What percentage of plastic in Canada is recycled?

Have you ever heard the mantra ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’? ♻️

Have you ever wondered why the three Rs were presented in that order? Here is a hint; It’s not because it sounds better.

They are ordered from the biggest to the lowest environmental impact potential. Yes, that’s right, the best way to reduce your impact is first to reduce your consumption, then to reuse what you already have and finally to recycle (1). While recycling does prevent us from using new materials, it still requires energy and resources to recycle an item (2). Plus, only 9% of the 3.3 million tons of plastic waste thrown away by Canadians every year are being recycled (3,4).

But why are we not recycling plastic more?

Well, turns out plastic is one of the hardest materials to recycle (5). Plastic is made of many molecules linked together in a chain (i.e. polymers). Each time we recycle them, the chain needs to be broken apart. This results in lower quality plastic each time (5,6). Plus, not all plastics are the same; some are not recyclable at all, while others melt at different temperatures and thus can’t be recycled together. Another important aspect is that any plastic container that is thrown away dirty, is most likely never going to be recycled (5,6,7).

So while recycling is important, it should not be used as an excuse to avoid making true plastic reduction changes and policies (1,2).

Check out this activity from Ocean School (@oceanschoolnow) in finding creative ways to reuse plastic: https://tinyurl.com/SUFDebrisActivity

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Did you know that, in the mantra ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’, the Rs are ordered from the biggest to the lowest environmental impact potential?

That’s right!
Reduce your consumption > Reuse what you already have > Recycle.

While recycling does prevent us from using new… pic.twitter.com/HYJqliSsuB

— Ocean School (@OceanSchoolNow) July 10, 2023

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A post shared by Ocean School~École de l’Océan (@oceanschoolnow)