Plastics recycling rate slumps below 6%, analysis finds

Americans are recycling far less plastic as rates fell below 6% in 2021, according to a new analysis published Wednesday, with waste ballooning despite global efforts to curb pollution.

The research from Beyond Plastics and the Last Beach Cleanup aims to shed light on the state of recycling in the United States given a delay in federal reporting. The Environmental Protection Agency last published recycling rates in 2020 based off data through 2018 and did not update it last year.

Drawing on the most recent EPA data available and last year’s plasticwaste exports, the new report estimates that Americans recycled 5 to 6% of their plastics, down from the 8.7% in 2018. But the real figure could be even lower, it added, given factors such as the plastic waste collected for recycling that is “sent to cement kilns and burned.”

“The plastics industry must stop lying to the public about plastics recycling. It does not work, it never will work, and no amount of false advertising will change that,” said Judith Enck, who heads Beyond Plastics and served as a regional EPA administrator during the Obama administration. “Instead, we need consumer brand companies and governments to adopt policies that reduce the production, usage and disposal of plastics.”

Though plastics use fell in the early days of the pandemic, consumption has rebounded along with economic activity. Meanwhile, plastic waste exports - which the authors said are counted toward recycling numbers without proof - have plummeted in the wake of import bans by countries such as China and Turkey.

Plastics production in on track to unleash more emissions than coal-fired power plants by the end of the decade, research has found, with the industry emitting at least 232 million tons of greenhouse gases each year.

Millions of tons of plastic end up in the oceans each year, ensnaring turtles and other wildlife. Even Mount Everest has not escaped microplastics pollution. The United States contributes most to this deluge, according to a National Academy of Sciences study, generating about 287 pounds of plastics per person.

At the current rate of emissions, the world will burn through its remaining “carbon budget” by 2030 - putting the ambitious goal of keeping warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) irrevocably out of reach, according to the latest report from the U.N. Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change.

The EPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report or why it has not published more recent recycling figures. According to the United States’ first national recycling strategy, the EPA is aiming to achieve a 50% recycling rate by 2030. Some critics faulted that strategy for not taking aim at current levels of plastics production. The nation’s plastic recycling rate peaked at 9.5% in 2014, according to EPA data.