2023-05-24 20:31:00
For the sake of the environment, PET bottles are taken to the recycling collection point. But now Greenpeace warns: Recycled plastic is even more toxic! Because the decomposition of plastics leads to environmental pollution through microplastics.
Recycling is therefore not the solution to the current plastic pollution crisis. On the contrary: “The toxicity of plastic increases with recycling,” emphasizes Greenpeace in a new report.
Because plastics are made with toxic chemicals. These would not simply disappear when the plastics are recycled.
Instead, recycled plastic contains higher concentrations of toxic chemicals such as carcinogens. These can cause massive damage to human and animal health. Relying on recycling is therefore of little use. On the other hand, plastic production would have to be massively reduced.
The results are shocking: A total of 13 percent of the processed plastic released microplastics in the water. “It’s a huge problem we’re creating,” study leader Erina Brown said, according to The Guardian.
Plastic pollution is a well-known problem: around eight billion tons of plastic have been produced since the 1950s. Plastic production could even triple by 2060.
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