Only 5% of plastic waste generated by US last year was recycled, report says

Only 5% of the mountains of plastic waste generated by US households last year was recycled, according to new research by Greenpeace. Americans discarded 51m tons of wrappers, bottles and bags in 2021 - about 309lb of plastic per person - of which almost 95% ended up in landfills, oceans or scattered in the atmosphere in tiny toxic particles. The plastics problem is not just down to wanton consumerism or laziness - in fact the situation would still be bad even if every household separated every piece of plastic and disposed of it in a dedicated recycling plant, according to…