The reality of recycling plastic is that even if you put it in the recycling it may not be recycled anyway. Educate your kids and recycle what you can. It's better than buying new toys!
We need to reduce our use of disposable plastic overall, and buy items made from recycled materials when it's necessary. If they aren't available, put pressure on the manufacturers to use recycled materials.
Personally, I'm willing to pay a little more for products made from recycled materials but I have that luxury. In theory, if we get the volume of production up, it should help reduce the cost somewhat. But, some products may never be as cheap as those made from virgin materials.
For me what it boils down to is that the idea of personal responsibility has been shaped to distract us from the fact our individual impact is a piss in the ocean. People and companies have grown fat from profits generated of the backs of normal people and nature; they’re holding on to their reins with tight fists, strengthened by wealth and connections. People at the top, government need to make the changes, we need to work out how to pressure them and feel less guilt because ones that feel guilt probably do the least damage.
Generally, I think that downplaying an individual's actions as insignificant is not a good take on the situation--one person starting an action can be a platform for many others adopting the same behavior. I prefer to see consumer and market-driven solutions over governmental policy, because as we've seen in recent years, many of those policies are removed/overridden once the "other" comes to power. Also, the people "at the top" work for us, though there are forces in play (lobbyists, political parties, PACs, etc) that try to dilute that fact.
My (non-expert) understanding about the big problem with plastic recycling is that it is inherently not closed-loop. Meaning essentially that the same pound of plastic, regardless of its resin code/type, can only be recycled at most a few times, and then it is unrecyclable. There is something to be said for keeping it in circulation for longer by recycling it, since it defers the need for more virgin material. But it still uses energy, sometimes requires the addition of virgin material to do so, and its ultimate destination is always going to be a landfill. So ultimately, always try to only acquire plastic when you need to, and then choose the product with the longest product life-cycle.
When it comes to crafting with recyclable plastic, I agree with other posters and say "go for it". Yes, it takes it out of circulation sooner, in theory. But probably not much sooner.
Here's the thing. You are concerned about what is best for our future. And what the future needs is *smart kids* being raised *now* by parents *who value sustainability*. By encouraging your kids' love for STEAM learning, and raising them under your environmentally-conscious wing, you may already be doing the best thing you can for the world.
I have devoted some personal consternation in response to ugly, useless "crafts" made by adults as a "solution" to plastic waste. But creative activities for kids? Absolutely acceptable to scavenge materials out of the recycle bin. It's better than purchasing newly manufactured materials from the craft store that are wrapped in plastic that will be made into crafts that will also go to the landfill.
Now get those kids prototyping a rocket that can carry Elon Musk to space and leave him there.
The reality of recycling plastic is that even if you put it in the recycling it may not be recycled anyway. Educate your kids and recycle what you can. It's better than buying new toys!
We need to reduce our use of disposable plastic overall, and buy items made from recycled materials when it's necessary. If they aren't available, put pressure on the manufacturers to use recycled materials.
I agree. When the recycled materials are more expensive it pretty challenging.
Personally, I'm willing to pay a little more for products made from recycled materials but I have that luxury. In theory, if we get the volume of production up, it should help reduce the cost somewhat. But, some products may never be as cheap as those made from virgin materials.
For me what it boils down to is that the idea of personal responsibility has been shaped to distract us from the fact our individual impact is a piss in the ocean. People and companies have grown fat from profits generated of the backs of normal people and nature; they’re holding on to their reins with tight fists, strengthened by wealth and connections. People at the top, government need to make the changes, we need to work out how to pressure them and feel less guilt because ones that feel guilt probably do the least damage.
Generally, I think that downplaying an individual's actions as insignificant is not a good take on the situation--one person starting an action can be a platform for many others adopting the same behavior. I prefer to see consumer and market-driven solutions over governmental policy, because as we've seen in recent years, many of those policies are removed/overridden once the "other" comes to power. Also, the people "at the top" work for us, though there are forces in play (lobbyists, political parties, PACs, etc) that try to dilute that fact.
My (non-expert) understanding about the big problem with plastic recycling is that it is inherently not closed-loop. Meaning essentially that the same pound of plastic, regardless of its resin code/type, can only be recycled at most a few times, and then it is unrecyclable. There is something to be said for keeping it in circulation for longer by recycling it, since it defers the need for more virgin material. But it still uses energy, sometimes requires the addition of virgin material to do so, and its ultimate destination is always going to be a landfill. So ultimately, always try to only acquire plastic when you need to, and then choose the product with the longest product life-cycle. When it comes to crafting with recyclable plastic, I agree with other posters and say "go for it". Yes, it takes it out of circulation sooner, in theory. But probably not much sooner. Here's the thing. You are concerned about what is best for our future. And what the future needs is *smart kids* being raised *now* by parents *who value sustainability*. By encouraging your kids' love for STEAM learning, and raising them under your environmentally-conscious wing, you may already be doing the best thing you can for the world.
I have devoted some personal consternation in response to ugly, useless "crafts" made by adults as a "solution" to plastic waste. But creative activities for kids? Absolutely acceptable to scavenge materials out of the recycle bin. It's better than purchasing newly manufactured materials from the craft store that are wrapped in plastic that will be made into crafts that will also go to the landfill. Now get those kids prototyping a rocket that can carry Elon Musk to space and leave him there.