MY BLOG

ENTRY 3: BLACK PLASTIC

Black plastic cannot be recycled in Toronto. Or, at least it is not recycled in Toronto. The official advice is to put black plastic directly into the garbage bin. See: https://www.plasticsforchange.org/blog/category/black-plastic-is-not-recyclable-in-canada-some-restaurant-owners-are-seeking-different-plastic-suppliers
At the end of that write-up, it concludes: "Black plastic has a small recycling symbol on it, which triggers many to think that it should be recycled. However, this plastic should always go in the garbage bin."

This situation is one of the stupidest things imaginable, and I feel like it is a perfect example of why we are doomed. It is a no-brainer that if black plastic cannot be recycled somewhere, it should not be allowed to exist in that area, period. Whatever reasoning that allows that a plastic is allowed in a place that is unable to recycle it is so stupid and frustrating that I am beside myself. Just don't make it here, don't import it here, and don't allow it here. Boom, I figured it out. What I am missing?

So why can't we recycle black plastic here, while other places are able to do so? Apparently the optical scanners we use that sort the plastic cannot see black plastic; it gets missed. This begs the question, why not get better scanners that work properly? The ol' "If we can put a man on the moon" logic... Or, if this tech really does not exist, then here is a thought: Hire some human scanners to do the job! Why can't that happen? This whole situation is man-bites-dog, beauracratic idiocy. What kind of bean-counting moron decided this was acceptable? Or the best approach? Maybe there is something else I am missing here, but however they make it work elsewhere, do that! And do it before you put money into a system that doesn't work properly. (Which is obviously too late for us now. Us taxpayers merely pay up, we don't have any say in how things are done.)

Finally, in the mean time, until we figure out this vexxing riddle, ban black plastic. If we can't recycle it, get rid of it, until we can deal with it. It's that simple.