We had a visit from Dr. Niall O'Leary who works in the microbiology department in U.C.C. He gave us a presentation on plastic disposal and pollution.
We learned about contamination of bins in recycling centers. He told us that if one item in the recycling bag isn't fit for recycling the whole bag may be incorrectly disposed of via landfill. This is why only 91% of plastics made end up being recycled.
Because we ship our waste to less developed economies we are going to create new economies that are entirely dependent on plastic to sustain them. This presents a huge obstacle to cutting use of plastic in domestic and industrial settings.
We also learned about the resin codes displayed on packaging but not all are recyclable. Many symbols are often interpreted as recycling signs but in fact they can mean a variety of things. We will be doing a separate blog post on recycling symbols soon but for now remember:
