this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2025
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It is worth noting that other types of materials are regularly recycled fairly well
For instance, paper and carboard (as long as it's without food grease) work well
Also worth noting that #1 and #2 plastics are usually recycled. #3 and above are typically not economically viable and thus not recycled. They have higher cost and produce lower quality plastics after recyling
There was a time when China had such high raw demand for plastics that they would recycle large amounts of the higher number plastics from other countries. They no longer do so
These distinctions are typically not expressed to people very well. In any case, recycling is supposed to be the thing that comes after trying to reduce waste and reuse waste. It's not a magical bullet, but it can help with the things you can't easily reduce or reuse. Somehow it became the focal point of everything and the other two got lost
Aluminum is cheaper to recycle than to make, even more so than glass.
And it's basically infinitely recyclable
You lose a bit of it every time you recycle, turned into non-recyclable compounds.
You will lose half of it in half a dozen iterations or so. What wouldn't be a big deal if so much of it wasn't single-use, but it is.
Also, aluminum is more polluting to make than most plastics. It may compensate for that with the easiness of recycling or not, depends on lots of details.