Is plastic really recyclable?
Chemistry For Your Life
00:00
The Oil Companies' Attempts to Recycle Plastic
The reason we all believe that it's going to be okay if we use plastic. That was forced on us by oil companies. Oil companies remember oil is what creates plastic. And so even though we have these ads that look like, oh yeah, recycle recycling is going to be great. We're going to be able to use this plastic and put it right back into the environment. They did that really knowing that it was cheaper and better for the plastics industry to just keep making more plastic. It reminds me of there's a episode of radio lab called the bad show. Yeah, chemists work intimately with the oil company. There were chemists who were in charge of some of these recycling
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