The article doesn't make it clear if this is a problem of economics or a technical problem. Or a research and regulate problem.
If there are theoretical plastics that can be manufactured sustainably and recycled, if there are theoretically possible robot machines to sort (spectral lines) and if those plastics can cover the most common use cases, then plastics ARE recyclable. We just don't care to do it properly because of capitalism.
I'd really love to know the science on this. Unfortunately scientific papers also often say things like "not possible" when it's just a question of the current economic structure (ownership, patents, lack of R&D).
Shock horror. The famously corrupt industry that gets paid both to take waste and to sell their byproducts is corropt and doesn't deal honestly.
Also, FYI biodegradable plastic is a con. Plastic is polyethylene, which is a long chain of repeating ethylene molecules. To make it biodegradable they just put starch molecules in the chain every so often. Bacteria break down the starch leaving tiny microscopic ethylene chains you can't see - aka microplastics. Biodegradable plastics are in fact more polluting.
Plastic is polyethylene, which is a long chain of repeating ethylene molecules. To make it biodegradable they just put starch molecules in the chain every so often.
A lot of plastic is polyethylene, but nowhere near all of it. There are plenty of polymers that can break down naturally, mostly polyesters like PLA (which breaks down into lactic acid, the same naturally produced compound that causes muscle soreness after workouts). A lot of work is being put into making PLA have better material properties so it can replace more of the conventional plastics. It's also generally made from corn and can be pretty close to carbon-neutral. So long story short some biodegradable plastics are worse, but some have legitimate applications and are genuinely better than current options.
