Is burning a threat to recycling?

A recent study published in the Science Advances Magazine stated that just 9% of all plastic waste is being recycled. That’s a total of approximately 5,103,000,000 tons of waste that goes unrecycled globally. So where does it end up?

Over the past years, the world is seeing more and more waste-to-energy (AKA bioenergy) Plants pop up. These Plants accumulate waste which is then burnt to create power, rather than being dumped into landfill.

As the waste is being burnt, this means that less waste will be polluting the rivers and oceans which in short, will benefit the ecosystems and allow them to regrow. However, as 12% of plastic waste is incinerated, this results in harmful chemicals being released into the atmosphere resulting in increased air pollution.

This helps show the detrimental impact of not recycling and how it can affect us and our surrounding environment. Here at STE Waste Management, we aim to recycle as much as possible, if it’s trade waste recycling or secure computer recycling.