Tracking Devices Reveal Where Recycling Really Goes

[@Robfang]

I can tell you what happened. The waste was illegaly burned. Anyone who is living in the Yumurtalık region of Adana, Turkey can tell you about the smell of burnt plastic that starts around midnight, every day! The waste is burned, without any filtration. The air is poisoned, the water is poisoned and the ground is poisoned. The saddest part of this is Adana has the most fertile soil all around Turkey. I don’t have any expectation from the Turkish government officials to solve this issue just because they are as corrupt as the waste burned. I hope some degree of awareness can be created in the UK and EU.

[@TheKoderius]

Why am I not surprised to learn that Europeans are dumping trash on Turkey.

[@what-cl9gi]

Welcom to turkey

[@charlierob4377]

Don’t send waste to turkey non if it is recycled no matter what they say

[@LKirahs]

It is the same in Poland. Every now and then you hear about 'fires' at rubbish dumps. The fire brigade is called and then the cycle repeats itself. Before, there was a lot of talk about buried rubbish. People living in the area complained about vermin.

[@JohnVKaravitis]

You sound upset.

[@ninjanerdstudent6937]

This is high quality journalism showcasing the logistics of waste products.

[@Chrstnrchrdsn]

OUTLAW ALL PLASTICS! I grew up with no plastics so it is more than possible: paper and glass were all we had. Glass was recycled for cash and paper comes from renewable sources. Simple. It’s the evil corporations making money. It’s always about the money. They, along with the politicians they paid off should go to jail for crimes against humanity.

[@arcanondrum6543]

Bloomberg is a billionaire and doesn't need your obedience. Have a look around at other voices as well. I made some Playlists of other Channel's uploads. They are a great start.

[@joanyoon4672]

I agree. I have been watching other journalists tracking down wastes which were very high quality as well. Bloomberg took from there and raised a notch. I appreciate such expertise in this culture of knowledge and evidence supported information. Go United States!

[@notinterested8452]

Should throw all of the grime wrappers in.

[@Airpaycheck]

Around here, if the wrapper is on it, it won’t get recycled. Bottle caps don’t get recycled (wrong kind of plastic) so the attached bottles go in the garbage. If it has food residue on it, it won’t get recycled (pizza boxes that say ‘Recycle Me!” Go in the garbage. Recycling is another money making enterprise. It’s not saving anything. The only green involved is $$

[@ShmooyShmoo]

As a Merchant Mariner our vessel was going from California to Hawaii to Japan then Australia and finally hopscotching around Indonesia. Normally we unload trash every port if possible but on this ship we held onto the trash until Indonesia. The reason was not only bc the Captain/company could save money but bc the Indonesians didn’t inspect it, ask questions, make you separate it or make you pay fees. I befriended the Indonesian trash collector/owner operator of the trash truck and watched as he dumped it in his back yard right next to the beach onto a stream. I asked “why do you dump it onto the stream?” He replied “bc the rain will come, and the stream will turn into a river and wash it out to sea.” His shoeless children rummaged through it first. There was all sorts of discarded chemicals used for engineering and paints otherwise known as hazmat materials…. If that’s not enough, the whole town seems to burn their trash on the side of the road around sundown, helps keep the bugs away….they have no system for their trash, burn it or throw it in the ocean or river.

[@IN-tm8mw]

wow

[@lucky5609]

Same in most of india and if not burned or thrown in river it goes to illegal dumping site to be burned off while the official and politians call it green waste segregation or some other fancy word to please the public. We are the one of most dirty country in the world which was not always the case in the 1900s the country side was extremely clean the Rivers, lakes etc even 30 years before in the early 1990s. There is no thought before using single use plastic. Just indiscriminate use of plastic from poor to rich.

[@Rustyrailhead]

I know of a family in middle of India that takes their trash to a field close to their home to burn their trash. We are doomed to climate change as no matter what we do here in the US the rest of the world will offset all our attempts to do right.

[@Runner8617]

😳 Wow! Eye opening, thank you for sharing!

[@Runner8617]

You should make a video talking about this, just to enlighten people and make them think!

[@tedthesailor172]

Once, when I was parked in Westminster, London, UK. I observed a huge garbage truck turn-up and begin reversing. There were 3 separate heavy steel containments, each clearly designated for a different kind of waste product - paper, plastic, and another. The guys got out and guided the truck to pick each container up in turn and unload the contents into the same receptacle. I was drinking a coffee and said to one of the guys, "People have carefully sorted that stuff, how come you're dumping it into the same place in the truck..." He just roared with laughter. "It's all just a con, mate," he replied, and boarded the truck and drove off...

[@roadkillavenger1325]

You can tell people this tidbit until you're blue in the face, but its a waste of time. Sometime after the year 2000, human brains suffered a horrible disability that has caused a 50,000 year regression. The intelligence just isn't there anymore. It's sad, but literally every person you see walking down the street, or driving their vehicles has a brain akin to a dodo bird. Few people made it through unharmed. Now we live in a television series called The Walking Dumb.

[@kayetaylor5551]

​@@roadkillavenger1325well well well😂😂😂 sounds like something happend to you for sure if you believe that load of guff....

[@roadkillavenger1325]

@@kayetaylor5551 Thanks for helping to prove my point. No punctuation in your sentences at all. Humans have gotten so dumb!

[@sid2112]

@@roadkillavenger1325 The narcissism and lack of awareness in your sentence is breathtakingly sophomoric.

[@I_Don_t_want_a_handle]

@@sid2112 Kindergarten, more like.

[@marthamryglod291]

In a retirement town in Florida, the people insisted on recycling, as they were accustomed to in the north. So the town abliged and gave recycling bins to the community. From there, it goes right to the same landfill as the trash.

[@powernoodle1224]

Burying garbage IS recycling, because you are returning it to the earth from where it came.

[@richardswink-embodiedsouls]

Yep

[@MrAntup]

But that is ok it is when it is shipped over seas then dumped in the ocean

[@MrMarkOlson]

Florida.

[@kjisnot]

I had the same thing happening in a Denver suburb years ago. Recycling was an optional trash service and cost around an extra $15 monthly. Then I found out it was all dumped in the same local landfill anyway. The excuse was there was too much recycle material to handle plus there was no profit in it. I stopped the optional recycle service right away.

[@Bobrogers99]

Like every other big corporation, Tesco will promote recycling only so long as it wins favor with their customers and increases sales - and profits. It's not that they can't recycle/incinerate all plastics, it's just that they choose not to because it's not profitable. And companies that make and use cheaper "bad plastics" do so because they're allowed to.

[@frotobaggins7169]

right, governments could make this problem go away by simply limiting the kind of plastic that can be used in single use packaging to just a limited few recyclable plastics. Why ship it the whole way across the continent to be burned in a field in some poor village when you could just burn in in an incinerator in the locality that produces it. Not only does it just get burned anyways, you use all that fuel to transport it that just makes the pollution worse.

[@Starshine2007]

Plastic was sold to us by the Oil companies who had masses of waste to dispose of and so, rather than bear the cost of that disposal, they 'sold' it into the supply chain shifting the burden of responsibility, and the cost for cleaning up the mess, onto us the tax paying public! The profit is all theirs, and the cost of clean up shared by us all. I think Harvard would teach this as excellent business practice. How sinister is that?

[@noseboop4354]

@@frotobaggins7169 Because burning plastic is extremely dirty, just like coal. You have various paints, glue and inks on the plastic which release toxic gases when burned. So rich countries would much rather have it burned elsewhere.

[@legros731]

@@Starshine2007 lol the profit is all theirs lol Take a second and imagine a world without plastic you will have nothing everything is made of some kind of plastic

[@r3b3lvegan89]

Fossil fuel based plastic is a 20th century invention you clown. Humanity lived the rest of history without plastic just fine.

[@AM-xo7lr]

At least twenty years ago the New Scientist magazine did a feature on the con of 'recycling' and encouraged a change in terminology to 'alternative disposal'. Unfortunately, the public likes the concept of recycling as it feels like something everyone can participate in and feel they have 'done their bit' for the environment. Let's face it, it's a far easier sell than persuading people to reduce consumption, which is what is really needed to reduce environmental damage.

[@babybirdhome]

Yeah, as a kid growing up in the ‘80s in an environmentally conscious town, it was always pounded into us the (back then) 3 R’s - 1. Reduce, 2. Re-use, 3. Recycle. Recycle was always at the very end of the chain for a reason - because it’s the worst out of all 3 options by far. But fast-forward to today and there’s almost nobody talking about reduce or re-use, and _nobody_ remembers anything about the 3 R’s. It’s all only about recycling - literally the second worst thing you can do besides outright waste. Just sad. If the human species kills itself off with global warming or something else, one thing will be for certain - we will deserve it.

[@barnabyvonrudal1]

​@@babybirdhometrue! it's as if it's anti economy to talk about reducing

[@doctorcrafts]

Yeah blame humanity and state unabashedly extinction is deserved Real Environmental Consciousness

[@email6743]

​@@babybirdhomeCaptain planet

[@NLTops]

The problem is that as far as food packaging material goes..."not water soluble" and "no microbial degradation" reigns supreme. The very traits that make them difficult to dispose of in an environmentally sound manner. Ideally we would only create high-grade plastic that can be recycled to create a closed loop system with minimal loss. But there are economic incentives not to.

[@Chrstnrchrdsn]

I grew up in the USA with absolutely no plastics! We had glass bottles that we recycled for cash and paper that comes from renewable sources. The manufacturers and politicians they paid off should be jailed for crimes against humanity this must stop now!

[@ozi618]

Here is the simplest and most efficient solution for me. A solution from the past for the future. Sometimes we just spend so much time and energy to find a solution for a problem but ignore the solution which is right in front of our eyes. I don’t know, maybe I am wrong, maybe people became lazy, ignorant. I don’t know what is right and what is wrong anymore. All I know I agree with Bea regarding this matter.

[@bigbarry8343]

this would have killed the supermarket business model. glass is heavy and plastic packaging extends life of products (through the use of chemicals). i would much welcome return of local corner shops.

[@theres1dent]

No plastic at all? That’s hard to believe.

[@rogueinvestor2375]

@@ozi618 That's a CEO-level word salad you just mixed up there. You seem to have mastered the art of saying a lot without saying anything. Congrats.

[@rogueinvestor2375]

Plastic is so much cheaper than glass or metal. I don't think we're going back to those days, unless plastic becomes more expensive to make than glass or metal.

[@NealD]

Thank you Bloomberg, for delivering something useful and educational, instead of false political narratives and propaganda! Bravo!

[@timmcneill5299]

Really interesting, keep this kind of reporting and content coming

[@robertlee8805]

I 2nd this request. Keep it coming please. We need more options of recycling ♻️ even though there's so many things are NOT recyclable but could have more uses.

[@Mikesorrento3344]

Yes, I wish investigative media would scrutinize liberal politicians with the same vigor.

[@lucypearlmorgan3115]

The setup in Poland should be done all over, especially in USA.

[@x2f01mick]

@@Mikesorrento3344 yeah that would solve everything

[@jamescollier3]

don't let the Left hear you say that

[@polanve]

I've always wanted to put a tracker on my recyclables! Thanks for doing this, please do a bunch more!

[@jeronimaspeteraitis1578]

me too

[@melissachartres3219]

You could possibly send him some money if you're going to be making requests.

[@realsamhyde]

@@melissachartres3219 I'll send him a penny for his troubles. 🎻

[@michaelwalsh9145]

Well it isn’t rocket science they put recycling in with normal household rubbish in the same truck and those trucks only have one compartment. When questioned one rubbish company said they separated it at the dump which is a balanced lie, it would be contaminated which household rubbish when compressed in the truck also why would the householder have to separate it in the first instance. Another company used the excuse that householders we’re mixing recycling with household waste in their bins so the company had to put it altogether, two not very believable excuses.

[@_tr11]

Me too!

[@TheJoePilato]

To say nothing of the fuel used to ship it all around Europe

[@lowinglok2002]

Actually, not that bad. Global shipping is very carbon-efficient. What I see is Tusco did make effort into this and failed to achieve what we hope for.

[@martynbush3462]

Ships run on bunker oil. The filthiest, nastiest, most polluting fuel known to man.

[@shellderp]

@@lowinglok2002 you believe this? ever seen how much smoke comes out of a ship. come on

[@Deontjie]

A big ship burns about $100,000 worth of fuel a day. Efficient, but still a lot. And that was before Biden messed up the fuel prices. And now Ukraine and Putin. Money that could have been used to build scrubbers.

[@lowinglok2002]

@@shellderp I Do. I also know Ship fuel is very polluted but Misusing data isn't going to help. I hate those "But Sometimes arguments".

[@BonifacyGolonka]

In Poland we have a problem with illegal burning trash on recycling companies terrain, every week we have some "self-ignition" of trash that's not worth to recycle but it was worth to be insured... few years ago there was a enormous fire on old tire storage, officially tires got self-ignition... on winter... with -20 Celcius degree outside... and company got a cash from insurance company...

[@mattiafrancescobruni8318]

Same in Italy. Here we even have people burning their own trash in the backyard, especially uneducated boomer

[@GoGreenPost]

The craziest thing about plastic is that nearly all research on the impact of plastic products compared to products made of other materials doesn't account for all the plastic that ends up in the environment, which makes plastic seem like a better option then it truly is. The impact of plastic is far worse than we have all been led to believe.

[@michaelbrickley2443]

Oil is a basic component to plastic. Hello? Fossil fuels.

[@HunterShows]

They have the nerve to brag about plastic bottles replacing glass like they're doing someone a favor.

[@BLUELEADER78]

@@michaelbrickley2443, the same people against fossil fuels are the same people who hailed plastic as a better alternative to glass and paper.

[@michaelbrickley2443]

@@BLUELEADER78 we know fossil fuels are problematic and we know know that not all plastic is a problem so much as mans’ handling of it. Like we know that oil shouldn’t be dumped into the water, storm drains or on the ground but people do it anyway.

[@BLUELEADER78]

@@michaelbrickley2443, not all plastic is a problem but all plastics can be found polluting the earth. Pushing so vehemently to end fossil fuels will put us into a similar situation as plastic did. The amount of land destroyed and pollution created in order to make electric vehicles defeats the purpose of electric vehicles. Then there's the supply of electricity needed to charge said electric vehicles. Most power grids can barely handle the current load requirements. At the end there is disposal problem of what to do with depleted power cells. It's another "solution" that causes more problems than it solves.

[@Brett_S_420]

There is a company in Australia that has found a way to put ALL types of plastic together into the same machine and using water and pressure it turns all of it into petrol & basically road asphalt. IT IS SCALABLE.

[@charlesschulz8416]

Turn it back into petrol and diesel through pyrolysis

[@JustChadC]

Scalable?

[@davidparker9676]

@@JustChadC SCRABBLE!

[@puppy3908]

@@JustChadC it means you can do it at scale, same process for 1 ton as 100 tons

[@OriginalOmgCow]

Ah yes, making roads out of plastic so we can get more plastic in the sea so we can get more plastic in our food so we can have more plastic in our bodies!

[@purberri]

I go to the trouble of sorting recyclables and they are collected by my county. I always wonder if most of it just ends up in land fill or what really happens to it. The grocery chains are the only place that collects the plastic bags but I often wonder if they are actually recycled or thrown away. It’s always been a guessing game.

[@Shaun.Stephens]

In New Zealand where I live soft plastics of all colours are mixed with PET of all colours and made into black fence posts. These posts can be used just like wooden ones, rammed into the ground and the wire can be stapled onto them. They last 10x longer than wooden fence posts. The factory is 10km from where I'm sitting.

[@interestedlen8823]

@@Shaun.Stephens All Black posts outlasting the opposition, ay Shaun? : )). I'm thinking of the hundreds of thousands of fence posts that must get used just in the UK, for council and other official sites, then scale that up. That would use thousands of tons of material. The only downside I can think of is those few vandal types who might set them alight, but choose the right applications, sounds like a winner.

[@sugarfree8303]

My husband worked in a recycling plant and yes it does go to the landfill or is burnt. Plastic bags...dont put them in the recycle, they get caught up in the machinery and the workers have to climb into this machine to pull out all of the tangled plastic bags. My husband refused to to that duty. He said his life is worth more than the peanuts they are paid to end up being killed on the job. Recycling is a sham. He worked for EcoMaine

[@notinterested8452]

They are not. Guaranteed. It is physically impossible.

[@beebee4334]

Plastic bags dropped off at the grocery store chains do not get recycled. They can’t really be recycled; the film itself gums up the machines, and sometimes breaks the machines. The bags get hauled away, but they don’t actually get recycled. Best thing to do, just use reusable bags instead of plastic grocery bags, which never get recycled

[@b_uppy]

Most recycling reaches a dead end. There is lack of demand for the end products made from it. Incinerating for heat/energy makes sense provided it is done safely.

[@arthurbrumagem3844]

Exactly but there are idiots among us who think it can’t be burned cleanly even tires

[@b_uppy]

@@arthurbrumagem3844 It'd help if labeling was controlled so that there were fewer toxic substances that'd need to be accomodated. Many toxins are introduced that way...

[@rockstarofredondo]

Indeed this is one excellent solution. Also milk carton-style containers instead of bottles for everything from liquid soaps to beverages.

[@arthurbrumagem3844]

@@rockstarofredondo Boomers grew up with those milk carton containers. Unfortunately we also grew up with lots of glass containers which ended up broken in our rivers and lakes which made swimming dangerous to the feet. There has to be a more environmental friendly solution to plastic. India has used fine plastic particles in their roads ( as have other countries). Seems reasonable or at least promising

[@b_uppy]

@@rockstarofredondo I agree. Simple, honest* packaging would do a lot. And why use our precious, clean fuel for industrial electricity and the powering of manufacture when corporations and utilities are fully capable of cleanly burning hard-to-recycle plastics on an efficient, grand scale??? *honest- as in zero extraneous packaging

[@zacherymccann491]

This is a very credible and well made video/documentary etc. I really appreciate the subtle nuance they showed by mentioning that PET plastics are the most recyclable plastic. And then separating PET (for this purpose) with the much more volumes hard to impossible to recycle soft plastics. Even though the broad picture is that plastics are really not recycled a lot, that separation of PET and LDPE plastics shows a lot of research. As there is still subtle differences in the properties of types of plastics that can explain why some are economical or not.

[@robertjones1730]

Recyclables actually being recycled is probably as much of a myth as "organic" actually meaning something different than any other product. But hey, as long as we all FEEL better about our purchase. Great content!

[@DolphLundgrensDolphinDungeon]

But hey

[@ss-sq1hn]

The signal was cut out because the tracking device was inside metal container at ship heading to turkey. Metal cages can block all kinds of signals.

[@Ndkksooejn]

Friend of mine worked at a "garbage dump" here in Melbourne. He told me that all waste went to the exact same place. Recycling or not. Both dumped in a pile then shipped off to Indonesia/phillippines go be dumped there. A decade or so ago china actually used to buy it, but not any more. No demand for it so it just gets shipped to further pollute megadumps in the phillippines.

[@victorfontaine4943]

“Everything we produce in this world has to go somewhere” you’re 200% right about that…

[@alexi2460]

Brilliant reporting, the team should be given an award

[@tvdinner325]

British tax-payers money helping Tesco. Lovely.

[@davidparker9676]

It should be made of non-recyclable plastic.

[@AllAmericanGuyExpert]

No, the British people need to tear down the Tesco propaganda posters and demand that reality set in for all the lies that they tell. Awards are meaningless when plastic smoke is killing people in Turkey.

[@carbonhorse]

This is precisely what I assumed was happening to plastic waste.

[@julideozturk4484]

Thank you so much for your kind care and efforts. I am a Sustainability Researcher from Turkey and today is the Earth Day. You could not have done anything better for the planet. I hope TESCO stops greenwashing ASAP - sincere greetings from Istanbul 🌼

[@jlouutube65]

Great reporting!! Here in Ontario, Canada it was stated that only 9% of our recyclables are actually recycled. If the elites are so concerned for the planet then why don't they do something about it at the top???

[@riverraisin1]

Sadly, because the elites are NOT concerned.

[@stephandiehl3893]

sadly 90 % of the plastic is buried or burned and ironically 90 % of what we are told about recycling is hogwash

[@hokehinson5987]

Amen the oligarchy are only concerned with power & wealth. They are masters of the scam. The psychological game. Life on earth is a game of manipulation if a person plays into their game.

[@VivAtreyu]

They are not concerned. It is simply pandering and making it look like they do something while they do the opposite. As always, those who scream the loudest are those who have the most to hide.

[@hbahoo]

Because you can’t! The elites are just playing the game you set for them! The only way to do it, is to consume less! Can you?

[@DevonExplorer]

That was fascinating. It's something that's been on my mind recently; how can we be sure that things are being properly recycled and not dumped on some poor community that are struggling with the lack of clean air and water because of our selfishness. Great piece of reporting. :)

[@trashyraccoon2615]

That is exactly what had been happening for a long time

[@kofManKan]

Nicely done, keep 'em coming. I have noticed recently that Bloomberg are becoming prominent in quality reporting. Quicktakes and NEF in particular. Bravo!

[@Lily-Bravo]

I started separating my thin plastic when there was a pilot scheme in Tescos branch in Cirencester for a company based in Swindon. After the pilot we were told it had gone so well it was being expanded to other branches. Next thing is was country wide and other supermarkets were following suit. I started watching this video thinking I was part of a successful recycling arrangement, that you had somehow missed. I checked the Swindon scheme to find the company had gone into liquidation. So sad, but thanks for the education. One thing you did not mention was whether the incineration of the plastic was causing any pollution.

[@phantomkate6]

Under what circumstances would the incineration of plastic materials *not* create pollution?

[@majermike]

@@phantomkate6 lol i was thinking the same thing

[@magikdust2095]

Some places that burn plastics use filtration, so it doesn't poison the air. So it might be around as bad as burning other fossil fuels, like oil. However, less developed nations don't use filtration, especially when it's disposed of illegally. So, how much pollution it causes depends on where it's burned, from what I understand. Also, when it's disposed of illegally, it can also end up in the ocean. Read some other comments on this video to find out what happens in certain countries when they accept plastics, like in Turkey, where its burned illegally, or it ends up in the ocean.

[@Shrouded_reaper]

@@phantomkate6 In Japan and I assume other places, the incinerators run at super high temperatures that burn it hot enough so the only significant output is CO2, not great obviously but I'd rather have CO2+electricity than masses of landfill and plastic clogging the ocean.

[@superjonboy873]

This is the answer to pollution - Burn it all, literally. Landfills are such a needless thing, clean burning incinerators have been around for quite a while now, with the potential to generate a lot of electricity at almost no cost.

[@rocambolesculnarator]

YOu do realize that by burning you re also polluting right?

[@christopherlee7334]

@@superjonboy873 there's an excellent technology currently in use aboard aircraft carriers called Plasma Gasification or Plasma Arc Waste Disintigration which uses high temperature (thousands of degrees) plasma arcs to atomize and then reconstitute waste as either synthetic gas or inert slag. The slag can be used as aggregate in concrete or asphalt, and the gas can be used similarly to natural gas or further reconstituted into fuels and plastics.

[@superjonboy873]

@@christopherlee7334 I had heard of that, then forgotten about it, thank you for the reminder!

[@charlierob4377]

@@christopherlee7334 air products teeside, failed

[@ApashePelican]

Why don't we make the companies producing so much packaging take responsibility for its final destination? Make recycling financially easy

[@skcyclist]

Because they will simply pass the expense on to the consumer.

[@MashedPotatoes690]

@@skcyclist yesn't there would be market pressure towards better/more sensible packaging, so it would only be an extra expense at first.

[@barnabyvonrudal1]

​@@skcyclistbut you'd at least get to the real cost of using plastic. Then it might make things change in the right/logical way, less hidden where things just dissappear

[@HairyKnees1]

Very interesting. I live in a small town; the city controls trash, recycling, water, sewer, and electricity. They incinerate the trash. I don’t know what they do with the recycling. A few years ago they switched from picking up recycling once per week to every other week. It would be interesting to find out what is happening with the recycling.

[@tmerbex552]

It seems that recycling of these bad plastics is only uneconomical because the negative impacts of their use is not properly accounted for in their price - smells like a text book case of market failure. Perhaps if their cost covered not only the cost of production but the full life cycle cost, the problem would resolve itself as they would be too expensive to use in the first place.

[@denisl2760]

Definitely. Products and packaging would be designed in such a way as to make recycling and reuse easy. That's what it really comes back to.

[@RoryCarroll]

More of this please. I'm disappointed in Tesco, but I'm sure this issue is rampant

[@jamesmedina2062]

You are underestimating the problem. Tesco knows they can get away with a system that is extremely harmful to poorer people and nature in far away countries with more corruption. People at Tesco know this but are told to shut-up and let them keep making money. So in essence the corruption is in both places and in a circular way we will all suffer. We are creating a higher and higher and higher concentration of microplastics that will never be removed from our environments

[@gg3675]

I would love to see this done from start to finish for a plastic product. I.e. tag something in the factory and see where it ends up

[@shankpuppet]

Great investigative reporting, thanks for doing this!

[@vagifrzayev280]

Great reporting

[@travisbramley]

This answers so many questions I, among many others, have had for years - thank you!

[@rootpotato]

I hope the BBC are watching this and taking some notes! . . . Excellent piece, but you need to dig even deeper into this topic.

[@BritishBeachcomber]

There is a way to recycle dirty mixed plastic. It's called hydrolysis. Breaking plastic down into simple hydrocarbons (oil) which can be used to make new plastic. A totally renewable product.

[@wiktorb]

In my opinion it should be illegal to send trash abroad. Take care of your trash in your country, don't sell the problem to the others. Thanks.

[@yukidejesus1956]

you're welcome

[@wiktorb]

wow, behold, king of comedy

[@for-real-tho]

Long time ago I was working for Veolia in the UK. Just be aware, that if you put any item in your recycling bag that is not recyclable and the pick up guys notice it, the entire bag will go to a landfill. Nobody will care to remove things like fabric or wood from your bag that is only for plastic and metal.

[@barnabyvonrudal1]

I was impressed by a veolia tip/rubbish-dump in france. They had lots of different areas where you could put the different types of waste.

[@timthetoolman223]

Twice it was stated that TESCO makes an enormous amount of profit. Actually Tesco operated at median gross profit margin of 5.5% from fiscal years ending February 2017 to 2021. That's among the lowest profit margin in their sector. The question comes down to how much additional cost is a consumer willing to pay to insure that material is actually recycled. I'd submit that most consumers don't want to pay more than is absolutely necessary for their groceries.

[@noseboop4354]

Low profit margin doesn't matter if it amounts to billions of dollars in profits. That's a lot of profits.

[@dickenscider7328]

I have noticed that over the last year rather than reducing the amount of plastic supermarkets use it has increased! So much in the fruit and veg is now wrapped or is contained in plastic. For example, broccoli is it seems all individually wrapped in non recyclable plastic. Very few have readily available cheap paper bags. Perhaps someone can explain?

[@fat_pigeon]

@@dickenscider7328 Probably it's to reduce food spoilage or other waste by keeping them fresh, reducing contamination, or the like.

[@rocksfire4390]

it's not up to the consumer to pickup the mess that companies are making. they need to be responsible with their own waste. if they can't do that then they shouldn't even be allowed to do what they do.

[@chatteyj]

Part of the problem with the modern world there is too much consumerism causing so much end waste with no logistics in place to deal with it all. The reason being because everything is so cheap food is too cheap, foreign holidays are too cheap, everything is too cheap and or single use with a short lifespan. Chicken costs the same or less than twenty years ago and flights to europe are even cheaper. Cheap cheap cheap and who wins in the end from all the cheapness? Answers on a postcard.

[@I_am_a_human_not_a_commodity]

This is great journalism and very informative. Thank you!

[@davidfalconer8913]

A lot of poor quality plastic ( with labels / other contaminants , sand , dirt etc ... ) can be chipped , melted and extruded to form plastic " lumber " for park benches / fencing / walkways in wet areas .. some plastics do not melt / mix correctly producing a handy " wood grain " finish for no extra effort ... the physical size of the planks overcomes any weaknesses caused by contaminants

[@jungleno.]

Except that it costs more than producing lumber from trees which are a renewable resource And every part of the tree is used with literally no waste.

[@NanaWilson-px9ij]

People in my area prefer this material for decks.

[@UwOtt]

@@jungleno.yeah, and between a plastic bench and a wood bench most people would choose the latter. More expensive to make, cheaper to buy.

[@jebbo-c1l]

reduce, reuse, recycle in that order. The oil industry wants you to think plastic can be recycled so they can sell more. But the only thing that works is reducing our plastic consumption through bans and taxes

[@priyasunflower6347]

Best recycling practices, business ideas with respect to it should be shared across the world. Every country should have be member in it to safeguard the earth.

[@aWomanFreed]

I never recycle anymore. I’ve known it was a scam for years.

[@RoamMeYo]

Real journalism.

[@garysides636]

Brilliant investigative reporting.....unreal how this packaging travels the world and the government is happy to get rid of it from the UK .....am I surprised ....NO.

[@stephenmason5682]

Government? Don't you mean Tesco?

[@rockstarofredondo]

@@stephenmason5682 as if Tesco and government aren’t in bed together?

[@thepeopleplaceandnaturepod8344]

What a thought-provoking discussion about the environment! 👏💖

[@johngalt97]

Where I live we've been burning it in the power plant incinerator as fuel along with most of our garbage since 1975. The percentage of plastic has increased enough that the equipment has been redesigned for the higher energy value of the plastics.

[@rockstarofredondo]

I have been asking for years, why isn’t this done more widespread?

[@alvincash3230]

Two stories: Back in the late 1980's, the Ohio suburb I lived in mandated that we could no longer put yard waste into regular trash. We had to purchase expensive special bags. Shortly therafter, I happened to see the trash collection truck pick up the bags & trash and throw it all in together. Not long after, I saw a local community affairs show featuring an interview with some city bureaucrat who was questioned about recycling and admitted that indeed all the trash and recyclables wound up in the same place because they didn't have the capability of actually recycling. Then, in about 2019, the hospital I worked in had prominent recycling bins everywhere for metal cans and glass and plastic. At a network wide meeting the Maintenance Director was asked if it was true that all the recyclables were actually put into the same dumpters as regular trash. He said it was because the prices the hospital could get for recylables was too low to bother with. I have never bothered to recycle and never will. It is all b.s. Just like the fear mongering back in the early 1990's about running out of landfill space.

[@abeal49]

we do take our yard waste to a facility where we can see what is done with it: big machines grind it up into compost. The compost is piled up where the public can help themselves to it for use in their gardens We take our scrap iron (steel) to another facility where they pay us for it, not much but it covers the gas we used to drive it there They pull it off our trailer with a huge magnet.

[@MM-xc2bt]

I used to be a janitor for an office building. The recycled containers got emptied into the same dumpster as the trash

[@brianfong5711]

All big Box stores don't recycle. It costs them money. So it is trashed. Unless it is their own cardboard for product packaging. They get paid for that.

[@gravyjamable]

THANK YOU ! For exposing this. Numerous times, I've tried to look into what actually happens to the so-called recycling waste. There is not very much to be found online. Tending to hit a brick wall with how they actually process the stuff. Companies need to be charged/fined for using plastic. Then maybe they may sit up and have to do something environmental. When it actually costs them!

[@amandathurston2720]

Denmark 🇩🇰 we don’t use single use plastics, no plastic straws or bags, we plan to have no plastic in the stores by 2030 , there’s stores that already do this.

[@emilyarchibald1900]

I'm glad this report was done.

[@imacuser101]

We should just burn it for energy as close to the source as possible. We will figure out bio alternatives but I’d much rather burn it then illegally dump it or just put it in a landfill. I’d honestly support burning all trash for energy because at least when we burn it we get the precious metals back.

[@ph11p3540]

Canada is not best known for being a leader in recycling plastics but one company in Canada has made half their product packaging recyclable since the 1960s. The company is a chip company called Old Dutch and they package half their chips in clear plastic bags and then packaged in light weight cardboard boxes. This keeps the chips from getting crushed in transit as well as shielding the chips from light that may trigger a perishing reaction in the chips. Sadly, they do not do this for all of their chips and I wish other snack companies would do this. Clear bags for inner packaging and card stock for the outside. Both materials on their own are completely recyclable and resalable on the open market.

[@hardevlaungia6313]

Amazing insight on this important issue 💯

[@jgurka2105]

Clever experiment, very interesting results.

[@RS-uh7rz]

Thanks for the excellent documentary.

[@clmn6712]

My city sent a letter out early last year that the landfill charged about $11 per ton and the recycling place was up to $85 per ton so they were taking everything to the landfill, and the same truck still picks up both the garbage bin and recycling bin

[@fat_pigeon]

At least they were honest.

[@matthoare6565]

I don't believe that. It was probably the other way around.

[@clmn6712]

@@matthoare6565 No, recycling bin is picked up by the garbage truck at the same time since, still sending everything to the landfill

[@HotelPapa100]

The cement industry has always been a large consumer of carbon-rich combustible waste. Furniture, tyres, you name it. The waste actually goes in the tubular roasting kiln along with the cement. Part of the carbon goes in the cement, so does the ash, combustion gases go through the chimney. The cement is not choosy about what material goes in there. It's only logical that they turn to waste plastic today. At the high temperatures in these processes the complex compounds are broken down to their chemical basics. I think even halogens like chlorine and fluorine, which are present in some plastics, can be partly neutralized by the basic environment of the cement. Not really sure about that, though.

[@Deontjie]

But that does not sounds green enough for woke idiots.

[@jungleno.]

What about the chemicals that go up the smokestack?

[@Deontjie]

@@jungleno. You install scrubbers that act like filters.

[@jansveen]

more than 600000 have watched this film, only 12000 likes. The huge masses don't like films like this, because it shakes the lies they live on

[@jbhann]

Here in the States, we used to only have paper bags at grocery stores, but then the environmentalists protested back in the early ‘80’s that paper bag use were killing all the trees. And then plastic bags started becoming a thing. One area where AI robots can have a significant positive impact, is in the trash/recycling sorting. There was a video covering AI robotic trash recycling where they were able to accurately sort trash 20x faster than a human. With all this plastic, why not use it on products which don’t require plastics of higher standards? Examples: molded action figures, vehicle floor mats, work station floor mats, vehicle mug flaps, trash bins, and etc.

[@yvrelna]

Children put everything in their mouth. You don't want action figures targeted towards children to be contaminated with toxins from low grade recycled plastic.

[@rockstarofredondo]

What about just fewer containers made from plastic in the first place? Bottled water for example, can be put into miIk carton-style containers, which is mostly a paper product that goes to the landfill and biodegrades much faster than plastics.

[@jbhann]

@@rockstarofredondo …I absolutely agree with you on putting products into paper carton-style containers. It just makes sense, and it used to be that way a long time ago, but suddenly there was a flip and plastic became container material of choice. In regard to the whole bottled water industry, I don’t even remember that industry existing 30-40 years ago. Never purchased bottled water back then, but now it’s just insane. Straws used to also be made out of paper a long time ago, and the disposable party cups were those Dixie paper cups, and not the plastic red ones. And the packaging inside boxes with all that styrofoam…why not use molded cardboard to prevent product damage inside the packages?

[@jbhann]

This is in response to @yvrelna. KZbin is censoring your comment from showing up in the comment section, and I can only see a fraction of what you wrote from inside the notification area. But copied what you had wrote and pasted it here. _"Children put everything in their mouth. You don't want action figures targeted towards children to be contaminated with toxins from low grade re..."_ You’re right as I never thought about kids putting plastic objects in their mouths. But there shouldn’t be a problem if they reused these discarded plastics to make new products out of in larger size, such as the molding of a TV and other larger products where kids chewing on them wouldn’t be an issue.

[@jungleno.]

Several studies have shown that paper bags have less of a negative impact on the environment than plastic bags.

[@JevonWright]

Fantastic investigative journalism, keep up the great work!

[@ManyfiresWoman]

I thought that some states in the U.S. were considering legislation to return all recyclables to the companies that used them for their products. I do my best to elminate plastic in my home. No plastic bottles at all! Purchase liquids that are in coated paper or aluminum cans. No plastic wrap. I call companies that sell frozen TV dinners in plastic containers and ask them to use cardboard containers. No plastic straws only stainless steel straws. No plastic silverware. Never thought about bread bags. I do the best I can.

[@pdsnpsnldlqnop3330]

Get a breadmaking machine. Flour comes in paper bags.

[@ManyfiresWoman]

@@pdsnpsnldlqnop3330 -🤮

[@yvrelna]

I don't think it'll be reasonable to return them to the companies that manufacture the items. That'll require even more sophisticated sorting pipeline than we currently do. If we have to sort the same bottle design and material, but used by different brands, to be directed to different companies, that'll make for an even less efficient recycling system as the sorting machine would've needed to use optical technology to identify brand labels in addition to sensing the materials. I think it's the packaging companies should've been the one that's responsible for cleanup instead. Most companies don't manufacture their own packaging, instead they buy filling machines and the empty containers from companies that build packaging technologies. If packaging companies are responsible for cleaning up their own packages, they'd be encouraged to design packages that can be efficiently recyclable as the less efficient packaging would become more expensive to sell, and they'd be encouraged to innovate on recycling technologies as well to reduce the cost. Now that the cost of packaging materials includes the cost of their cleanup, companies that manufacture goods would be encouraged to switch to more environmentally friendly packaging technology because it'll also be the cheapest packaging.

[@coloradostrong8285]

Next step is to rip your plastic water pipes out, your siding, your faucet washers, and your electronic devices.

[@chqshaitan1]

excellent video., shows the lengths that companies (can) go to regarding their waste plastic products

[@MellowWind]

I know where it goes. It breaks down and ends up in everyone's bodies, including animals'. Burns really well? I bet those who want to breathe clean air and/or drink clean water would beg to differ. When we talk about ecological issues we have to address the entire processes. If they're still causing harm at some point in the process they shouldn't be considered "green".

[@fpod8498]

Great reporting. You are correct about Tesco only doing what is cost efficient. If they wanted to change things for the better they would 1. Start their own sorting facility (building, machines, transportation, and employees) 2. start their own recycle processing facility (building, machines, transportation, and employees) 3. expand their drop off waste program (not just at Tesco store) 4. convince manufacturers to only use package materials Tesco approved (or product will not be in stores) 5. Use influence to change government policies (Turkey in not the only corrupt money hungry government in the world) but unfortunately this will never happen because of money

[@nathanjarboe4927]

It is pretty sad that a company who promises their bags would be recycled, instead often times has them incinerated, turned into garbage bags(which I guess is some form of recycling, but we all know where they end up), or is simply dumped and discarded.

[@Slugbunny]

Extremely interesting piece! Love investigative journalism, actual information gathering and reporting.

[@E3ECO]

I'm left wondering what brand of tracker you used. It seems incredibly robust!

[@briaunys]

I need this answered too

[@eliotmansfield]

probably apple airtag

[@fuckbankers]

Hope it wasn't plastic.

[@bananamanchester4156]

Remember folks, there are 3 R's- Reduce, Re-use and Recycle! Recycling is the last one on the list because its supposed to be the last option!! Reducing your plastic usage is easier than you think. Let me share some resources, from least obscure to most obscure- Lush- for body care products like soap, shampoo and bath bombs Ocean Saver- for cleaning products Iron and Velvet- Cleaning products Smol- for laundry capsules, dishwasher tablets and fabric softener Splosh- washing up liquid, cleaning products and some personal care Anythingbutplastic- a lot of items, including but not limited to toothpaste tablets with fluoride If we all chip in a little, we can make a big difference!!!

[@johns9652]

During the "2 weeks to flatten the curve" that turned into closer to a year, I saw headlines about China refusing to accept trash from the US on cargo ships. Apparently it was common practice to ship "recycling" to China, where it mostly just went to landfills. I also watched a Canadian video about how a lot of their garbage ended up in Malaysia.

[@rockstarofredondo]

They pick through it and find the valuable stuff then dump the rest into rivers, where it eventually goes into the oceans.

[@r4microds]

When he started talking, i thought it was a modern text to speach model. What a great video!

[@makevet6531]

Amazing. This should have 5M views, not 50K.

[@charlierob4377]

Why it’s poor journalism, I could have told your this and more without the need to fly anywhere or try and cause a fire risk by putting battery waste into a MRF

[@alabamatechwriter6959]

Great Job, Bloomberg! Please show more.

[@techman2553]

I always thought it should be a requirement that any plastic recycling facility must either sort and isolate useful plastics for proper recycling, or shred everything else down to a standard size flake of maybe 5mm or smaller. From there the mixed plastic flakes can be sold or disposed of. Here's why: If the flakes are buried, they will decompose faster, if they are dumped in the ocean, they will break down faster, and if burned, they will burn more efficiently. But also - having massive quantities of mixed plastic flakes of a standard size becomes much more manageable for automated sorting and processing. It creates a market for standardized advanced shorting machine that are designed to process the flakes, using optical, chemical, or other techniques to further sort and extract useful plastics. The flakes are cheaper and easier to transport and handle by startups that can use them for any number of things, like turning them back into oil, or using them as filler for roadways or other products. Mountains of misc plastic items of every size and shape is a pain to deal with. Barrels or boxes of plastic flakes are much easier to transport and distribute as a commodity.

[@spaceghost8995]

Fish get contaminated with plastics. Dumping them in the ocean is the LAST thing you should do.

[@cccrit]

@@spaceghost8995 yeah 5mm flakes… j like fish food in a pet store

[@magikdust2095]

The problem with breaking it down smaller is that it turns into micro plastics. Micro plastics already end up in pretty much all the fish we eat. Micro plastics have even been found in humans. Then there are animals that literally starve from eating small plastics because they think it's food, but they don't get any nutrients from it, including ocean animals.

[@davidklausmeyer8198]

Excellent methodology and reporting! Very revealing...

[@beakytwitch7905]

In India they make sandals from soda bottles, they are hard wearing, and are not cheap to buy... As a camper I have long known the use of polythene bottles for fire lighters, and that plastic burns cleaner than does wood. I have heard of many layers of washed polythene carrier bags being ovened to fuse the layers together, then used to make the soles of trainers. I have heard of mixed plastics being fused together and moulded in a hydraulic press to make long life fence posts (in fact they are so expensive at £33 each that people steal them!). China in 2017 refused to import waste plastic after a documentary came out called"Plastic China" where the dirty unwashed waste plastic stank... Sooo - - I wash and sort together all my waste plastic, so at least whatever comes from my house is inoffensive and easy to put to (re)use. The local authority here in Wales -the staff are supercilious. They order to wash waste plastic but never enforce, and they appear to be indifferent unless individual staff can make money out of waste. A lot of waste plastic moves to an industrial estate in the Midlands where it is burned to make electricity, and reportedly people living nearby have no idea that waste is being burned there - it is so clean. Then burning waste plastic can replace coal (in tourist steam engines ?)... Then in times of fuel shortage, we can make our own diesel by heating waste plastic in closed containers, which melts and then "cracks" it into shorter molecules, thus undoing polymerisation and turning the plastic into volatile liquids again. So what we so willingly bin, we could recycle ourselves as a useful source of energy and engineering materials.

[@JohnnyArtPavlou]

It sounds sort of mad… But for heaven sake’s 21st century and that plastic is full of energy. So I’m with you if this can work and be clean… Let’s look into it.

[@adolfoliverbusch4755]

This is the type of reporting that’s never given accolades. Instead the world feeds off manufactured news and reporting mean to steer a certain narrative. You earned my subscription 👍🏼

[@micheleboyle3547]

I hate the thought of plastic not being recycled safely and legally. We are a wasteful world.

[@jamesmedina2062]

We are 99.99999999999% blind to what happens around us. And they say ignorance is bliss right?

[@ZombieMax]

I'm invested in a small company developping a process to recycle PET using enzymes. This process is energy efficient and keeps the quality of the material. There's hope !

[@brianp6965]

12:27 "The reason Tesco is exporting plastic is because it's the most cost-efficient solution to their problem." Why is this the most cost-efficient solution? Could it be that "progressive" nations implement laws that make it impossibly expensive to dispose of this material? It's going to be burned or buried, but the politicians of 1st world nations have decided it won't be burned or buried "in my backyard". This stuff could be burned reasonably cleanly in developed countries if not for their hypocritical environmental laws that all but encourage companies to export our trash to places where it'll be burned in an open pit. We all breathe the same air; we should do this at home under cleaner, more controlled circumstances.

[@patricksloan439]

Wow what an interesting idea, to track recycling materials from a food store. Thank you!

[@GaiaCarney]

Great reporting! We’ve got to get manufacturers to use more PET plastic & eliminate use of ‘bad’ non-reusable, non-recyclable plastic.

[@IimmanSdexterXan]

very illuminating ty x

[@HunterShows]

Kind of wild that the most "economic" way to deal with it involved shipping it a thousand miles away until it was somewhere without oversight. Government needs to regulate this waste management. The cost of plastic is not factored into the purchase price.

[@jamesmedina2062]

All globalization is based on the gradient between rich and poor countries. The differential is so extreme that transportation costs are the lesser of the two costs.

[@HunterShows]

@@jamesmedina2062 And it's nice that the UK apparently makes the cost equal to local processing, but for some arcane reason they chose to ship it abroad.

[@TH3mrBROWN]

12:30 When I was a kid (I'm 27 now) I only remember being taught the 3 "R's": "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" seems like Tesco added a 4th R and is only following that one, "Remove". Yeah, remove it from their sight so they don't have to deal with it apparently.

[@business]

Do you recycle at home?

[@fallout560]

Most recycling doesn't actually go anywhere. It's usually too contaminated to be useful, and any actual recycling usually releases tons of pollutions. This is why China stopped import of recycled plastic

[@JJs_playground]

Yes I do, but i also know that less than 10% of the stuff I put in my home recycling bin is actually recycled.

[@jzvetter]

Yes, but only type 1, 2, and metals

[@kilikus822]

Re-use and re-purpose, yes. Recycle, no.

[@joeylegaspi3515]

It should be made illegal to export waste. The people generating the waste should be the ones to deal with it. If you put it in a box and ship it to a far away land, they will just continue their merry waste-generating way. Thinking their lifestyle has no negative impact to the environment.

[@ttopero]

Can you do a follow up on the environmental consequences of each of these ways of disposing the plastics without a recycling endpoint? I’m particularly interested in the burning aspect as it contributes directly to the local pollution & ends the cycle. Better than burying still?

[@jakubc6230]

It depends on how it is burned, there are various filtration methods, the gasses could also be processed

[@jakubc6230]

​@ThoughtCrime but it also reduces the impact of extracting whatever fuel was used previously

[@frankiefurbag9030]

The town I live in stopped its recycling program, they would no longer participate in the farce.

[@hoangvietho]

We should just face the fact that plastic recycling doesn't work at scale and turn to burning waste for energy more broadly, if we don't burn the waste we're gonna burn oil/gas/coal anyway

[@kneelesh48]

We're switching to nuclear/solar/wind etc

[@hoangvietho]

@@kneelesh48 i think wind and solar are viewed as better than they really are (not saying they shouldn't be invested in), nuclear is not getting the respect it deserves and trash burning is almost never a subject when it is so much better than landfills (not co2 wise bit wastewise in general)

[@charlierob4377]

@@kneelesh48 Uk has 55 EFW….?

[@mikh9202]

Thats awful! Here in Australia we have a great system where we sent it to Malaysia or Thailand, and they dump it in the ocean.

[@outtathyme5679]

The American reaction to existing inflation tells you all you need to know about any solution. There is no solution

[@Baz.007]

Thanks for the fantastic journalism