As a former plastics recycler, let me add that almost all plastic is single-use plastic. And even the most recyclable plastic is at best double or triple use plastic.

People have the idea that plastic is like metal, that you can just melt it and reuse it. But that's not how it works at all. Heating plastic to melt it changes its chemical nature, breaking long hydrocarbon chains into smaller chains, resulting in a different plastic with different properties from what you started with.

There really is no getting around this fundamental problem with recycling plastic. It's why plastics manufacturers resist using recycled plastic and why even most theoretically recyclable plastic doesn't actually get recycled.

Many people don't understand this, but only a very small percentage of the plastic you put out on the curb to be recycled stands even a small chance of being recycled.

Plastic recycling is a shell game put in place by the petroleum industry and plastics manufacturers to make people feel better about using plastic.

I had no idea about any of this until I worked in the industry, eventually owning a plastic recycling factory. Don't get me wrong, some people are making a lot of money recycling plastic. But the negligible amount getting recycled is not helping the Earth, and the potential for recycling enough to make a difference is almost non-existent, barring revolutionary new technology – which pretty much nobody sees on the horizon.

In my opinion, plastics recycling is more harmful than helpful because it gives people the false notion that it's okay to use plastic.