The recycling myth: What actually happens to our plastic

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Recycling is the way to save us from plastic pollution. But not even recycling champion Germany has got it right. Our reporter Kai Steinecke follows the plastic stream into the heart of the German recycling industry to find out what’s wrong with it.
We're destroying our environment at an alarming rate. But it doesn't need to be this way. Our new channel Planet A explores the shift towards an eco-friendly world - and challenges our ideas about what dealing with climate change means. We look at the big and the small: What we can do and how the system needs to change. Every Friday we'll take a truly global look at how to get us out of this mess.
#PlanetA #PlasticWaste #PlasticPollution
Report: Kai Steinecke (IG: / supersteinii )
Camera & video editor: Nils Reinecke & Kai Steinecke
Supervising Editor: Malte Rohwer-Kahlmann & Joanna Gottschalk

Опубликовано:

19 май 2024

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Комментарии : 3,3 тыс.

@jacobreimer5002 2 года назад

“Reduce” and “reuse” are so overlooked and are far more important and effective than recycling

@GM-vt3tu 2 года назад

I have thought that myself many times. There is a reason it is in that order, Reduce > Reuse > Recycle, because that is the order of operations for efficiency.

@gabbermaikel 2 года назад

im not an eco guy at all, but i really think that most eco people around here are plain retards. They talk trash to me for eating meat, but they do buy apples packaged in plastic boxes "because its easier". Such a shit excuse, yes its easier to grab in the store, but it adds a lot of hard to recycle trash. Just buy the apples from the crate and put them in a paper bag or in a reused bag, its easy. And there is lots of stuff you could just buy without another layer of packaging around it, so why do people ALLWAYS go for the ones with an unneeded layer of plastic?

@clovermark39 2 года назад

Yes best not to use plastic in the first place. Go back to how we used to do it, smaller local shops and using paper and glass.

@mjolnirswrath23 2 года назад

It's killing us and making us infertile, even transgenderism is CAUSED by exposure to gender bending Petrochemical plastic containers... In our food and water

@englishkenny958 2 года назад

reduce/reuse is the #1 lie coming from the industry. watch this and rethink everything ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--dk3NOEgX7o.html

@ryanvannice7878 2 года назад

Recycling plastic seems to be a good way to make yourself feel better without accomplishing much.

@notme2day 2 года назад

It was all just a marketing ploy put out by big oil to keep you consuming instead of thinking.. I mean .. they have to make up for us using less fuel somehow right!?!

@STho205 2 года назад

This is a convienience and germophobe situation we have all had a hand in creating. Blaming Big X is really like blaming the drug dealer while you are buying cocaine. Plastic packaging just became the cheapest and most hygenic way to package by the late 80s. Innocent trees becoming paper waste was the boogeyman in 1988. Milk was originally aquired in markets by using your own metal pails that maybe you washed each time you went to Mrs O'lerys milk barn. Then dairies started putting it in glass bottles with paper caps, delivered daily. Then people got scared of the repeatedly washed bottles, and paper milk cartons packed so well on the truck or at the grocers. Lighter weight flats too. Then wax paper got expensive, but the air blown polyethylene bottle was cheaper. Now most milk is in single use plastic. It wasn't an oil company conspiracy, but a packaging company coming up with a cheaper and cleaner package. Soda the same way Single serve yogurt same way Then there are the big box, unsupervised stores with imported merchandise. Every little doo dad is blisterpacked and hanging on a rack. 50 years ago they were loose in bins. I even remember loose penny balloons in the 5 and Dime. We'd try each one before buying. Recycling is just a societal and government way to keep the commerce flowing, and absolve ourselves of any thought of cause and effect. It is also an artificial thing to make citizens obsess over something that had to be regulated. Government loves to regulate.

@ryanvannice7878 2 года назад

@@STho205 that was one great reply. You are to be commended.

@cchavezjr7 2 года назад

@@STho205 Exactly. Saying everything is a big corporate conspiracy is yet another way to absolve blame from their own use. The whole green movement is a large marketing ploy to get people to spend even more money without doing anything that actually "saves" the planet.

@towaritch 2 года назад

@@ryanvannice7878 oh yes ? The guy works for the industry apparently

@FrancisFurtak 2 года назад

Wow! I'm 70 now and when I was a child we didn't have this problem. Everything came in a glass bottle which had a 10 cent refund. So if we were lucky enough to find one it meant I could buy an ice-cream which was 10 cents. Meats were wrapped in paper and we used paper bags to transport our food. Paper is very easy to recycle. Seems like we need to do is take 2 steps back and problem solved? Why is this so hard to see?

@just4funallday508 2 года назад

Recycling paper generates a lot of toxic waste; still better than plastic for the environment. I'd like to think the deposit program works for reusable items like bottles, probably not so much for plastics unless it facilitates sorting. I strongly agree that the problem begins with the delivery...Reduce!

@FrancisFurtak 2 года назад

@@just4funallday508 Right thanks!

@rmason5477 2 года назад

Yes indeed. l use paper bags, cardboard box, avoid putting items in plastic bag/s ie. potatoes, carrots, fruit etc

@marlazeneski3961 Год назад

Exactly. Everyone is in such a big hurry for everything now... I especially detest the products for Moms - little plastic things with one serving of hummus, 2 crackers, and a grape or whatever. Can't Mom just put this together for her child and stop using all the disposable plastic?

@dadoVRC Год назад

Yes, but there is another issue out there. The world population is a lot bigger now, and we are used to consume products from bigger distances than then, and this create a bigger problem also about packaging weight. We have to rethink about our consumer culture.

@chillyburger1077 Год назад

I am 60 years old and often think back to visiting my grandparents farm. There was literally no garbage . Food was picked, jarred in sealers, and containers where reused . Paper bags where reused waste food was rare and feed to the chickens and pigs . It seemed like most things where reused . They worked quite hard physically so they lived into there 90s . No need for a gym pass . As I write this I am lying in bed while I stuff my face. We have advanced so much 😅

@stephanledford9792 2 года назад

Sometimes I think that the entire recycling thing is just designed to make us feel better (or less guilty) about the amount of trash we make. I worked at an office years ago where there were recycling bins set up in the break room, one for aluminum, one for paper / cardboard and one for plastics. I worked a lot of overtime those days and was there when the cleaning people came by with a large rolling bin where they dumped all the trash from trash cans AND all the recycling bins - it all went together into the trash. We of course never said anything to the employee committee who was very proud of their efforts to "save the planet" and I mention it here because while I faithfully recycle my waste every week, I have to wonder whether a variation of the same thing that happened at my office is not happening with my recycled stuff.

@user-ce1cu5my4j 2 года назад

You're spot on. Most of these eco activities are nothing but shugarcoating on bitter fact that the existence of human civilisation itself is harmful to the environment and can only be solved by total elimination of it. They praise electric car, wind generators and shit - but they aren't coming from thin air - they all manufactured, and manufacture process of anything is harmful to the environment in one way or another. Starting from disruption of ecosystems when a factory is being build up to manufacture waste. Even a small wooden hut build with zero plastic causes disruption of local ecosystem. No matter how "green" human activities are - they all are harmful

@DearProfessorRF 2 года назад

That is exactly what it is, but it must be blamed on the plastic-producing corporations and not the activists who have less money and lobbying power. At the end, environmental groups had to agree with the less harmful alternatives which still protected corps’ bottom line at the expense of the environment and ourselves.

@pheonyxior_5082 2 года назад

You can wonder all you want, the answer to your question lies in reality

@ruukinen 2 года назад

@@user-ce1cu5my4j If you are gonna go all the way to building a hut is harmful to the local ecosystem, then literally every creature on the planet has the same affect on the local ecosystem. Not just animals either, since plants by growing naturally shade the undergrowth and block winds. If everything is "harmful" nothing is.

@HotSkorpion 2 года назад

it is, most plastic ends on the same place as everything else. Also, even if you do separate, if the plastic is the least bit contaminated by anything foreign, like for example, food, it becomes unrecyclable any way and is tossed aside at the plant. The responsibility need to be put at the corporations level that overuse plastic in the packaging, rather than the consumer.

@219garry 2 года назад

I own a dumpster rental business and one of the transfer stations we use is also a recycling transfer facility. I talk to the workers from time to time. Trust me, most of the plastic people think is getting recycled is actually going to our landfills. I think the world would be better off sticking to aluminum, glass and paper for most of our packaging. I mean seriously, we are buying plastic toys that come in plastic packages and it all winds up in a landfill.

@semperfi6801 2 года назад

But so many Americans are still drinking the kool-aid thinking they're making a difference. It's laughable to point that it's sad when someone is brainwashed so easily. It's scary.

@gryphonennis1002 2 года назад

i now buy as few things in plastic as possible. laundry and dish soap come in waxed card board for example. but still i do buy some things in plastic as i have no choice. :(

@spacecadet35 2 года назад

As it is easy to turn plastic into oil, if they store the plastic in a single location at the land fill, then that will one day be a valuable oil resource.

@SniperPIKACHU 2 года назад

@@spacecadet35 Yep, a few million years later.....assume humanity does not murder each other to extinction by that time.

@spacecadet35 2 года назад

@@SniperPIKACHU - We are probably only talking a a decade or two.

@thespalek1 2 года назад

I would hereby like to express my gratitude and respect to Martin and all the guys, who get up at 4 am to deal with our trash...I have lately started to perceive them as underappreciated heroes of this age.

@coltonbuhler7011 2 года назад

My mom taught me Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Those first 2 are very important. It's disgusting seeing my friends just throw stuff into the trash. Ziploc bags were a big thing for us growing up. You don't throw it out unless it's ripped in half, you take it home in your lunch kit and we wash it and use it the next day. A box of 50 bags can last years.

@derp812 Год назад

And then what?

@coltonbuhler7011 Год назад

@@derp812 will you stop throwing out plastic, and you save money. Just this month I bought some of those new thicker plastic bags, meant to be used for years. Just a 3 pack, 10 bucks, I'll see how long it lasts. I also got 2 packs of ziplock freezer containers, for my apartment when I moved out this year. I already had glass, but ziplock is cheaper than buying more glass. And better than just using cling wrap forever when your plastic lids break for your glass containers. I'm sure these ziplock freezer containers will also break before the glass does, but 4 of them for half the price of glass is a great price

@HobbyOrganist Год назад

Thats not the problem tho, the real root of the problem is too many PEOPLE each using and discarding, you can reduce and reuse until the cows come home and it doesnt make any difference if the population continues expanding exponentially as it has! The USA had little more in the year 1800 living in the entire country than live in JUST NY City alone to-day! It went from about 10 million in 1800 to 75 million by 1900, just 50 years later it DOUBLED to 150 million, about 55 years after that it DOUBLED again to 300 million around 2005, now it's over 333 million and everyone seems to blissfully overlook the math of 333 million people living on the same land area that had just 10 million in the year 1800; 33 times as many people, with the numbers DOUBLING twice since 1900 alone! You can reduce and reduce all you like but in 20 years when we hit 400 million, any savings is long gone and the problem even worse.

@railrunner01 10 месяцев назад

The water you use to wash the item is more expensive than the item itself. Not a good use of a resource that is dwindling quicker than plastic.

@ianjames1674 8 месяцев назад

@@railrunner01 water is dwindling due to stuff like industrialized agriculture, not really because someone is washing a ziplock bag

@219garry 2 года назад

Every high school in the world should take the students on a field trip or two to recycling facilities and landfills just to show them the reality of it all.

@lucadavi7628 2 года назад

Agreed

@LuigiCotocea 2 года назад

@@lucadavi7628 indeed!

@LuigiCotocea 2 года назад

@Joseph Wallace lmao

@rupertpoopert3345 2 года назад

Nah

@MatthewHumphrey 2 года назад

Absolutely, and maybe live in one of the villages affected for a month, to see the real harm behind our love of plastics

@PistonAvatarGuy 2 года назад

It's ridiculous how many people think that recycling is this magical process which completely renews materials and eliminates all problems with the consumption of resources.

@jirkazalabak1514 2 года назад

It´s no coincidence. It´w what we are led to believe by the "captains of the industry". Unless you do your own research, you will almost never encounter this stuff. If people actually knew how bad the problem is, it could interfere with corporate profits, which is something they will never allow.

@MaDrung 2 года назад

@@jirkazalabak1514 This is a very simplistic view. People are mentioning it all the time and complaining about it. The real issue is with people that consume these products. We are too lazy and selfish to do anything about it so we keep on buiying such items. It's "always someone elses fault" and "captains of the industry" fault mentality is what is the true culprit. Don't get me wrong as I am equaly guilty of this, but at least I have the decency and honesty not to blame the next guy I don't like about it, washing my hands of blame.

@JohnSoh 2 года назад

@@MaDrung nah, it's not rly laziness or whatever but economics. Individuals produce far less waste than companies. Exxon mobile is the biggest plastics polluter. And make up 90% of plastic waste.. big surprise?. Shifting blame to individuals and personal responsibility is something they're trying to do.

@davidjames666 2 года назад

the technical term is “Wish cycling”. recycling is a myth created by plastic manufacturers so as not to make the consumers feel guilty about consuming and disposing of single use plastics

@medicinemouse7647 2 года назад

@@JohnSoh it’s both. Much of the corporate waste is in packaging that comes down to us. We have little individual responsibility but huge collective responsibility. People showing interest in glass metal and paper/ actually compostable/recyclable packaging and raise hell when places try to switch to plastic is one way to help change perception. Also calling companies out on green washing while also reducing individual consumption can help change corporate behavior

@piratasdecordoba 2 года назад

1. Quote: "Infrared scanners sort the plastic by weight". No, they do not sort by weight, but by material - that´s the reason why NIR (Near InfraRed) sorters are used. They can "see" which kind of plastic is on the conveyor belt. 2. Black plastics cannot be sorted by NIR sorters, that´s right and the reason is that black plastic does not reflect enough light for the NIR sorters to "see" it, as mentioned in the video. However, the can be sorted by laser sorters and electrostatic sorters, which both are not really cheap. So, short and clear: Black plastic bottles or other packages are not recycling-friendly. 3. You can recycle PET at nearly 100%, even food-save. Technically this is not a problem anymore. This clip is not up to date in this topic. 4. Multilayer packages are really bad stuff, however there are processes now to separate the materials. Not easy, not cheap, but technically possible. Of course better package design is the key for better recycling. 5. Germany imports more waste than it exports. See Bundesumweltamt statistics before you blame Germany for exporting "waste". 6. How I know this? I´m in the waste treatment business for +20 years. A lot of things are *technically* possible, but someone has to pay for it...

@kuanysh.tynybek Год назад

Danke für Ihren Kommentar, gute Infos. Viele denken ziemlich pessimistisch über Recycling, ist aber nicht so. Ich studiere Recycling und Entsorgungsmanagement an der Hochschule. Und wo sind Sie tätig, wenn ich fragen darf?

@MetalMario137 2 года назад

Wow, recycling is almost a lie. I found that when I changed up my own diet for my own health to focus on whole foods, I had wayyy less trash and waste. I only had a bag-full every one or two weeks, which amazed me. I composted food scraps for the garden. I didn't change my diet because of trash, it was just a side-effect. So I was healthier while also being more efficient! This problem can only be stopped when the culture of people's lives changes to not generate so much waste in the first place. We cannot have a wasteful lifestyle and have no answer to the waste. Nature can break down paper and wood. Glass can be re-grinded back into sand. But we have no clue how to deal with mass excess plastic. And there's no money incentive for business to do so. We have to do it ourselves.

@pappy9473 2 года назад

Profiteering corporations are responsible for climate damage not individuals.

@ethang6735 2 года назад

Glass in infinitely recyclable. Its incredible. And it will never be seen as a solution.

@BiMiHi 2 года назад

Glass is grinded into glass-sand and then melted back into glass bottles, but yeah u r correct.

@treverwhoever6733 2 года назад

@@pappy9473 we're all responsible don't blame it on corporations

@pappy9473 2 года назад

@@treverwhoever6733 We all certainly have a responsibility to behave well. However, ordinary people are being made feel guilty while corporations are doing little or nothing to reduce emissiones and other environmental damage. And corporations are by far the most significant offenders, not the general public.

@r-type4945 2 года назад

Wall-E seems more of a documentary after seeing this.

@MariaTorres-hc5uq 2 года назад

You are totally right...

@ahotdj07 2 года назад

Oh I love that movie!

@imperiumoccidentis7351 2 года назад

Wall-e was always a documentary, sadly.

@JM-sm8ir 2 года назад

@@ahotdj07 One of my favorites. Whenever it's on I always miss and watch same parts. Weird.

@Zeewman 2 года назад

Just like 1984.

@hingginchu 2 года назад

Glad that they made this video. As someone who has worked in the recycling business. I would say the actual situation is more dire than what is being depicted. We need to not use plastic wherever alternatives are available even if it meant inconvenience.

@BestMods168 2 года назад

I love how you eat with wooden plates and utensils and how you carry your groceries with a reusable tote.

@winonalieux6728 2 года назад

The inconvenience is negligible compared to the cost of trying to restore the messed up places on earth.

@benstone8632 2 года назад

I think there is a misconception about alternative tho. In terms of carbon footprint, a glass coke bottle is so much worse than a plastic one

@zoravar.k7904 2 года назад

@@benstone8632 we can be more sustainable with glass by utilizing washing stations and electric smelters fuelled by renewable energy. Plastic doesn't get more eco friendly. 'Sustainable' plastics tend to either be too weak or require more additive packages to create. There was a time when glass bottles such as milk bottles were used hundreds of times.

@benstone8632 2 года назад

@@zoravar.k7904 I completely agree that the reuse of products instead of recycling is far more effective. However, plastic is such a diverse tool with loads of different ways to utilise it. (As well as being extremely cheap). How could you convince big business as well as the general public to change their perception on it?

@gustavnilsson14 Год назад

This is such a wholesome way to study a topic, to actually go on as an intern at the absolute ground level. Big ups!

@pavlandr 2 года назад

That's why I always say 'Reduce, reuse, recycle' should be exactly in this order. Recycling should be last resort.

@DWPlanetA 3 года назад

CLARIFICATION: The official number for Germany’s recycling rate is 38% for plastic that was thrown away by consumers. But of these 38% about 16% are exported to other countries and recycled there. 7% are burned. The 16% that we referred to as being “actually recycled” in the last section, is the plastic that is turned into recyclate and used for the production of new plastic products in Germany.

@brudo5056 2 года назад

This 7% burning… is it done with energy conversion to the recycling process or the (energy) grid in general ?

@brudo5056 2 года назад

What about the possibility of pyrolysis instead of full burning ? Probably it can reduce the amount of toxines by captation in sub processes more easy then in the case of burning where they ‘try’ to reduce at the end-of-pipe location…

@aghost5281 2 года назад

The dude literally said only 16% of his plastic got recycled. The rest got burned. My guess is that 60% of Germans plastic is burned, which is still a lot less than other states.

@aghost5281 2 года назад

And countries, sorry I didn’t sleep

@floobertuber 2 года назад

@@brudo5056 Yeah, no kidding. Whatever happened to the promise of Thermal Depolymerization (TDP)? I guess it's just not 'economically viable' enough at this point.

@6Twisted 2 года назад

The companies wrapping everything in multiple types of plastics and half empty bags are the problem.

@randomserbianguy5677 2 года назад

For real

@michaelmcgee2026 2 года назад

We are ALL the problem

@imperiumoccidentis7351 2 года назад

@@michaelmcgee2026 Agreed but companies are especially the problem. Consumers in the earlier 20th century had no problem using glass/paper/metal for 99% of products, either as packaging or as part of the product. Recycling was easier, and even the stuff that wasn't recycled could easily break back down into the earth. Now, you have to go through 15 layers of plastic or rubber packaging, just to get to your...plastic product...made in china...which then breaks after a month...and is irreparable...all going into landfill. Hilariously its also probably where a good chunk of the worlds oil is going to, completely shitty, one-time-use products nobody really wants. We might run out of oil quicker entirely because we used it all for wrapping and bags.

@davidjames666 2 года назад

that would by far be the most preferred method in Reduce, Reuse, and finally, the last resort - Recycle

@stephandiehl3893 2 года назад

No the problem is consumers continuing to support companies that use plastics its simple quit buying products that are in plastics let companies know why ultimately the consumer drives the market

@FatBoyRide 2 года назад

I currently live in Belarus - the culture of sorting plastic and other types of waste is either absent or minimal. On the weekends, we "have fun" with the fact that together with the family we go to the forest and collect plastic, glass and tin cans there. I am proud that I taught my four-year-old son to love nature and take care of it, but the government should do much more - today even containers for the separate collection of resources are far from being everywhere, and we are not talking about recycling in principle ...

@rhamlet5290 11 месяцев назад

90% of plastic put in the recycle bin isn't recycled anyway. It isn't the solution. The solution is to reduce all this plastic crap.

@susancordeiro5005 Год назад

This video was very enlightening. IMO, companies give us what they think we want therefore one way to stop them from plastic overuse is to stop buying their products (eg. individually wrapped processed cheese slices that are again wrapped in plastic) . We also need to change our "convenience" mindset into mindfulness (nonchalance has gotten us into lots of trouble- what's one more bag into the garbage?). I also agree that repurpose is key and yes, it needs to be coupled with a reduction.

@McBuggs. 9 месяцев назад

Agreed - It all starts from companies that use mixed plastics for packaging, they must change their system. Slowly they're doing so, but will take great worldly efforts. Before 1980, there wasn't a whole lot of plastic packaging used. Many people kept glass and whatnot to reuse because it was sensible. I noticed a lot of paper and cardboard in the landfills, but that began to change when it was realized it was a problem. We need to go back to old-school paper wrapped products, cardboard or glass containers which is easily recyclable matter. There's too much plastic of different applications/forms (with colourants) that are difficult to recycle. Only usable one time and ended up in landfills or incinerated as mentioned in the video. Shipping discarded plastic around in containers by boat is a waste of fuel/energy causing unnecessary air pollution. A plastics issue currently being studied to resolve.

@antoniopalmero4063 2 года назад

We don’t need recycling , we need to stop the production of completely unnecessary packaging.

@Vicoparadiso 2 года назад

And goods.

@rogerpattube Год назад

Define unnecessary

@antoniopalmero4063 Год назад

@@rogerpattube redundant, superfluous, unneeded, not required,

@philomath67 Год назад

Exactly. Way too much pkging. I work at Amazon. The waste makes me cringe.

@samanthat7553 Год назад

I work at a hospital so there are definitely things that need to be sterile but we waste so so so much plastic

@beekeeper7535 2 года назад

I'd like to see glass bottles come back. If glass ends up in waterways it doesn't harm anything

@jirkazalabak1514 2 года назад

Not only that, but glass can be recycled for the most part. The shift to plastic happened only for profit and convenience, that´s it.

@BecauseBinge 2 года назад

Or paper cans, there are some beverages here in UK sold in paper cans and they function perfectly!

@ahotdj07 2 года назад

Me too but unfortunately, it is so much cheaper and cost effective to make plastic than glass.

@bobshanery5152 2 года назад

@@ahotdj07 Yes and plastic was actually sold as "environmentally friendly" because you "saved trees". Many people seem to have forgotten this. Plastic bags came around the 60s if I recall right and it became really popular around the whole "hippie" time.

@DavidCruickshank 2 года назад

Unfortunately it's not that simple, Glass creates a lot of pollution when made, and since it's so much heavier than plastic it cause pollution from transportation to skyrocket, especially since you can't deliver as much due to increased packaging etc and the need to replace breakages.

@theEumenides 2 года назад

People definitely don't recycle properly, but it may have been helpful to be clear (especially for people who don't live in Germany) that the "gelbe Tonne" isn't just for plastic; it's for packaging. So we also put aluminum foil, tin cans, milk/juice cartons in there as well.

@Orcawhale1 Год назад

Even if they did, it wouldn't change anything. Because you simply can't recycle everything, infact in most cases, you'd still end up with a lesser product.

@MerryMoss Год назад

I'm happy to see the example of the aluminium foil being removed from the plastic tub making it sooo much easier to recycle. Therefore I always try to separate the plastic packaging as best I can :) As a kid I always carried a reusable plastic tub for my foods and a reusable plastic mug/bottle thing for drinks - at some point I had stopped doing this, but fortunately a few years ago my English teacher added environmental topics in our projects. This made me realise that I was wasting plastic every single day by carrying one or two of those thin plastic bags to carry my bread. I felt disgusted with my new ways and changed them immediately. Now I only use the reusable options again and also got a Dopper water bottle & one that holds tea as well 😊 Spreading awareness is incredibly important 💚

@Pr3ct 2 года назад

I knew plastic recycling in USA was BS when the “recyclers” charge extra to pick up the product. When I recycle metal the recycler pays me.

@simmerke1111 2 года назад

Exactly. The Netherlands actually has (or had) a system like this for plastic bottles. Something that is easy to recycle, if separated. Depending on how you look at it, they'd give you x cents when you return them to the store. It's an actual monetary incentive for people to recycle things that are incredibly easy to properly recycle. Even if it's added to the initial price of purchase, it still works wonders.

@manoahvanderwolf3259 2 года назад

@@simmerke1111 no, it fools you to fall into it's trick, as you don't actually realize that you PAY EXTRA for waste companies to recycle the EASIEST PLASTIC to recycle: PET. You don't pay extra for the plastics of your pasta's, cheese, and yogurt cans. you pay extra for the plastic BOTTLES, and you feel happy getting a receipt that you feel gives you 'discount' at the cash register. You forgot you paid EXTRA beforehand, and you don't even realize that they are so smart that same machine where you put in the bottles REJECT bottles that are a bit dent or without the sticker. Why is that? Because they don't want anything but PERFECT PET-bottles that, again, are the EASIEST plastics to recycle. they even FORCE YOU to return them and not re-use them yourself @ home because the bottles are EXPIRABLE due to the oils they have delibaretely put in them, so that they start breaking down after a certain amount of time and this would contaminate that which the bottle would contain: this is why there is an expiry date on vacuum-packed WATER. You too got tricked by the big companies. It's not that you can do anything about it, but tricked nonetheless.

@simmerke1111 2 года назад

@@manoahvanderwolf3259 Yeah, it's horrible that they reuse the plastic instead of me using 1/1000 bottles for something or other. I'm fine with them being returned instead of being dumped next to the street. I also crush all my bottles before returning them, they're fine with it.

@oldcountryman2795 2 года назад

"Recycling" is a straight up racket. Almost nothing actually gets recycled.

@BlackJar72 2 года назад

Metal does, because it's easier to do and actually economically viable (which is why metal recyclers actually pay you for scrap). Plastic? Probably never, it's just an unsustainable material.

@chrismil651 2 года назад

Metal and glass can be recycled easy, similarly with paper. It's plastic that's the problem

@grimwaltzman 2 года назад

Asphalt

@collection6062 2 года назад

@@chrismil651 glass isn't that easy to recycle... it's easy if people put it into glass bins. But once it's mixed with other stuff (plastic haha), it fragments into nasty pieces. It's just the ability to get people to sort the glass properly thats the problem.

@ahotdj07 2 года назад

It is sad too. Makes you wonder if it is truly worth it - at least when it comes to plastics.

@jamesraymond1158 2 года назад

Excellent. When I was little, we didn't have single-use containers. Glass bottles went back to the milk or soda company, washed and used again. We need to do that again. Modern technology can make that economical again.

@gavanwhatever8196 2 года назад

The most effective approach is to reduce consumption. I actively avoid products with unnecessary or excessive packaging. There's a health advantage to that too as I end up purchasing a lot less processed food.

@alvindueck8227 2 года назад

Seems like most of us have forgotten that there are THREE (3) REs, the other two (2) are REduce and REuse. Something most of us have forgotten about.

@udaui 2 года назад

Reducing is also so important. I will start that with myself and try and not buy, use plastic unless really needed.

@JohnSoh 2 года назад

Those things come before recycle too

@j.frankparnell6195 2 года назад

Recycle shouldn't even be part of the equation. It should be Refuse Reduce and Reuse.

@freeenergynow 2 года назад

Number four is REfuse!

@leesonneville1817 2 года назад

How am I going to reuse any of my plastic waste, realistically?

@marcushull12 2 года назад

Remember the "scoop and weigh" shops ? where they just had big bins of dry food , rice , flour , cereal , sugar , wash powder etc etc .. And you just fill a bag with how much you wanted or could even fill your own container .

@DoctorCVC 2 года назад

That sounds like something we could do with returning to

@sicilianotoronto 2 года назад

There are shops in Canada called The Bulk Barn where you can still do that.

@icanseeyou9820 2 года назад

there are still refill shops, i have two locally where i bring my own containers and get stuff like spices, dried beans, grains and pulses. it's a great system and ends up being cheaper too. just needs to be more conveniently and widely available

@glenncordova4027 Год назад

There are stores like that all over the US. The less processing a food product goes through, the less packaging it seems to need.

@zakosist Год назад

Cant remember to have seen such a shop in real life, but not sure. There should be more of that

@Mythical4227 2 года назад

13:11 I remember buying those exact pots online during a clearance sale and I’m still reusing them. It’s a great idea to make planters out of recycled plastic! Especially the type that you can keep on using after your seedling is ready for transplanting.

@jayseabie215 Год назад

It's the plastics industry itself which is to blame here, not the consumer. As a shopper you don't really have that much control over what your items are wrapped in.

@MrPSaun 2 года назад

My capstone project in college was analyzing the feasibility of adding a secondary fuel source to a trash burning boiler. My research led me down a cynical rabbit hole about how much "recycled" plastic, among other things, is simply burned in boilers.

@pappy9473 2 года назад

Profiteering corporations are responsible for climate damage not individuals.

@MrPSaun 2 года назад

@@pappy9473 Who said they weren't?

@pappy9473 2 года назад

@@MrPSaun It's the general view that ordinary people can make the difference necessary to reverse the advance towards climate disaster. They can contribute to the effort but above all else massive international conglomerates must take responsibility and appropriate action.

@danspencer9499 Год назад

@@pappy9473 Well, that's not going to happen...

@pappy9473 Год назад

@@danspencer9499 probably not. Enjoy life as best you can and be good.

@bloodynorahvan2203 2 года назад

Thank you for creating this video. The sooner we get into reverse logistics from the retailer back to the manufacturer the better. I want to be able to take my bottle back and have it sent directly to the original supplier. I don’t want to own the vessel, I’m just ‘renting’ it until I have the drink etc

@sbai4319 11 месяцев назад

In Australia, plastics have a recycling symbol with a number that relates to the kind of plastic it is. Out of five different codes, only two are actually recyclable. And yes we offshore our waste.

@who_cares848 2 года назад

Thank you for making this video. I've been telling people that recycling is a scam for years and they always look at me like I'm insane.

@jollyjokress3852 Год назад

it is not completely a scam. 38% recycled material is better than nothing. I wonder why those companies just cannot use one type of plastic. But the best thing is prevention by the consumer anyway.

@ghrohrs2020 Год назад

You're 16% wrong, by the evidence of this particular recycling system. You're 84% right, but what good is it if you're only 84% right that there's a bullet in the chamber when you pull the trigger against your skull?

@TorBoy9 2 года назад

Here in Canada we are just as bad or worse. Plastic sorting is very common, but this is a lie in reality. We are poisoning ourselves with plastics.

@ahotdj07 2 года назад

I would have to say United States of America is just as bad.

@fallenshallrise 2 года назад

He touched on it a little in the video. Most of Canadian plastic is sorted, bailed and shipped somewhere to be stored in a field. If oil prices ever get so high that recycled plastic becomes cheaper for manufacturers than "virgin" plastic then we will sell it off. Until then it's either stored or burned.

@cnmpscy34 2 года назад

so that's why canada is shipping waste in the Philippines illegally because canada can't control their own waste.

@vmorr1 2 года назад

After my last visit to a local electronic recycling facility I realized that for one, they're very picky/particular about what they take and two, a lot of this depends on how conscientious those who are responsible for taking and sorting the stuff are.

@trevorbesse8159 Год назад

I'm from Louisiana, US and work for Osprey Initiative. We are working with municipalities and government agencies here along the gulf coast to assist in their recycling efforts. Much needed problem to be solved here in the States. Great video.

@LifeScapeCustomDesigns2023 2 года назад

What an eye opener. But it goes to show you that there are people out there solving problems. Very educational. 👍

@sizanogreen9900 2 года назад

companies have successfully shifted the respnsibility onto consumers, same with co2 emmissions. If the market doesn't demand change, which I doubt it will, only regulation on a global scale can tackle these problems...

@rifna5482 2 года назад

Agree, how can the consumers changed if the companies still used it to everyday products. They obly care about profits and our money

@proctain 2 года назад

Regulation made this problem. See between plastic bags and paper, they are equal in pollution. They just pollute differently. So when uninformed people just like you demanded everything shift from paper you MADE the plastic industry. People found anything not packaged in plastic "dirty" or "flimsy". So regulation was forced through to require manufacturers to use plastic. From there cheaper ways to make and utilize plastic came from this. Funny enough as long as it does not involve food or a long wear time most plastic is made from a acid extracted from corn. It is non polluting and completely biodegradable over the course of 5 years and sunlight exposure. Its call PLA and its used even in 3d printers as the cheapest plastic for it. But NIMBYed out of western countries the actual techs for recycling then also asked your politicians to bow to China. So China and north Africa made a business of buying recycling to get the hard to make plastics and then throw the rest away. Regulation made it possible if not mandatory. Parts of the world are dying from the unrecyclable and toxic waste that comes from windmills and solar panels. Both are TERRIBLE technologies in no way suitable for use. The over all life of a SINGLE wind power turbine is 10 years. In that time it goes through 2 sets of blade that cannot be recycled or processed and are filled with toxic materials. It is woven fiberglass and a epoxy so toxic that it has to be in a filtered fum extraction building during curing or it will kill people. Those blades then erode away filling every place down wind of them with these. The generators themselves are retired with only the copper windings ever recovers and the housing thrown in a dump. Even the cobalt (a carcinogen) of the magnets is just left to rot. Solar panels are even worse. Every year of use they loose 20% of their current output. They die outright in 15 years. And anything including high winds and hard rains can cause micro fractures which causes them to leak cadmium into the ground water. That is normally a radioactive by-product of nuclear reactors and handled as a hazardous material. But in solar panels do to the regulations voted in it is allowed world wide without proper labeling and then when the solar panel fails it is just chucked in a land fill. WHY? Because the process of making them precludes them being recycled. Not only did people who know nothing about anything make this mess, they are actively making is worse because they listen to 15 min videos that don't tell the whole truth or follow the lies of celebrities whose only agenda is to gain fame by pretending to care about issue made popular by scam artists. To actually care about the world people NEED to walk away from any of the "green" orgs and look at real solutions. You want clean power or near zero carbon emission power? Natural gas burns and becomes steam with almost zero co2. Nuclear is cleaner than ever and if allowed to innovate there would be no reactors used for enrichment for weapons. Or fuel wood. The wood being grown neutralizes the co2 released by burning it. Let paper packaging back into the world just require actual recycling of it and stop having the paper plasticized. People made it a hundred years rather easily and healthily with waxed paper. But if you truly want change, don't try to vote for it because the people writing the laws only thing of how it will profit them. Stop buying single use products. Stop buying all the things that are not actually recycled. Instead of trying to force people to conform to what you idealize, being a good example of how it is better and be the change you want to see. Demanding regulation is the lazy way out and only makes things worse.

@margyb7469 2 года назад

Exactly, everything is blamed on the consumers but not on the companies that produce it and push their chemical products through media, same as pollution that caused by companies which cares more for profits.

@adsfadsfasdasdfasf2439 2 года назад

@@proctain Nice ASSumptions nerd but no one here was saying that paper packaging was bad, or that nuclear was bad, or that natural gas was bad, or that solar and wind are good. Maybe you should stop sodomizing your strawman and learn to read and realize none of those were mentioned.

@criptin4075 2 года назад

@@proctain Plastic is for sure a worse polluter in the long run.

@clonie9963 2 года назад

Blame the government and greed. In Scotland we used to use glass returnable bottles up to 30p to return the bottle for resuse. Supermarkets replaced butcher, grocer, baker, fishmonger who served fresh produce that could be wrapped in waxed paper.

@robertyoung1777 2 года назад

Great video. Thanks for actually doing what you are talking about. Makes the trash situation real and shows the value of manual labor.

@TiredMomma Год назад

This really opens more eyes to see not just how much plastic waste is being produce, just in that area, but worldwide. Many companies who collect plastics ask customers to wash out their items that are needed, like milk containers. But then that means we're using more water than a household needs, just to wash plastics! Another thing, if there could be less plastic shipped out, that's less cargo ships needed. Less cargo ships going out means less waste produced to make cargo ships. It's like the food chain in a way. Plastic waste in bin. Bin (materials used to make it, people driving a vehicle to work to make them) Garbage truck (fuel needed, materials needed to create truck) Recycling Center (materials needed to build it. People driving vehicles to construct it) Items within recycling center (Consists of not just the waste brought into the facility, but what the employees need to work there, like cleaning supplies, tools, etc) With all the types of learning materials we have kids learn in school, why is there not more companies wanting to use 30% or even 50% recycled materials to make school supplies. Getting items made from recycled plastics into peoples hands can create inspiration and motivation to the younger generations, and it's their future that is at risk the more years go by as the plastic waste issue keeps going. Many are finding ways to replace plastics, such as using a type of cardboard in place of plastic rings used for soda cans (I'm looking at you Coca-Cola and Pepsi to jump on board to STOP using plastic rings!!) But the people creating non plastic solutions are still just a few compared to the big companies who have plenty of money to start making changes to help our world be healthier, but their greed is getting in the way. A town near us had to move a recycling dumpster because they found out people from out of town are bringing in their plastics for recycling. It was found that most items could not be recycled, and not because of non plastic items were found, but because of certain rules the company wants people to follow, such as washing out certain plastic items, and keeping the plastic bottle caps on the bottles! So the dumpster was moved and fencing around with, along with a camera nearby to watch it. The dumpster is for certain city owned buildings in that area to use, like the court buildings. However they rarely put much in the dumpster. Which is fine if they Honestly, don't have much plastic waste, doubt it! But I wish there could be a public dumpster with a sign that clearly states the rules to follow pertaining what is allowed and not allowed into the dumpster! The out of town plastic items brought in, were from an area that can't get recycling services becauese, even tho they're the next area next to the town, they're "too far away". But get this, the same company that picks up recycling will drive through that area to pick up trash and recycling from the next town! They drive through not one area, but a second area to get to another town to pick up their recycling, but the area closest to the first town is "too far away for recycling services", yet they have to drive through it and another to go even more west, to get to the next town to pick up their recycling, and then gotta drive back through going eastbound, to get back to recycling center. The area they reject wanted recycling services. So someone secretly started bringing in recyclable plastics, and was following the rules the company wanted, more so than the plastics being dumped in by those who were actually allowed to use the dumpster. 😒😮‍💨 Also, Walmart and more shouldn't allow their plastic bags to be used freely. Start charging people if they want plastic bags. Take Aldi's for example. People bring in paper bags or other types of bags to REUSE. Also, we like the new paper bags with the handles. Sooo much easier to carry now!

@zakosist Год назад

"But then that means we're using more water than a household needs, just to wash plastics!" Water is endlessly renewable and does not harm nature, but work with it. Plastic is not (only limited renewable), causes permanent garbage and lots of damage and suffering directly to wildlife. And then turn into micro-plastic which could damage our health and be nearly impossible to avoid. So using water to wash and recycle plastic is totally worth it unless you live in a heavily drought struck area, then you may have more immediate worries.

@hmmhuh3263 2 года назад

a company that produce a product should be in charged on recycling them. They should charge the consumers the recycling cost up front. very simple regulation

@notme2day 2 года назад

I'm not sure where you're from but here in the US plastic was created by the BIG OIL company's. They also pay a LOT of money to our politicians to keep plastic in this vicious cycle. Big oil created the biggest marketing lies by making people think that recycling works so people continue to feel better about buying these disposable products that help fuel oil company's... since people want more fuel efficient cars which cuts into oil company profits.

@washinours 2 года назад

well as of 2019 RU-vid was consuming about 243.6 TWh (over 1% of global electricity production) , this is *insane* So I agree with you it's time to pay up, got your wallet ready?

@Ranstone 2 года назад

@@washinours Everyone loves to talk about regulation and tax until it comes time for them to pull out their wallet.

@droe2570 2 года назад

@@notme2day I love it when people blame a company but not the politicians. The politicians do not care about anything but lining their pockets with your tax dollars. Maybe stop electing immoral pieces of trash to office. Sounds like the problem is not "BIG OIL" but politicians, and the imbeciles who keep electing them. And if you actually bothered to study it, you would know that it was government regulations that created the massive use of plastic. Government regulations forced us to replace waxed paper with plastic, not "BIG OIL".

@tony16991 2 года назад

Govt. Regulation where the lobbying cronies are protected and the consumers and mom and pop stores are left to bear the losses of it. Genius! Especially when we see govt.s solving world problems so effectively

@VarunRanadeps 2 года назад

Reducing and reusing seems to be the most effective habit.

@benerval7 2 года назад

I lived in Germany for a total of 5 years. The last three, we (US military) did have a very robust recycle program. I was surprised when I saw the German way of handling much of it (incinerate or dump in landfill). Much of it was impossible to sort effectively (plastic), so it just had to be disposed of. Glass and cardboard was handled well though.

@pecelirovucago7149 Год назад

Thank you my friend, I am watching your video with my grandson! A great lesson indeed, we wish you progress in your beautiful channel.

@ioenglishworld224 2 года назад

A+ from an American English teacher living and running a small business in Tokyo. Your English is perfect and your delivery has style and charm. It’s obvious but should be stated anyway: we’re one species limited to one home that we’ve been treating like a trash heap since the start of the Industrial Revolution. Keep up the great work and you will affect some positive change👍

@DWPlanetA 2 года назад

Many thanks!

@AdmiralBison 2 года назад

I’ve managed to cut down my plastic use by a lot since going ‘Minimalism’ and been buying long life alternative milk which is made mostly out of cardboard. I buy water filters (yes it’s still plastic, but I go through way less with those than water bottles) and am looking at attachable water filters on taps for longer use.

@DragonQuest27 2 года назад

You buy milk made of cardboard?

@photosby3van Год назад

I’m assuming it’s a typo 😂 the milk alternative container is made from cardboard material.

@rafaelbilski9756 Год назад

Yet milk container is not recyclable, because is lined with plastic inside, which is practically impossible to separate from cardboard. Another lie in a massive pile of lies around recycling...

@moniquevandeplas5210 2 года назад

this was actually really fascinating to watch. I have no idea if the person who made it will see this but good on him for committing to a day of helping collect the plastic waste. No easy feat. Also I now want to buy a bunch of flower pots from that German company making it. I want to buy them wholesale. This is not because I want to increase plastic consumption. I go around picking up plastic trash from the ground, washing it, sorting it and recycling it...and feeling defeated. Long story to this but anyway...it's because I want to support companies that are doing their best not to inundate other countries with their plastics. Also, being in Vancouver Canada there is a huge love of gardening here. I am tempted to go back and work for Home Depot just to see I can get the company to buy a bulk amount of these pots.

@jean-jacqueslavigne3109 2 года назад

When we started cleaning up Singapore’s marinas and some ports with Jellyfishbot, a flotsam collection robot, I was very puzzled with the sheer number of plastic bottles with caps on we saw floating around. Why empty plastic bottles with caps on? As Singapore is surrounded by Malaysia, Indonesia, we know the bottles were floating from nearby countries but we couldn’t visualise people who could consciously litter while putting the cap back in after consumption. So we investigated further...it turned out that good-willing citizens in the European cities and streets who make the effort of disposing their plastic bottles with caps on (to make it easier) in proper recycling collection points were simply misled. Those bottles are simply collected, exported for “recycling” with zero processing (hence zero costs) -not even compressed- to countries far far away where the local “recycling companies” simply toss the whole thing to the sea. Voilà! Problem solved.

@ioncekilledamanwithmyshoe 3 года назад

This is SUCH a high quality video, wow.

@AdmiralBonetoPick 2 года назад

Well, sure, this channel is run by the German government's public broadcaster.

@thecrippledpancake9455 2 года назад

I like how they tell people they’re doing it wrong instead of accepting everything and throwing it away later making people believe they are doing it right.

@shadowsilverlight1651 2 года назад

what they need to do is fine people for putting in wrong bin. you can refuse to take all you want, but i bet no one removes the stuff and just leaves it there.

@martina5923 Год назад

I really enjoyed watching this recycling journey. Being that I am half German, I also enjoyed hearing the German language. Thank you for producing this very informative video of plastic recycling and where it all goes.

@craigleppan7164 Год назад

Great video dude. Learnt a lot. Its amazing there are no real regulations clamping down on the producers. We should ban plastics in food chain. WELL DONE: spreading good!

@sebastiangeschonke9756 2 года назад

Amazing report! I love how you show the processes and the people that actually do the work.

@davidwilkie9551 2 года назад

Admirable dedication to getting the best story.

@Lasertrac 2 года назад

I'd consider myself diligent at recycling. However in the back of my mind I've always wondered,"is this an exercise in futility"? I don't have the answer I'm comfortable with. I too wish we'd go back to the time when things were in glass but even then how do they recycle glass with the labels attached? Perhaps in a future video you can address this. Great video. USA here (but of strong German heritage).

@beebee4334 11 месяцев назад

One easy thing I do: Buy items in the largest size possible, for items I use often. This Reduces waste and ends up being cheaper in the long run. Laundry and dish detergent, I get the biggest size then refill a small container. Coffee I also buy the largest size offered. In my city, our recycling system is a racket. Reducing is the first step.

@ravilbukhareev 2 года назад

In USSR, all luquids sold in glas bottles. There was several types: For alcogol, wine, milk products, beer and soda water. All bottles people were able to return and receive cash back after. All other products has been packed in carton or paper package. Except was canned goods with metal package. So all packages were able to recycle or fired up (if you not in town) , and for daily garbage box we had only food leftovers. I am really not understand, were is the problem now? It's only political will needed to fix problem.

@Eisencyanblau 2 года назад

Дөрес әйтәсең!

@rhysjonsmusic 2 года назад

The problem is that glass, paper and metal cost more money for companies to produce on mass

@ravilbukhareev 2 года назад

@@rhysjonsmusic Not exactly. Now you not able to return bottles, because bottles not have a universal standart. For example every single beer label has own type of bottle, plus label on bottle hard to remove (before labels putted on bottle with soap water and was easy for remove). So now business should create new bottle for every single half a litre beer. I think it's much expencive than just wash the bottle.

@podstrahuy 2 года назад

There was no ultra-cheap plastic back in the USSR days.

@BuhlouBear 2 года назад

I visited Minisk back in the early 90's and remembered lots of paper cartons, glass and aluminium. I don't remember "recycling bins" per se but I did come across a one or two scuffed glass bottles which insinuated they'd been recycled. In the US I was contracted with a subsidiary that canned and bottled beer based out of St Louis Missouri. I asked how many of the bottles that beer were recycled and what percentage of beer cans were from recycled cans. I was told that was not only a priority, it was not considered and at that time there were no plans to begin doing so. Beer cans and bottles alone fill a significant segment of landfills, even after alleged recycling efforts here in the US as beer is the third most popular beverage after colas (also rarely recycled containers) and bottled water. Bottled water containers is a plastic composite that compresses easily to take up a little less volume in landfills instead of ease of recycling or increased material break down.

@takishaedwards273 2 года назад

He is such a charismatic and engaging interviewer. I love everything about this channel!

@josephcernansky1794 2 года назад

I worked on an environmental cleanup project at a metal scrap yard and wondered about all the plastic that was around. The plastic was just mixed up with steel shavings that was sent over to the electric furnaces. This was the first layer of material put into the furnaces as the electrodes were lowered into the ladle to create a puddle of molten metal then larger chunks of metal were added. I asked about the plastic, if it would contaminate the metal. The temperatures are so hot to melt the steel that the plastics are completely disintegrated but the carbon is added to alloy the metal. The exhaust air from the furnaces was clean enough and cool enough to breath. A far cry from what the old blast furnaces were like. But I still cannot fathom that, burning plastics in a co-generation facility cannot be done efficiently and clean.

@DWPlanetA 2 года назад

Hi Joseph, have you seen our videos asking why we don't burn our trash? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-OPVUrO-_7SM.html - and how can we recycle the unrecyclable: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cPEDdrGDGrs.html Let us know what you think of the videos in the comments sections 🙂

@paulmulcahy2250 2 года назад

I'm in San Antonio, Texas, where there is a recycling program -- sort of. A local news report found that only 12% of what is turned in for recycling in San Antonio actually gets recycled -- most of it gets shipped somewhere else, or ends up in the local landfill.

@cjinanutshell244 3 года назад

This RU-vid channel is both making me want and don’t want to find out what happens to our wastes

@diggleboy 2 года назад

This needs way more views!!! Excellent reporting DW Planet A and thanks for showing us all "how the sausage is made" so to speak by getting your hands dirty in the entire plastic recycling process. 👏👏👏 I'm always conscious of how much plastic I consume when shopping for groceries at the store. I always use reusable shopping bags and when they tear or get a massive hole after a lot of repeated use I recycle them and purchase a new one to replace it. It's always far cheaper and more environmentally friendly than using plastic grocery bags. My flimsy plastic grocery bag consumption has gone to zero for the past 4+ years and counting.

@winonalieux6728 2 года назад

It’s possible to keep the few ripped totes and stitch together one good one from the pieces.

@just4funallday508 2 года назад

As much as I hate using the self-checkout, going through the regular checkout with your own bags can be even more difficult. I remember when I was a kid, there were national competitions to pack groceries. Points were given for equal weight distribution, fewest number of bags (read full bags) and stability of the bags. Not like the one or two items per plastic bag common today.

@alani2071 2 года назад

I remember before I retired I worked for a very large corporation that embraced recycling. The company issued a second blue recycle trach can. I often would work after hours and noticed when the janitors would come in, all trash AND recyclables were always thrown into the came janitor bins. Year after year this never changed. I'm retired now but I suppose it's the same.

@jamescarter3196 Год назад

Yeah, people who are lazy about recycling love to say things to make it sound like it's pointless

@rdking8001 2 года назад

I’ve been thinking about our waste and recycling a lot lately I pray there will be a 100% reuse

@rahimsk3105 3 года назад

Hey brother, I'm a from India.. Yes it is our is get polluted more day by bay. But what we really need to do is to be more conscious about the affect of these pollution to our mother EARTH 🌎 ... Our world need more people like you..Keep it up man...You are doing great job👍...

@udaui 2 года назад

I think we should include school/college visits to these dump areas so awareness spreads

@grimheathen 2 года назад

Those orange suits make them look like a bad 80's pop band.

@BlackJar72 2 года назад

Or a prison chain-gang.

@LifeforArt 2 года назад

No. It's the other way around: in the 80s, pop bands were dressed like garbage collectors.

@alexanderarreaga5421 2 года назад

Last year the disposal company in my city sent a letter letting us know that they dump everything in the same place, so our respective trash cans (compost, recyclables, trash) meant nothing.

@RC-fu6hg 2 года назад

Wow that was eye opening. I wonder can you do a segment on glass and cardboard recycling. Perhaps the numbers are better

@fuyuan822 2 года назад

This video should be learned in every school everywhere

@Dennis19901 2 года назад

@Geba Are you good or?

@fuyuan822 2 года назад

@Geba If you are saying this out of good will to the well-being of people in Tibet, Taiwan or Hong Kong, I admire you. Though I don't agree with your approach here I can appreciate the good will. But I suspect it's not the case. I suspect you just find joy to see other people in struggle or suffer. People you never met and know nothing about, people you don't care or actually hate. If so, I suggest you spend your life on more meaningful things.

@progpuss 2 года назад

Well done for doing this , the world is choking on this obscene mess.

@Edlito550 Год назад

It's sad to see/hear the reality of what recycling does since I'm an avid recycler here. Great video and beautiful eyes on you!

@MariaFerreira-gj1xu Год назад

Excelent video. You have given me a hands on, inside view into this shady business. A very inconvenient truth. THANKS

@DjNikGnashers 2 года назад

Here in the UK, when I worked for a charity as a van driver, I used to take van loads of rubbish donations (90% of donations to charities get thrown away), to landfill. I saw all types of refuse disposal lorries from the local council, tipping their contents into landfill, including the recycling bins contents. A few years later, I saw them dig the landfill back up, and heard they were filling containers with it, and selling it to India.

@almamater489 2 года назад

Honestly if this is Germany, imagine the other countries. We're all screwed

@almamater489 2 года назад

@@KezanzatheGreat yep, full on horror Information

@ahtoshkaa 2 года назад

In other countries we don't shit out tons of plastic like Germany does. So even with 0% recycling rate, it is still atleast 2 times better for the enviroment then what the Germany is doing))

@mistermoo7602 2 года назад

@@almamater489 The problem is that it's literally "more expensive" to care from an economics standpoint and until that worldview changes nothing else will.

@almamater489 2 года назад

@@mistermoo7602 the problem is that these companies should be required by law to take care of their own product trash, then suddenly it won't be that expensive to produce less toxic shit

@almamater489 2 года назад

@@ahtoshkaa I live in Serbia and can't say that. Everything's in plastic. We recycle none of it. People throw it everywhere at random. You can't avoid buying it and we're basically fucked

@kimkimpa5150 Год назад

Would love to see how the sorting machines work in detail

@MarkSentMe Год назад

I remember those Gelb bags from our time in Germany. We had one small trash can per 2 families. My family recycled everything we could. We took it to the "convenience center" to drop it all off, as the rubbish men did not take any recyclables. Under the kitchen sink, there was a small waste bin that we lined with a paper bag inside of a plastic bag and that was where we scraped our plates and put whatever dirt was swept off the floor and emptied from the vacuum. Germany composted our kitchen waste and dog poo if we used the paper dog poo bags to clean it up.

@manitoublack 2 года назад

In Australia, we shred a fair amount of liquid container plastics to use as fibres in spray-on-concrete. way cheaper than using steel fibres. Doesn't have a massive impact, but it's a pretty good use for a product that has no outer use.

@meerkathero6032 2 года назад

Same here in Europe. Shredded plastics are used as fillers for various products like concrete. There is a catch though: The plastics are now in the concrete and as soon as the concrete will be demolished the plastic particles will be set free in the form of microplastic. A good solution for the industry, not so much for the environment.

@markuslappalainen6847 2 года назад

Taxation for companies who produce plastic. It makes the package of ham in plastic more expensive when compared to paper wrapped product. Toy in a card board box would be cheaper than the product in plastic package.

@durgan5668 2 года назад

Taxes are passed onto the consumer. And if the two same toys were side by side, 'maybe' you'd buy the cheaper one in cardboard, or maybe you'd buy the one you could actually see through the plastic one. Or, as parents, you could realize buying cheap plastic toys that don't last is a waste of your money. The money that theoretically, you should save for your kid's future. Impulse buying isn't a good thing, but we all know that. Parents used to send us outside with a ball or bike and we were out of their hair for hours, and healthier for it. But that takes effort. I realize I sound like the grumpy old guy, but I AM the grumpy old guy. We've been fighting this since the '70's, at least, when the US passed air and water legislation. We have the solutions, but again, it takes effort. Reuse. Repair. Don't buy crap from China you don't actually need. Spending 15 minutes in a drive thru lane? You can make a meal at home for a lot less money and a lot less trash, less fuel wasted and less time. But it takes effort.

@johnswartz7872 2 года назад

We need to get communication between producers manufactures and Recycler’s and eliminate the problem areas

@christianvancara8255 2 года назад

A real eye opener... Lots of hard graft too... Thanks for loading this Video.. Far too much plactic waste... Our planet needs protecting🤗😘

@sohamkumar4710 3 года назад

these are the youtube channels which deserve 100 million subs and yet we have rather useless channels sitting at the top

@littlepoodle7443 2 года назад

Their other channels have millions of subscribers

@ranni9536 2 года назад

Like T-Series? I don't really care about subscriber counts anyway...

@capybara6810 2 года назад

So true!

@JohnDoe-pt7ru 2 года назад

@Rip Tide it matters because YT chooses who's successful and who isn't. They screw over good creators and reward shills and corporate puppets who spew lowest common denominator garbage.

@JohnDoe-pt7ru 2 года назад

RU-vid screw over legit creators all the time. Only corporate puppets get a sit at the high table.

@robmoney4life 2 года назад

I swear people will throw anything in the recycle and then get mad when we don't take it

@YourNickIsTaken 2 года назад

Look: the instructions are not clear. My bin was rejected because I made strings from PET bottles. My neighbors trash was accepted but he never cleans the oil cans and the joghurt cups neighter the soap cans. So. Let's have an argument how can this recycling information spread that not everything can be recycled and therefore it is not belong to the recycle bin? Also teach people not to recycle but reduce trash!

@traildude7538 Год назад

It is NOT "necessary to burn them"! There are at least three different processes to turn ANY plastic into something useful; one turns it back into oil, another turns it into a plastic goo that can be used in manufacturing, and a third micro-shreds it and mixes it with wood fiber to make construction materials. The first of these sorts out metals and many minerals along the way so they can be reused as well (and can take four-fifths of all household trash).

@deanlanducci9440 Год назад

Thank you for this well-produced / researched documentary on plastic waste. I wish to point out PepsiCo net worth as of January 09, 2023 is $247.06B. Surprise their RD have not come up with greener or reduced packaging, or contributes to waste management that I know of. As a consumer what can I do when I go to the supermarket? Do I want reduced packaging that is green, for sure who would say no. The big question is; why this is not offered to the consumer? Possibly your next documentary can be investigating big companies and their commitment to the plastic crisis.

@DWPlanetA Год назад

Hi Dean, thanks for your feedback! We wanted to let you know that you're in luck, we have already looked at how companies are genuinely committed to plastic. You can watch it here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Em07usLG2oY.html 🌍♻

@khair2668 2 года назад

"no time to waste" yeap, definitely German

@kaisteinecke8034 2 года назад

@AccidentalScience 2 года назад

...German with a British humor, considering the topic.

@lasdiLP 2 года назад

In what way? Because we are always on time?

@khair2668 2 года назад

probably yeahh

@sublyme2157 2 года назад

I believe it was the oil industry that lobbied for plastic recycling knowing full well it's not feasible (or possible in most cases). That way they could continue to sell plastic, and people would think they're doing good for the environment. Love it.

@olivergill2903 Год назад

I couldn't find a demonstration of RBK&C London Borough recycling like this great video. We bag recycling all types in different bags to kitchen waste and it's collected. Bye Bye could be going anywhere. I await the video explainer from my local council???

@DWPlanetA Год назад

Hi Oliver, what happens after you bag the contents? Where does it get shipped off to? The reason we are asking is because of a video we did previously on this topic. You can watch it here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tID-AChSg7o.html ♻️ 🌍

@MrMetalclay 2 года назад

This video describes pretty well, in the best of light what happens to used plastics. I wish there was more about the chemicals and oils used to make and recycle plastics, some include lead and other toxins. Most plastic products aren't very effecient, I can see using them for car parts and appliances that will last more than 10 years, but when it comes to food packaging and packaging in general, it's a bit over the top.

@xenabellarosepoolreedzilla4405 2 года назад

Thank you for bringing this topic and serious problem to public attention, but thank you so much for not letting this planet die silently, we must fight till the last days of humanities reins

@jamesfranklyn8547 2 года назад

Thank you, very interesting. With all the development and technology that currently exists deciding what can be done with the waste material before the packaging is made is the way to combat and reduce our impact.

@frankkennedy7831 Год назад

h ,sorry,

@apologundert2825 11 месяцев назад

Yeah, the plastic recycling here in Deutschland is really serious, people here should also clean their packaging before throwing them, or make sure theres nothing sharp or dangerous for the workers. It is a truly noble work the recycling area, and we should give our best to help them to make a better and safer work.

@67Endgame Год назад

For all the reasons that you presented, I have stopped recycling anything with the exception of aluminium. Mostly cans from beverages, pet food, and various other products. But, I don't give it to a recycling company, I take it to a metals processor which is just a short distance away. I will compact the aluminium as much as I can and store it until there is as much as I can fit into my car then take it all to the scrap metals processor which purchases it at the current market rate for scrap value. Better to get the going rate for metal scrap for myself than to give it away. Even though it takes a bit of time to accumulate enough to take, I see it as a return on my expense even though it is just a little; it is still my property until I sell it.

@sandyj342 2 года назад

A real eye opener ...well done Kai for creating awareness

@chaython 2 года назад

I wish more stuff was made of metals, less single use consumables at stores. Like the big water jugs, you return for refill, there should be soda fountains for your two liters.

@palmswede 9 месяцев назад

I have been recycling for over 30 years and my city Roeland Park, Kansas, has made it easier by providing separate containers for plastic, metal and paper, landfill (non-recyclable} and glass. I have tried to avoid plastic bags at the store replaced with paper bags or my carry bags. I have read that microplastic is now getting into our water and food. It is a recycling habit we got to get into for the planet's sake and future generations.

@garymittelstadt7821 2 года назад

I live in rural Montana, get my trash collected once a month. All my plastic gets crushed and it still accounts for 1/3 to 1/2 of my monthly trash volume.