Plastics recycling has consequences for people and the planet – and it may just be a scam

Adnan R. Khan is an independent writer and editor based in Amsterdam and Istanbul. A new report published last month by the U.S.-based Center for Climate Integrity has made some of the most specific and explosive accusations against the petrochemical industry to date, accusing it of a "decades-long campaign of fraud and deception about the recyclability of plastics." More than 99 per cent of plastics are produced from fossil fuels, the report notes, and the "vast majority" cannot be processed and remanufactured into new products. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last reported America's plastic recycling rate at 8.7 per cent,…