I've been recycling for decades... "Plastic recycling is a fraud."

[Anchor]
To cope with the exponentially growing production of plastic and the consequent pollution problems, humanity has long pursued recycling policies.

However, the first lawsuit began when critics criticized that the possibility of recycling plastic was a fraud made up by producers.

I'm a YouTube reporter on the report.

[Reporter]
The world's daily plastic waste is approximately 1 million tons,
Only 9% of
is recycled.

The remaining waste that is left unattended or incinerated is eventually penetrating into the human body.

[Professor Costas Bellis, University of Leeds, UK: Microplastics exist in all of our environments: soil, water, drinking water, food, and the air you drink.]

There is a fundamental reason for the low rate of plastic recycling even in developed countries.

First of all, it has been confirmed that it is almost impossible to classify thousands of plastics by type.

Even if the classification was successful, most of them gave up because of chemical additives or colorants.

For this reason, "chemical recycling" that decomposes plastic to the raw material stage has recently begun to be introduced, but there is still a long way to go.

As the limitations of recycling become clear, plastic producers have come under fire.

Although we have known for a long time that recycling alone cannot solve plastic pollution, we have deceived consumers.

In the end, the U.S. state of California filed a lawsuit against ExxonMobil, the largest producer of single-use plastic materials.

This is the first lawsuit involving plastic pollution, and if the liability for compensation is admitted, the amount could reach trillions of won.

[U.S. Attorney General Rob Bonta: ExxonMobil has known the truth about plastic pollution and recycling since the 1970s. Nevertheless, we are still openly promoting the myth that plastic recycling is the answer.

ExxonMobil has strongly protested that it is putting the blame on the policy failure, signaling a fierce court battle.

It's YTN YouTube.

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video;HAN KYUNG HEE