Merchants of Myth: new report exposes plastic recycling as costly failure

A new report from Greenpeace USA reveals plastic recycling has largely failed after decades of being touted by corporations as a solution to the pollution crisis. The report uncovered that only a fifth of the 8.8 million tons of the most commonly produced types of plastics — found in items like bottles, jugs, food containers, and caps — are actually recyclable. Moreover, plastic recycling rates in the United States have been cut in half since 2014, from 9.5% to roughly 5–6% today. The report concludes that plastic recycling is no more of a viable solution now than it was in the 1950s.

Our team of researchers also uncovered the effort by the plastic industry, retailers, prominent plastic-reliant brands, and related trade associations — the so-called “Merchants of Myth” — to mislead the public, protect their profits, and delay regulatory action.

Major brands like Coca-Cola, Unilever, and Nestlé have been quietly retracting sustainability commitments while continuing to rely on single-use plastic packaging. On top of this, the U.S. plastic industry is undermining meaningful plastic regulation by making false claims about the recyclability of their products to avoid bans and reduce public backlash. As global plastic production continues to climb and is projected to triple by 2050, our report investigates the ineffectiveness of voluntary measures without regulatory support.

John Hocevar, Greenpeace USA oceans campaigner director, said: “Recycling is a toxic lie pushed by the plastics industry that is now being propped up by a pro-plastic narrative emanating from the White House. These corporations and their partners continue to sell the public a comforting lie to hide the hard truth: that we simply have to stop producing so much plastic. Instead of investing in real solutions, they’ve poured billions into public relations campaigns that keep us hooked on single-use plastic while our communities, oceans, and bodies pay the price.”

Despite growing public awareness of the environmental and health concerns posed by plastics and microplastics, Merchants of Myth reveals many corporations have ramped up their disinformation campaigns and aggressive lobbying – and are being backed up by a compromised government.

While the Make Americans Healthy Again (MAHA) platform pledged to address chronic illnesses linked to toxic chemicals, its recent health report largely sidestepped plastics — one of the most pervasive sources of chemical exposure. Despite growing scientific consensus on the health risks and economic costs of plastic pollution, the report offered only vague commitments to develop a framework to study chemical exposures, including microplastics, allocate limited funding for safer farming, and launch a public pesticides awareness campaign.

Jo Banner, executive director of The Descendants Project, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving Black history and fighting environmental racism in the frontline communities of Louisiana’s River Parishes, said: “It’s the same story everywhere: poor, Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities turned into sacrifice zones so oil companies and big brands can keep making money. They call it development — but it’s exploitation, plain and simple. There’s nothing acceptable about poisoning our air, water, and food to sell more throwaway plastic. Our communities are not sacrifice zones, and we are not disposable people.”

Among the report’s other key findings on the ineffectiveness of plastic recycling:

• Recycling access gaps: Up to 43% percent of U.S. households lack access to basic recycling services. Participation in recycling is also decreasing.
• Infrastructure limits: Of the 380 municipal recycling facilities nationwide, only 46 are capable of processing common consumer plastics.
• Technological limits: Only 1 of 6 “advanced recycling” plants can handle mixed post-consumer waste — and even at full capacity, these facilities cannot meet the 60% recycling rate required by law.
• Cost to taxpayers: The public has to pay to collect and sort plastics, while most of it ends up in the landfill with the rest of the trash.