I knew plastics were bad but this just blows my mind

I just listened to the NPR podcast Up First this morning and they played a recent episode from Planet Money titled Waste Land.

For 30+ years the oil companies knew there were issues with plastics and they developed a game plan to cover it up. Sound familiar? Like the tobacco industry maybe?

There are so many things that are just shocking because I can’t imagine people didn’t know about this earlier. The sad truth is that they didn’t want to know about it.

Do you know those recycling symbols on your packaging? The pretty much means nothing. The vast majority of plastic is going into landfills.

This is another instance of #corruption and #greed that we all pay for, most of all the lower-income population.

In all that time, less than 10 percent of plastic has ever been recycled.

How Big Oil Misled the Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled

This podcast and article are based on a paper trail that these investigative reporters found going back to the 70s. I’m always surprised to find out there’s a paper trail and no one ever followed the paper trail till now.

In a prior life, I worked for a plastics company. Reading this article was shocking because I had already bought into the recycling advertising.

In the last 5 years, or so, I started trying to buy items packaged in glass, paper, or metal. I did that because of the talk of chemicals leaching out of the plastic. My storage contains are made of glass with plastic lids.

This reporting was done in conjunction with PBS Frontline. I’ll include the video below.

Waste Land from Planet Money

Up First

Article

Link to the NPR article: How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled

Frontline – Plastic Wars

#NPR #InvestigativeReporting #Frontline #podcast #PlanetMoney #UpFirst

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