Photo: Eva Kézrová, Czech Radio
What really happens to your plastic after you’ve carefully sorted it and put it in your local recycling container (in Czechia, those iconic yellow bins)? According to many recent media reports, rather than being recycled, it likely ends up in landfill, an incinerator, or even worse, in the ocean or dumped in a field, as most of the plastic that people put in recycling containers is unusable using current recycling methods. But a new technology currently being tested in Czechia may provide hope of a solution.
Plastic recycling has been the subject of a lot of controversy in recent years, with information emerging that only 9% of the plastic ever produced has been recycled (MIT Technology Review, Oct 2023). A report by NPR from 2022 titled “Recycling plastic is practically impossible — and the problem is getting worse” sums up many of the headlines surrounding this topic.
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Authors: Anna Fodor, Eva Kézrová, Source:Český rozhlas