Trail Mail: What’s the Deal with Plastic?

Real questions. Field-tested answers.

Got something on your mind? Ask away — your friendly Camp Counselor is in.

Dear Field Trip,

“I’m suddenly seeing a lot of articles on plastic being bad for the Earth. I recycle our plastic, so I’m not sure why it’s any different than glass or metal. Can you explain?”

—Trying to Do My Part

Camp Counselor Says:

Ah, plastic—the material we love to hate, and also… can’t seem to live without. You’re right: glass, metal, and plastic are all technically recyclable. The difference is in how often they actually get recycled and how long they stick around if they don’t.

Here’s the quick breakdown:

• Glass + Metal = Recycling MVPs.

Aluminum cans? They can be melted down and reused pretty much forever without losing quality. Same with glass bottles. In fact, most of the aluminum on shelves today has been through the recycling loop multiple times.

• Plastic = The Slacker Cousin.

Here’s the rub: even when you toss your yogurt cup or soda bottle in the blue bin, odds are high it won’t get turned into something new. Why?

1. Sorting Reality Check.

Glass and aluminum are easy to separate and endlessly reusable. Plastic, on the other hand, comes in tons of different types (those #1–7 numbers on the bottom). Some are recyclable in theory, but many local facilities can’t process them. If they can’t find a buyer for that specific plastic type, it gets trashed.

2. Market Demand.

Recycling only “works” if there’s a market for the material. Virgin plastic (made from fossil fuels) is usually cheaper and higher quality than recycled plastic, so manufacturers often skip the recycled stuff. Without buyers, bales of collected plastic get landfilled or incinerated.

3. Downcycling, Not Looping.

The plastic that does get recycled often can’t come back as food-grade packaging. Instead, it’s “downcycled” into things like park benches, carpet fibers, or plastic lumber. That buys it one more life, but eventually, it still ends up as waste.

So when the EPA says less than 10% of U.S. plastic is recycled, that’s not just people being lazy (though contamination—like tossing greasy Ziplock bags or the wrong plastic in the bin—doesn’t help). It’s mostly that the system itself isn’t built to handle plastic the way it handles glass or metal.

The Lifespan Problem

Glass shatters, metal rusts, but plastic? It can take hundreds of years to break down, and even then, it just turns into microplastics. Those tiny bits are now showing up in soil, oceans, wildlife, and—yup—our own bodies.

So it’s not that you’re wrong to recycle plastic (please keep doing it). It’s just that plastic doesn’t have the same circular life cycle as glass or metal. Best bet? Reduce it where you can, reuse the plastic you do bring home, and recycle as a last step.

Psst… Have a burning question? Hit us up at www.ExploreFieldTrip.com.