How many people today grab a takeaway coffee cup from the local cafe to drink on the go? We don’t know, but the number must be enormous.. Most every one of the above have a plastic top that will last 100s of years. Some cafes still use plastic cups that last a similar time. Is 10 minutes of coffee worth 100s of years of trash?
These items can be seen littering our gutters and on our streets all over the place. If they were all cardboard, they would still be littered, but they would, at least, be gone in a short time.
They do not need to be made of plastic.
On the way home from the gym last week, a distance of about 1 km (1/2 mile), I counted the items of plastic litter on the curb as I walked. In that short distance I counted 63 pieces of plastic litter. Plastic drink bottles, bottle tops, candy wrappers, plastic film, polystyrene fragments etc. That seemed to be a lot to me. I guess it is a generational thing. Our parents would have been horrified to see that amount, whereas it seems to go unnoticed by our youth of today. In another 20 years how many pieces will there be on this stretch, -- 200? What will today’s youth think of that new amount then when they are older? Will their children be so readily accepting of a higher amount of litter? Recycling PET works. So why isn’t the US doing it better? – USA
Posted on January 9, 2026 by DrRossH in Plastic RecyclingSource: Recycling PET works. So why isn’t the US doing it better? – Plastics News
The 2024 U.S. PET bottle recycling rate was one of the highest in nearly three decades at 30.2 percent according to the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR)’s 2024 PET Recycling Report. That’s a strong performance by American standards, but comes nowhere near what’s possible.
In Germany, PET bottle collection rates have risen to 98 percent since the introduction of its deposit return scheme (DRS) in 2003. Germany is one of eight EU countries with above 90 percent in collection rates with established deposit return schemes. These numbers are proof of what’s achievable when good policy aligns with material value.
And PET has value. It’s the most recycled plastic in the world, and demand is growing. Domestic reclaimers want more supply, so much so that some U.S. states like Texas are now importing feedstock to meet demand. That’s not a material failure. It’s a system failure. A bottle left in the trash or on the street is a missed economic opportunity, not just an environmental one.
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