Cartoon: The Myth of Plastic Recycling

This cartoon was written by me and drawn by Becky Hawkins.

Becky’s drawing soundtrack for this cartoon was the audiobook of Woodworking by Emily St. James. The audiobook is a three-for-one enjoyable experience of trans artistry since there are two voice actors, L Morgan Lee and Saoirse Ní Shúilleabháin, performing the hell out of Emily’s novel.

I have no reason to think that Big Plastic Inc employs goons whose job is to murder inconvenient researchers and make sure the bodies are never found. (And if I did know anything about that, I’d claim I didn’t, because I’d hate for the goons to come after me).

(Any plastic industry murderous goons reading this: This cartoon was Becky’s idea, not mine! Honest! I didn’t want to do it but she threatened me!)

But although I made that part up (and also the part about this cartoon being Becky’s idea), otherwise this cartoon is pretty much straight reporting.

From a CBS news story:

Davis Allen, an investigative researcher with the Center for Climate Integrity, said the industry didn’t need for recycling to work: “They needed people to believe that it was working,” he said.

A new report, called “The Fraud of Plastic Recycling,” accuses the plastics industry of a decades-long campaign “…to mislead the public about the viability of plastic recycling,” despite knowing the “technical and economic limitations that make plastics unrecyclable” at a large scale.

“They couldn’t ever lie about the existence of plastic waste,” said Allen. “But they created a lie about how we could solve it, and that was recycling.” […]

“The plastics industry understands that selling recycling sells plastic, and they’ll say pretty much whatever they need to say to continue doing that.”

As Popular Science points out, this is about plastic specifically, not about all recycling.

This may be a tough pill to swallow for those who grew up hearing about the virtues of plastic in ad campaigns (see: “plastics make it possible”). However, statistically, most plastic is either landfilled or burned—just about 9 percent is ever recycled, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, an intergovernmental group.

Crucially, the Center for Climate Integrity’s report is about plastic recycling—not all recycling. Other materials, such as paper and glass, statistically fare better when you toss them in the recycling bin. More than 68 percent of paper and paperboard was recycled in the U.S., according to 2018 EPA data, while glass has a recycling rate of about 31.3 percent. *

The same article has some advice on steps we can take as individuals:

Recycle your bottles and jugs: Overall, the EPA found in 2018 that just 8.7 percent of plastics were recycled in the U.S. Yet, certain types of plastic containers—soda and water bottles (PET 1) and milk jugs (HDPE 2) in particular—have a higher likelihood of being recycled. As for the other stuff, the “vast, vast majority of plastic packaging that we use has no chance of being recycled,” said Allen.  …

Try to use less plastic: You could also try your best to avoid single-use plastics. Allen said in a call with PopSci that he avoids them as much as possible, and carries around a reusable water bottle with him. Still, the researcher argues that consumers should resist the urge to shift the blame onto themselves. “None of us have the option of avoiding plastic, and that’s by design,” he said. “That was the industry’s goal when they began pushing disposable plastics in the 1950s and 1960s, and it’s remained their goal ever since,” Allen added.

TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has four panels. There’s also a tiny “kicker” panel under the strip.

PANEL 1

A researcher wearing a white lab coat and carrying a thick bound report walks into an executive’s office. The executive is sitting with his feet on a big desk.

RESEARCHER: Here’s my report on plastic recycling… I’m afraid it’s bad news. Recycling plastic just won’t work.

PANEL 2

A close up of the researcher, who looks very nervous.

RESEARCHER: Recycling plastic costs so much that recycled plastic will never compete with new plastic. The only thing it might do is deceive the public into thinking there’s no problem.

PANEL 3

The executive is now holding the report. Behind the researcher, two toughs are creeping up, one raising a bludgeoning tool up to hit the researcher, the other holding out a sack big enough to hide a body.

RESEARCHER: To avoid an ecological crisis, we have to stop making so much plastic.

EXECUTIVE: I see. By the way, is this the only copy of the report?

RESEARCHER: Yes, why?

PANEL 4

CAPTION: And so, for the next fifty years…

A spokesmodel woman stands in front of cameras, next to a table overflowing with plastic products.

SPOKESMODEL: Use all the plastic you want! We’ll recycle!

TINY KICKER PANEL

The spokesmodel yells at Barry.

SPOKESMODEL: Use somewhat less plastic? You want us to live like cavemen?

CHICKEN FAT WATCH

“Chicken fat” is obsolete cartoonists’ jargon for unimportant but fun details.

PANEL 1 – A framed graph on the wall seems to show profits moving up. The caption under the graph says “Sales of profit/loss charts up 47%”

PANEL 2 – One of the pens in the researcher’s breast pocket is actually a little test tube containing bubbling green liquid.

PANEL 4 – The backdrop says “Plastic: It’s what’s for dinner.” A little toy plastic car is being driven by a plastic kitten and unicorn. A label of a large bottle says “5 GAL background details.”