Eli5 why are so few plastics recyclable? Why cant you just melt it down and reuse it like glass?
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That plastic is rarely recycled (because of the many reasons in this discussion) should be more widely understood. If recycling services almost always send it to the landfill then this means the illusion of recycling plastic adds to the cost of real recycling of metal and glass.
I would bet that given a finite recycle bin most people would favor putting plastic in instead of metal and glass because plastic has the reputation of breaking down into “micro particles” and finding its way into everything and everywhere. Recycling is probably perceived as a better way to prevent this even though plastics going to a landfill are not the cause of the “plastic particles everywhere” problem.
Plastics in the recycling mindspace potentially push out less stigmatized materials that are actually energetically recycled.
A lot of people think the deliberately misleading three arrows and a number on a plastic bottle mean the plastic is assuredly recyclable.
The plastics industry knows what would happen if the public caught on.
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