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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Nimo Omer

Friday briefing: Why recycling plastic may not be as good for the planet as we thought

Damien Gayle Arne Slot Toby Moses Greenpeace Police Pollution Succession Tina Turner Environment
Plastic bottles awaiting recycling – not as helpful as we used to believe.
Plastic bottles awaiting recycling – not as helpful as we used to believe. Photograph: Westend61/Getty Images

Good morning.

“Reduce, reuse, recycle” is an environmentalist mantra that everyone has been able to get behind because, in the age of overconsumption, humans are producing more waste than ever before. Every year we dump 2bn tonnes of municipal solid waste on to the planet and – according to the World Bank – that number is expected to rise by 70% to 3.4bn tonnes by 2050. For years, campaigners and scientists have said that this level of waste generation is unsustainable and is detrimental to the natural environment, wildlife and humans.

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