paper for those paper bags came from tree farms. Plastic grocery bags were one of the biggest cons of all time.

[@robertmarmaduke9721]

I discovered those brown paper bags are produced in China after they dismantled all the US paper mills and sent the equipment to China. The little paper handles are glued on by Uyghur wage slaves. Happy Falafel Day!

[@Ethel173]

@@robertmarmaduke9721 i literally dont believe that only because (china running) a machine doing it would be 500x faster and cheaper im not defending china, china bad. but that does sound a little bit too propaganda-y considering how easy of a task putting glue on something and pressing two pieces of paper together could be automated

[@andylin6560]

could this be the reason the milk given out by my elementary school was in plasic bags. Yes, everyday at lunch we can a small bag of milk. It was strange.

[@arthurbrumagem3844]

I grew up in the era when plastic bags replaced paper and even then I knew it was a joke

[@SR-gt350]

Baaaa, we aren't running out of landfill space as we build homes on it after.

[@craiginnh8277]

It's all about CONTROL!!!!!!!

[@PartyOnDude_]

"they get a charge out of telling people what to do". True, that's a big part of all of this

[@spudth]

@Beatnik um, yes it is and you just got your little charge for the day.

[@paulwhelan7781]

@Beatnik yes it is.

[@hmdoc16]

I remember when my new neighbors moved in next door. In typical tree-hugger fashion I noticed how painstakenly and carefully they would flatten all their cardboard and stack them according to size and neatly line them up in the recycle container, from small to large - perfect! Same with cans, diligently wash them, remove labels, and had a special crusher to flatten them and place them in their container. Same with glass - washed, labels off, carefully stacked in their own container. Paper neatly stacked and tied in a bundle. Placed them all in perfect alignment on the curb. Very feng-shui! As they walk away, they look back a couple of times, with a big smile, feeling very proud of their accomplishments. That all changed when the garbage collector rolled in. He dumped everything all together in the same receptacle. I will never forget the look of horror on my neighbor's face!!!

[@nommchompsky]

Yes, they lovingly smiled at their garbage. That is totally a thing that happened

[@freedomrings1420]

LOL 😂

[@Adyfire]

Imagine writing all this down to stick it to the tree huggers!

[@freedomrings1420]

@@Adyfire Don't cry ❄, I'm sure that you can find your safe place.

[@justin15157]

This comment is stupid. Everything you mentioned can and should be easily recycled. This video even said, for example, that paper and cardboard and glass and metal is easily recyclable and good too. It’s talking mostly about plastics. But yeah I’m sure the story really happened that way.

[@GoodtoGaia]

I live in Switzerland, a top country in the world for recycling. We recycle ♻️ 50% and incinerate the rest for energy. Tin cans and glass are tops for recycling. We also have green bins (1 for kitchen waste, and 1 for garden cuttings). We also have to pay for trash bags color coded to each village. This encourages people to recycle for free rather than filling up expensive trash bags.

[@michaelpettersson4919]

I consider burning plastic in well filtered productive plants to be a form of recycling. I work with producing products in plastics using preassure molding. Yes you can mix in used in materials but it hurt quality. For some products it just doesn't work at all, especially anything hard and transparent.

[@danielpittijr6283]

Thanks, Stossel for these amazing videos.

[@nicholasthompson5325]

John-we love you. Thank you for imploring common sense objectivity. I had an argument with my in-laws years ago about the “garbage of plastic recycling”-their response? “If they [the recycling company] don’t recycle it’s not our fault, we still do our part to put it in the recycling bin”