A key national plastic bag recycling project is shutting down following a recent ABC News exposé. The operators cite industry indifference, lack of funding and credibility problems such as those revealed by the report. "There's more of an illusion of stuff getting recycled than there actually is because there is an imbalance in supply and demand," one executive admits.
The Film Drop-Off Directory, once found at BagandFilmRecycling.org, previously directed the public to more than 18,000 store drop-off locations around the country, where they could bring used plastic bags and film to be recycled. Visitors to the site today are greeted with a message informing them that "the resource is no longer available."
ABC News hid tracking devices in recycled plastics and found that most of it ended up in landfills. "Only four of ABC's 46 trackers last pinged from U.S. facilities that say they are involved with recycling plastic bags."
It's wrong to say plastic recycling has accomplished nothing! It's been very effective at convincing consumers that they were doing their part, by taking personal responsibility for industrial problems they weren't causing and could never do anything to solve by playing Tetris with their trash.
