This quote comes from a plastic industry publication:
Myth #8:
Low recycling rates for plastic bags prove recycling them doesn’t work.Fact:
Recycling does work. The problem is not everyone knows that plastic grocery bags are 100% recyclable and not everyone has access to plastic bag recycling in their community. A national at-store plastic bag recycling program would bring the recycling solution to everyone and increase rates. One Southern supermarket chain has such a program, and recycles more than 20% of the volume of plastic bags that it provides to customers.
In actual fact there are some dreary statistics floating around the internet about how recycling rates have plateaued despite the explosion of environmental activism, environmental journalism, environmental media etc.
4-6% is the sad number for plastic recycling overall. This 20% that the plastic industry brags about for one supermarket chain is an exception and it might be the best case scenario.
Here is a 2002 article from the New York Times that provides an overview of the state of plastic recycling back then. Not much has changed.
Additional reading : Where can we put all those plastics?
