True, that honor belongs solely to metal. Glass is mostly recyclable, though most types of it that aren’t bottles will just be thrown in the trash. Paper is in theory recyclable, but putting that in recycle bins is basically just as effective as putting plastic in. Neither of those actually helps as long as we’re producing more and more paper and more and more glass every year. The only thing that helps is reducing production.
Paper can be composted or burnt, and will decompose relatively quickly if dumped. I can’t see any post-use situation where paper is anywhere nearly as bad as plastic.
What does that have to do with the production of new paper? Deforestation remains an ever increasing problem. It’s not as bad as plastic, but recycling it is just as futile
Recycling paper (or not recycling) is far better than plastic is every respect. It’s not so much futility in this case so much as inefficiency.
Paper also is rarely, if ever, fully recycled, usually being downcycled into rougher and rougher materials like cardboard and egg cartons. No matter how well it gets recycled, it’s not going to displace primary production.
If you want to talk about futility here, the problem is way bigger than recycling. It’s consumerism, unrestrained capitalism, and ROI of power now vs power later. No amount of recycling of any quality will fix the world alonge but it is one step of many.
True, that honor belongs solely to metal. Glass is mostly recyclable, though most types of it that aren’t bottles will just be thrown in the trash. Paper is in theory recyclable, but putting that in recycle bins is basically just as effective as putting plastic in. Neither of those actually helps as long as we’re producing more and more paper and more and more glass every year. The only thing that helps is reducing production.
Paper can be composted or burnt, and will decompose relatively quickly if dumped. I can’t see any post-use situation where paper is anywhere nearly as bad as plastic.
What does that have to do with the production of new paper? Deforestation remains an ever increasing problem. It’s not as bad as plastic, but recycling it is just as futile
Recycling paper (or not recycling) is far better than plastic is every respect. It’s not so much futility in this case so much as inefficiency.
Paper also is rarely, if ever, fully recycled, usually being downcycled into rougher and rougher materials like cardboard and egg cartons. No matter how well it gets recycled, it’s not going to displace primary production.
If you want to talk about futility here, the problem is way bigger than recycling. It’s consumerism, unrestrained capitalism, and ROI of power now vs power later. No amount of recycling of any quality will fix the world alonge but it is one step of many.