The process of recycling prevents these waste materials from ending up in landfills or the environment, reducing pollution and emissions. Recycling also reduces the need to extract natural resources from the environment for new products, reduces carbon dioxide emissions, and conserves energy.
However, material that is recycled doesn’t always get recycled: only around 32% of all recycling is actually recycled. This number is even worse when it comes to plastics specifically: only 5-6% of all plastics are recycled. This is due to the fact that many often don’t recycle them correctly: many throw non-recyclable plastics in the recycling bin, such as plastic bags, packing peanuts, batteries, straws, etc. Another issue is that there is a huge variety of plastics. Different types of plastics with different chemical additives and dyes are unable to be recycled together.