Bottled water monopolist admits recycling is bullshit

“Personal responsibility” and “caveat emptor.”

CORRECTION: The original version of this article identified Exxon as the creator of the recycling symbol,They did not create the symbol, but they did pressure 40 US state legislatures to mandate the use of the logo, though they knew that the plastics that bore it couldn’t be recycled.

“Puffery” is a funny word! It’s the word that lawyers use when their clients are accused of unlawful speech acts, such as fraud or libel. In that context, “puffery” (or, even better, “mere puffery”) is a synonym for bullshit.

Recycling is puffery. Which is to say, recyling is bullshit.

Plastics recycling has its origins in a “puffery” campaign. In 1973, Exxon researchers told the company that there was no feasible way to recycle plastics, and that there likely never would be.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/14/they-knew/#doing-it-again

Exxon sprang into action! They created a puffery campaign! They lobbied state legislatures to mandate the use of the recycling logo, three arrows pointing at each other, telling us that plastic was part of a new, “circular” economy. Oil is made into plastic, plastic is used, plastic is recycled. Everybody wins!