FPA Responds to ABC News’ “Trashed: The Secret Life of Plastic Recycling” Investigation

ABC News’ recent “Trashed: The Secret Life of Plastic Recycling” investigation isn’t about plastic bags or even plastic packaging, it is about the current U.S. recycling system. Put trackers in any recyclable item today and chances are they may end up in an incinerator or landfill. This should be the intended result, given that these trackers are actually contaminants to the recycling stream and would be filtered out for disposal through most recycling processes. It is also because we have over 20,000 different municipal recycling programs across the country that are based on the value of the materials being collected and recycled. This value changes with market conditions and when it does, some products destined for recycling are diverted to disposal instead.