Recycling as a Solution?

In 2014, the EU recycled 43% of its municipal waste. The rest ended up in incinerators or landfills.

Although sorting and recycling may seem like a sustainable solution to the waste problem, there is no guarantee that plastic shipped outside the EU for recycling will actually be recycled. Some can ultimately end up in landfills or waterways.

A year earlier, then European Commission Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans described the amount of packaging being used as excessive and increasingly harmful to the environment. Timmermans warned that “we cannot recycle our way out of the ever-growing tide of waste”. He instead advocated a return to reusable packaging, such as returnable bottles with deposits. Four years later, however, it is clear that this approach has not gained traction in Brussels.

Irresponsible practices by local governments or waste management companies can also result in sorted waste ending up in an incinerator or landfill. The same can happen when recyclable material in a collection bin is contaminated.

Bioplastics – biodegradable and compostable plastics – are a separate issue. Despite their name, they are not always made from non-fossil raw materials. The European Commission notes that the terms bio-based, biodegradable and compostable refer to different properties. Some biodegradable plastics, such as those found in industrial composting facilities, require specific conditions to decompose.

Irreplaceable Plastic

For several years, efforts have been under way to replace conventional plastics with alternatives that are genuinely biodegradable in nature without polluting the environment.

Straws made from seaweed and bowls made from fibrous mushrooms were supposed to offer disposable products made from non-toxic, renewable raw materials. Yet years have passed since their invention and they are still not in widespread use, and some straws made from alternative materials have been shown to contain harmful chemicals. Meanwhile, plant-based cellophane has been displaced in the market by plastic food wrap.

In late November and early December 2024, the final round of UN negotiations in Busan, South Korea, sought to produce a legally binding global treaty on plastics. The participants failed to reach an agreement and negotiations continued.

A further round of talks in Geneva in August 2025 also ended without consensus.

Shortly before the Busan meeting, a study published in the scientific journal Science outlined measures that could substantially reduce plastic waste.

“Four measures – a global cap on plastic production, investments in waste infrastructure, the introduction of a tax on single-use packaging, and a recycling mandate – could reduce the amount of improperly managed plastic waste by up to 91 percent by 2050 and cut plastic-related emissions by about one-third”, the Guardian summarized the findings of the scientific article.

Do Not Recycle – Do Not Produce

The UN negotiations have yet to produce binding measures on plastic waste. But regulatory intervention may not be necessary if consumer attitudes change.

The convenience of plastic has helped create a culture in which many products are used only briefly before being discarded, even though the material itself can remain in the environment for centuries.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has long promoted a straightforward hierarchy for cutting waste: “Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle”. The principle is simple – preventing waste in the first place is preferable to dealing with it after it has been created.

That does not necessarily require additional strategies or regulations imposed from above. Lasting changes can begin with individual choices and common sense: considering what actually needs to be bought, what can be reused and what is likely to end up in the trash soon after purchase.

A relatively small number of large manufacturers account for a substantial share of branded plastic pollution, while the remainder is attributed to a much larger number of smaller producers.

If enough consumers voluntarily change their behavior, companies of both kinds will quickly adapt to changing demand in a market economy.