So What Happens to Single-Use Plastic After You Throw It Away?
You want to do the right thing. You dedicate time each week to digging through your recycling bin and meticulously separating PET plastics from LDPE plastics according to the resin identification codes (RIC). Still, you feel you’re missing something this trash day. You ask yourself, where does this plastic go after you throw it away?
In 1978 CocaCola made a massive switch from producing glass bottles to 2-liter PET plastic bottles (Plastic Bottle Village, 2024). Before plastic, glass bottles were returnable, exchangeable, and recycled by the companies that produced them, like Coca-Cola (Plastic Bottle Village, 2024). The introduction of plastic bottles—lightweight, durable, and easy to transport—was initially celebrated as a revolutionary improvement. But when corporations shifted the responsibility of recycling to consumers, it enabled a system where people unconsciously purchased products packaged in environmentally harmful materials, fueling a global crisis of plastic pollution.
Today, PET plastics may be recyclable into polyester-based synthetic materials, but the microfibers shed from these fabrics during washing flow directly into our waterways, polluting rivers, lakes, and oceans. Coca-Cola’s shift to single-use plastic not only reduced production costs but also set a precedent for other high-consumption corporations to prioritize convenience over sustainability. As a result, we now face a mounting environmental crisis. A single 2-liter plastic bottle may take just an hour to consume, but it takes over 500 years to break down—fragmenting into millions of microplastics that infiltrate our water, soil, and air (Plastic Pollution Coalition, 2025).
In fact, despite the time and effort consumers spend sorting recyclables—often to avoid fines exceeding $1,000 under California’s Rigid Plastic Packaging Container (RPPC) law—most of these materials never actually get recycled (CalRecycle, 2025; Plastic Pollution Coalition, 2025). To some, this is not news. From plastic blowing away from piles atop transportation trucks, plastic being left in landfills to never decompose, and trash incineration plants turning larger PET plastics into microplastics, our plastic waste never actually goes away (Plastic Pollution Coalition, 2025).
And now for the real reality check: And now for the real reality check: the global recycling system is broken. The Global North sends their waste to the Global South; local governments constitute this as illegal, but federal governments, particularly in developing nations that suffer overdependence on foreign economic assistance, make illegal deals to turn their land into mass landfills if it means they can make a profit (Plastic Pollution Coalition, 2025). This is the unfortunate reality that the entire world is suffering from, with no signs of stopping.
Remember, this is Plastic Free Fridays. We spread awareness of these distressing themes and, although there is no clear solution to this complex issue, we encourage you to change how you interpret the truth of plastic pollution with optimism. The most obvious answers we have are to decrease your consumption of single-use plastics and opt for reusable alternatives to household products we already incorporate in our daily lives. We recommend you continue doing the right thing, to be a good samaritan and organize your recyclables to facilitate waste processing centers. Understand that most plastic will end up in landfills and take centuries to break down, but also educate yourself on which plastics can be downcycled more than others according to the RIC chart we have provided here. Lastly, become a conscious consumer. Recognize which brands promote authentic messages of sustainability that are not pure greenwashing, and hold them accountable to sell products made of biodegradable materials that do good for the planet. Research who your favorite brands do deals with and give money to or take money from. Finally, as previously mentioned, simply consume less. We do not need the trendiest outfit or the newest technology and appliances. Find ways to repurpose and fix the things you already own. [If you are in Central and South America, join the Club de Reparadores (the global Repair Movement)]. We promise you that in a world full of noise and uncertainty, living with intention—choosing authenticity in your self-expression and sustainability in your everyday actions—is not just impactful, it’s priceless.
Spread awareness, stay up to date on plastic pollution data, and visit plasticfreefridays.org to learn more about how to get involved in global change to better help the planet.
