Should You Really Recycle Your Plastic Waste?

Michael Shellenberger on what actually happens to your disposable plastic bottle when you put it in the blue bin

It’s comforting to believe that when you throw your plastic bottle into the recycling bin, eventually someone, somewhere in the world, makes it into a chair or a toy firetruck.

But is that what really happens?

We’ve all seen pictures of the giant floating islands of plastic trash in the oceans. Nobody wants to contribute to that environmental catastrophe.…