Is recycling plastic pointless? Hard truths about what happens to your recyclable waste

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/cna-insider/plastic-recycling-rate-singapore-exports-bottled-water-safe-3723811

Author: Lianne Chia & Charmaine Tan

SINGAPORE: Throwing recyclable waste in the blue recycling bin at every public housing block, or down the centralised recycling chutes, could be almost second nature to some Singaporeans. But could it be an exercise in vain, particularly when it comes to plastics? According to the Singapore Environment Council (SEC), Singapore uses about 1.76 billion plastic items each year: 820 million plastic bags, 467 million polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and 473 million plastic disposables, such as containers, cutlery and cups.