For years, the petrochemical industry, encompassing major oil corporations including ExxonMobil, has been aware that recycling is not a viable sustainable solution to escalating plastic waste. This revelation exposes a calculated corporate strategy, long-fostered myths perpetuated about plastic waste management, and an undelivered promise of a sustainable recycling system, painting a grim yet honest picture of the industry's operations and its implications on our planet.
1. The petrochemical industry, which includes major oil corporations like ExxonMobil, has known that recycling is not a sustainable solution to the growing plastic waste problem.
2. This knowledge uncovers a planned corporate strategy to keep the truth about plastic waste management hidden, going against the promise of a sustainable recycling system.
3. These companies have used recycling as a distraction from the true environmental consequences of their activities, mostly to avoid regulatory measures and keep the momentum of widespread plastic manufacturing.
4. Despite their public positivity, companies like ExxonMobil knew that the current recycling system is ineffective due to the massive amount and unmanageable varieties of plastic waste produced by society.
5. This unpleasant fact was successfully hidden, masked by a large and convincing public relations campaign that touted recycling as the ultimate solution to our plastic waste issue.
According to an NPR and PBS Frontline investigation in 2020, the petrochemical industry has known since the 1970s that recycling plastic on a large scale is not viable due to high costs and technical challenges but publicly promoted recycling regardless.
For years, these companies have been cognizant of the fact that recycling was just a smokescreen, a tactic to deflect attention from the true environmental impact of their operations. The aim was not so much to recycle as to avoid regulatory restrictions and maintain the status quo of mass plastic production. In spite of their outward positivism, organizations such as ExxonMobil were well aware that recycling, as it currently exists, is ineffectual given the sheer volume and unmanageable types of plastic waste our societies generate. Yet, this ugly truth was skillfully brushed under the carpet, camouflaged by an extensive and persuasive public relations campaign that endorsed recycling as the panacea for our plastic problem.