In return for your separation efforts, you could expect a circular waste system, where packaging waste is recycled and used again and again. This is what plastic producers and politicians want you to believe. But this image of how waste is dealt with in Europe, one of the richest places on earth, is an illusion.
About 60 per cent of your packaging waste is not recycled. It gets either burnt in incinerators, shipped out of sight or dumped in landfills – legally or illegally. And while piles of waste become bigger and oceans and landscapes more polluted, the production of plastic is on a steep rise. It's expected to have tripled by 2060.
