Every few months, another news outlet—most recently The New York Times—publishes a “gotcha” headline claiming that recycling doesn’t work. That assertion is entirely false. While it may be an effective strategy for getting clicks, these misleading claims do a great disservice to us all.
As recyclers, we know recycling works. We also intimately understand that recycling as a system needs investments and improvements. The solution to the waste crisis isn’t to give up on recycling. Instead, we need strong policy on every front, including global limits on plastic production through a strong global plastics treaty.
Recycling Works
As recyclers, we collect and sort thousands of tons of recyclables every day. Each day, we sell these materials to responsible end markets and manufacturers that turn those valuable materials into new products—supporting our domestic supply chain and keeping natural resources in the ground instead of their being needlessly extracted.
That’s why we know the real lie is in these misleading headlines.
What is a Responsible End Market?
A responsible end market is a processor or manufacturer that ensures recyclables are managed in an environmentally and socially responsible way. This means:
Transparency & Traceability: There is a clear, verifiable chain of custody showing where materials go and how they are used.
Environmental Integrity: Materials are actually recycled into new products rather than landfilled, incinerated, or illegally dumped.
Local or Regional Processing: Whenever possible, materials are processed domestically or in facilities that meet environmental regulations.
Ethical Labor Practices: The market does not rely on exploitative labor conditions or unsafe work environments.
Waste Colonialism Continues to Assault Communities
While Alexander Clapp’s NYT article had the destructive and misleading headline that “the story you’ve been told about recycling is a lie,” he tells a broader story that is observably current, devastating, and true. Waste colonialism is alive and well, and we must confront it.
Beyond the headline, you’ll find some important truths:
- Our linear economy of resource extraction, production, consumption, and waste disposal is failing the planet, people, and future generations;
- We must reduce plastic production and overall consumption while investing in reuse systems;
- We need to keep natural resources in use longer by reusing, repairing, and recycling more materials—rather than sending them to incinerators, landfills, or unregulated markets in the Global South.
For decades, the plastic industry has used the promise of recycling to give brands cover and consumers confidence in their toxic packaging, which is overwhelming our oceans and environment. They stamp misleading recycling labels on products that were never designed to be recycled. Late last year, California Attorney General Bonta sued ExxonMobil for lying about recycling’s potential to solve the plastic pollution crisis it created. Under consumer pressure to take responsibility for their products, the industry has revived dirty, outdated 20th-century petrochemical processes that mostly turn high-grade plastic scrap into low-grade bunker fuel. They have cleverly rebranded this as “advanced recycling,” but, in truth, it is neither advanced nor recycling. It is simply a desperate and costly attempt to distract us with the hope of technological innovation to justify their continued extraction, waste, and harm.
This is especially true with post-consumer plastic where only #1 PETE and #2 HDPE bottles, tubs, jugs, jars, and sometimes #5 PP containers and lids are consistently recycled in the U.S. The plastic industry’s ongoing efforts to create “pathways” to recycling for chip bags, food pouches, and other soft plastic packaging is indeed the next big lie.
The Solution to Waste Colonialism Isn’t Less Recycling: We Need Strong Limits on Plastic Production and Infrastructure Investments
We cannot recycle our way out of the plastic pollution crisis, nor will we solve it with sham technologies. We cannot let the plastics industry hide behind deflective media campaigns that dupe the public. We must agree to create meaningful change on a global scale with a Global Plastics Treaty that:
- Prioritizes plastic reduction and the elimination of the most problematic toxics from production and circulation.
- Transitions production systems toward reuse and refill systems to ensure the highest and best use of the natural resources we do extract.
- Prioritizes environmental justice and just transition, protecting the health and safety of those on the frontlines of the waste crisis.
- Ensures that products are designed for true recyclability, using materials with responsible and reliable end markets.
- Holds producers accountable for the life cycle of their products and supports recycling infrastructure to ensure equal access for all communities.
- Supports investments in stronger recycling infrastructure for materials like textiles, electronics, and other hard-to-recycle items.
The real lie isn’t recycling—it’s the petrochemical industry-driven narrative that shifts blame onto consumers or recyclers while protecting corporate polluters. Recycling is a critical part of the solution, but it must be in the context of a larger strategy that reduces plastic production, holds producers accountable, and invests in authentic, transparent reuse and recycling systems. The next meeting to negotiate the Global Plastics Treaty is expected to take place in August 2025. This is our opportunity to demand bold action. The world can’t afford more distraction and delay—we need systemic change now.