Houston says new recycling program is model for U.S., but critics say it's not a viable solution
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- Houston partnered with ExxonMobil and other companies to perform "advanced recycling," which they say can handle the recycling of any type of plastic. But critics say "advanced recycling" may not be a viable solution and is a talking point used by the petro-chemical industry to keep consumers buying and using plastic guilt-free.
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Basically, those guys are sayin', "we'll get to the recycling part off the process eventually"..... no they won't.
Basically, the anti oil and anti plastic people will never stop until they die. It’s a religion with few apostates.
Add that to the anti money crowd that thinks anyone making money (except themselves, of course) is bound to be choosing evil. Should we believe this reporter really did the work, or did he tell everyone what he knew they wanted to hear to help his career - to get MORE MONEY! (Insert evil musical score here).
We will solve plastic recycling, and if it’s like anything else, there will be people trying to stop the solution for their own reasons.
"That's something that we'll have to look into", the man says. Holy cow.
he will never have it looked into. He already knew it was a failure.
Houston is broke and their Fire Chief was just fired.
"We're going to see what happens." Truly, this guy is a fountain of information for the public he serves.
Most likely will take a bribe and sweep it all under the rug.
We f*cked ourselves with plastic.
There's bacteria that eats it now, were more worried about it than the planet is🤣
@@Throughthelurkinglass thats some cute cope mr micro plastic
@@jcup9313 My sincerest apologies for not b1tching and moaning over something I am powerless to change, and deciding to focus on the positive, I bring shame to UA-cam commentators everywhere, willst thou ever forgive me😎
Plastics are not recyclable. Period. Government should mandate a switch back to glass wherever possible.
Most plastics are indeed recyclable, but 90% of it is just not economically feasible to recycle.
The plastic industry likes putting the recycling logo on everything because it technically is recyclable, just no one will do it at scale.
@@AznCracker13 you are incorrect. Plastic cannot be recycled over and over again like glass and aluminum. It has a finite number of cycles. This is why so much plastic gets recycled into plastic bags and not water bottles. The quality of the recycled plastic is too low for all uses.
You've been lied to by the oil industry.
Definitely incorrect. Period.
@@AznCracker13 make big oil pay for recycling…..watch how fast they stop making plastic.
It's not a "facility" if it's open air. That's just a fancy way to say, left in a field.
Recycling works. **Plastic** recycling doesn't. The oil/plastic industry knows this and has known this for DECADES. Don't believe their lies.
But the government? Blissfully unaware or just doesn't catch attention like gay marriage does?? I wish we weren't so stupid and easily misled.
Admitting that truck was empty.. come back later since the first dog and pony show went bust!! Rich!!
Whaaaat? Corporations don’t have our best interests at heart? 😮
Whaat? Government doesn’t have our best interest at heart?
What I don’t get is how much evidence the sheep in the mob will need before they figure out big government means big companies getting big advantages. We need less of both.
It is not that it has to be economically viable .... they will only do it if it is economically profitable.
@@kel5944 Politicians don’t either. Surprise.
I think the bottom line here is that even when someone solves recycling of plastics, there will be a huge amount of anti oil people who simply cannot accept it. Their stance is a religion, and they will not give it up.
@@nunyabidness3075 you sound like an oil company bot.
@@kel5944 I’m not. Notice I didn’t need to accuse you of anything? I’m big on individualism and proper incentives. Also, I hear so much stuff about oil companies that’s just fantasy.
Our plastics waste problem is a corporate one, it’s not up to us consumers. Big Oil spends money to make us think that this falls upon us. Even if we were perfect with consumer recycling, it wouldn’t put a dent in the problem that is wrought by corporations.
Quit pointing at corporations, expecting government to raise taxes and bam problem solved. Obviously that isn't working.
It's almost as if no one has ever thought of using glass bottles. Glass, as we all know, is readily recycled.
Plastic is not.
But I can’t find a glass recycling place in Houston. I have to dump it with the plastic bottles at Whole Food recycle bins.
So this is why we don't use glass anymore. I've been a truck driver for 31 years and I'm going to tell you the reason why. Glass is too heavy that's why it's not used anymore. It cost too much in fuel. To move the same amount of commodity that can be moved with liquids or whatever and thin plastic containers. I can remember a time when milk was sold in wax paper or wax cardboard containers which would be a better option I think. But then again weight is a problem for these people. I think that's still a plastic milk. Jug is lighter than a wax paper or wax cardboard milk container. And that's why plastic is being used cuz it is light and strong. Bdl, we have the problem of not being able to recycle it.
Glass isn't pliable & breaks easily
Well, use electric trucks to transport those filled glass bottles then if they increase diesel fuel usage.
It's generally local delivery, not long haul.
Glass is what we had growing up.
Stuff tasted better, and wasn't drinking MICRO-PLASTIC either!
@@Heyu7her3 Previous to 1978, all of our coke and pepsi came in glass bottles or metal cans. Yes, glass breaks. Somehow we survived.
The best thing all of us can do is to try our best to buy things not made of or packaged in plastic.
That means ending purchases of 98% of items no longer available in glass or cans. Every brand of the item you're looking for is 100 plastic, such as peanut butter and cooking oil. Buy a package of screwdrivers, and they're also in a theft-proof plastic, impossible-to-open plastic wrap. Mini products are wrapped in elegantly designed plastic containers, seemingly more valuable than the product. An undeveloped poor countries without landfills it ends up in the water where it used to breakdown before plastic replaced the biodegradable product. Burning plastic for fuel is orwellian at best. Dumping it into the atmosphere instead of bringing it into the ground, like high-grade nuclear waste, dilution is not the solution when it's all contained on our little Blue Marble in the middle of the universe.
It’s nearly impossible to avoid plastic!
@@daretoder But it not hard to reuse that plastic, even on a personal level.
There is no such thing as non single use food packaging plastic.
Very little plastic here, and it gets reused.
Refrigerated tap water in a real glass glass or a Tupperware tumbler gosh knows how old for travel with a cooler of nice homemade ice water.
As someone who tries to keep the recycle compost and trash properly, it takes energy and effort to do this, and I would be so angry wasting my time to participate in some fake marketing campaign by an oil company.
Lived in Korea a decade ago. My building had strict rules on recycling. Everything got recycled. And, you had to buy a special bag for trash only (cost 50 cents per bag).
Even stuff like potato chip bags had to be separated.
Hi, the biggest barrier to recycling is contamination. It can be food or even other plastics, so if the person you are sending your plastic to does not complain about contamination, then they are not recycling. Most of the sorting machines can't identify black plastics, so if your recycler has not sent you a notice not to put black plastic in the universal plastic bin, then I doubt they are recycling it. But if your plastic is clean and well sorted then a real recycling center will gladly take it, because they would only have to melt it down again to use it. I hope that helps.
Exxon Mobil spend lots of money on Green Washing Advertising
You are wasting your time. The material is not recycled. You can find a variety of documentaries that explain when and why and how this came to be the case. Recycling is very much a farce and our recycling that you're sorting just goes to landfills in other countries. Look it up this is all true.
Yeah. I mean many people don't have blue bins so we have to store our recycling and drop it off at the recycling center periodically. If it's just going to end up in a landfill then we're putting a burden on ourselves for nothing. We might as well put the plastics in the trash every week.
Plastic recycling is a sham, but not metal, paper, or in some cases, glass.
@@sharingtherealworld the problem is when it's glass from single stream recycling it gets contaminated with other materials.
I bet Mr “well look into that” is getting a nice Texas sized kickback from waste management
Reporter: “should we trust a company…..”
Exxon mouth piece: “that’s challenging the integrity of who we are”
Also Exxon: the truck was empty and did nothing.🤬
Searched for this comment. I LOL’d when he said that. 😂
Recycling paper, glass, and metal works.
I think the reality of massive plastic recycling is still to be found. But I'm glad to see there are people investing in this effort. Too many critical industries, such healthcare, transportation, and technology, are highly dependent on plastic. Unfortunately for these critical industries plastic substitutes are not available. Therefore I think we will continue to rely on plastic.
"partly funded by ExxonMobil - one of the biggest plastic makers on the planet." I giggled when I heard that.
Wait, we were lied to? Of course!
Great video!
Oil sucks. Stop buying drinks in plastic containers. Also shampoo, laundry detergent, etc. The alternatives are there!
And food. Walk down any grocery store aisle. It's mostly plastic, not food.
If you have money to pay for alternative
How smug of him the way he’s talking
at then end of the segment they should've stated that they were talking about plastic recycling not recycling Glass, Metal, or Paper.
These people don’t even seem to give a single flying f**k about the truth, sustainability or innovation. I’ve never seen such audacious liars. They will surely reap what they sow. Not just the company at large but the foot soldiers who knowingly did wrong.
Same story different day, I have bin hearing these stories since the 60s, and like the problem they just keep piling up and failing to deliver allowing corporations to keep producing and increasing plastic production.
Fractional distillation is not complicated. We’ve been doing it for more than 100 years. It’s how we separate crude oil to make, gas,diesel,kerosene, lubricating oil, fuel oil, petroleum jelly, even wax before we turn it into plastic. We could very easily just put the plastic and any other garbage into a sealed fractional distiller. Like the ones we use right now to make crude oil into plastic!!!!
Not trying to be that guy but it's destructive distillation, kind of like cracking, that you are thinking of. And yes we known that for over 100 years as well.
@@jackasdasd5143 no, it’s all good don’t worry I love that guy. He teaches me things maybe I couldn’t see. So no worries but I’m not sure of what you mean by destructive. The system is sealed then I don’t see how it’s destructive. The items will be returned to there original refinement after crude oil, and then can be made back into whatever plastic needed. There by completing the recycling loop. But honestly, I feel like this is only a solution where plastic is necessary. We should go back to glass and ceramic. Stainless steel but aluminum is not good.
I read that many places don’t actually recycle or that recycling really doesn’t work.
Why aren’t people lobbying to have a glass? We have figured out how to make unbreakable glass. It makes no sense to keep on using plastic.
There is no such thing as unbreakable glass.
Oil companies have more money than any glass recycling company or glass bottle maker. So now we're stuck with piles of plastic that doesn't break down and can't be recycled that we tax payers have to pay for because politicians took ExxonMobil money.
Trust exxon on the environment like you trust boeing to keep you safe.
what happened to buying regular milk in a cardboard box?
recycling industry is a "don't ask because I won't tell" industry
Such a disappointment honestly… My family and I live in Houston and recycle A LOT from a small piece of plastic wrap to big cardboard boxes/big plastic items… knowing it doesn’t really end up where is belongs and that the cities officials do such a terrible job is infuriating. Then again its politics and big corporations at work 😒
Hey look! An oil company slow-rolling the move away from their products by pretending that recycling might work at some at "some point". This isn't out of their dusty old playbook at all. /s
100%, they have perfected these kinds of tactics. They haven’t made this much money for this long and not spent a bunch of it on creating a playbook to deal with any situation.
F oil & gas
Remember that next time you need medical supplies made of plastic. Or the phone you're using. Or the car you drive.
@@EikottXD Car can be fixed by better public transportation that all Houstonians know that we need. The 5 lane roads each side arent cutting it anymore. The phones are more made of rare earth materials that are more metal element based than plastic. And the medical supplies generally get incinerated. I dont see oil and gas really contributing to much besides idk... Lobbying to make it seem like plastics are recycable? Making it seem like they are doing much for the world and environment when their quarterly reports just show that they are making more and more each quarter. Their cash flow is insane! And yet they still treat their employees like crap, their contractors like crap and even their RD&E teams like crap.
SO. The next time I need medical supplies, I will thank the people who invented them with the intent of doing well. The next time I use my phone, I will thank the people who even set up the networks for phones and the ease of communication. The next time I drive, which I rarely do as I like to carpool as its better for the environment AND my wallet, I will thank the person driving for getting us there safely, but also think about how much better things would be if Houston had more public transportation than just ROADS.
just figure out how to turn plastic into food. we're anyway already full of it.
The whole point of recycling plastic is to keep it OUT of the landfills and the rest of our natural environments. Buying and using plastics isn't the overall problem.
The main problem with plastics is the public's tendency to treat plastics as readily disposable. Plastic was created for long-term usage, not for the amount of time it takes to empty a water bottle.
Simply collecting plastic waste is a HUGE step in keeping it out of the oceans, soil and air.
That fact that ANY company is using their resources to collect the plastic is very commendable.
And all those folks talking about using non-plastics should understand that collecting and processing wood, metal and stone to "replace" plastic usage negatively affects the environment as well. These materials also take decades or centuries to replenish.
Therefore, these materials can be considered viable alternatives to plastics ONLY if they ALSO are recycled. Otherwise, the landfills will get even bigger and more unsustainable, as they already are now.
Also, petroleum companies that can effectively recover plastic for recycling don't have to produce more oil for plastic manufacturing. In fact, once they do get this advanced plastic recycling going in a viable manner, it will be a tremendous moneymaker, which is why oil companies are attempting to go this route in the first place.
I personally feel that ALL plastic waste should be collected and contained in secure locations until we grow up as a civilization and figure out how to keep folks from just throwing plastic away on the roads, waterways and skies.
I cringe every single time that folks let go of "remembrance" balloons into the sky. WHERE do folks think that this plastic is going?
And bits of it will make it's way in our food and other products we consume
Safe. Extremely Safe. And natural, the candles on the cake, free fuel for energy production spewing toxic waste into the air. They might try that for the methane they're venting from the Permian field.
They get the money but the project never gets completed but they keep getting money.
Recycling unfortunately has been the biggest scam ever. Need to regulate the materials allowed up front at production.
*plastics recycling. Recycling metal and (usually) paper is actually beneficial.
Incinerator can turn waste into energy. Its what they do on Islands like the Philippines.
Yeah, because the Philippines isn't the worlds largest contributor of plastic pollution into the ocean. If they are doing it, we'd best do the exact opposite.
Thank you CBS for this investigation. I will try harder to use less plastic.
Very suspect.
That huge warehouse would house a lot of people...
Gonna need y’all to keep looking into Texas and how our officials and big companies are doing things. This was thorough and you got them to acknowledge their attempt to bold face lie. I hear that’s much harder as a local.
If at any point in the last 15 years you thought your plastic was actually being recycled, you never really cared at all.
Mixed feelings here. While basically true about the challenge of recycling plastics, this felt like a hit piece that will only serve to stifle innovation and discourage those causing the problem to work on cleaning up after themselves... Whether you feel 'guilt' or not, good luck avoiding plastics. Work on recycling and on alternatives both need encouraged.
The oil and gas industry profits off of confusion. It was the oil industry's goal to make climate change controversial.
Cooking oil. I don't use much and the condition of the plastic container has deteriorated. You cannot buy one in glass any longer, I have no choice or I would never buy plastic again. Most of the garbage I have is plastic. Even the peanut butter container is plastic and Adams peanut butter in glass jars is no longer for sale at my grocery store. How long does a vegetable oil container last before it contaminates the vegetable oil inside of it?
Hi, Cooking oil only lasts for a couple of years, so I would say the oil is already bad (rancid). A plastic container will outlast any food stored in them.
@@jonathanjohnson8376Chemicals leach from the plastic into the food, that’s what OP is saying. Chemicals can leach from glass too, by the way, that’s why you get cancer warnings on glasses.
Just a heads up: for the last two decades, most of the recycling we’ve done, including throughout my childhood, was shipped to China and other developing countries. These countries were responsible for sorting and recycling our waste. However, a significant portion of it wasn’t recycled due to contamination, such as food waste, which led to it being burned in open pits. This practice caused severe health issues for thousands of people and contributed to environmental pollution.
In 2018, China stopped importing what they called ‘foreign garbage’ because of the negative impact it was having on their environment and public health. This led to a global scramble as countries tried to find new places to send their waste, which often ended up being dumped into the sea or in landfills in other countries.
Now, we’re struggling to figure out what to do with our waste. One of the most effective methods, like the one used in Singapore, is to incinerate trash to produce energy. This process also allows for the recovery of valuable metals that would otherwise end up in landfills.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that many of the initiatives we were encouraged to support when I was growing up were more about corporate profiteering than genuine environmental benefit. It’s important to critically examine why certain policies or practices are pushed and who really stands to benefit from them. Let’s make smarter decisions that truly help the environment and society, rather than just padding the profits of corporations.
Weird how old glass bottles are smarter
This reminds me of a line from Jerry Maguire. “I love him for the man he wants to be and the man he almost is.”
I read somewhere that Italy is recycling plastic and turning it back to a usable liquid.
"Is this actually working?"
"You saw it pumping"
Actually empty truck, bc of "reasons." Fossil fuel industry lies 101
I've never recycled anything but glass.
I've always have known that they toss it in the landfill
It’s also on us to reduce plastic pollution by reducing where we can buying products such as water bottles and instead carry with you your portable water bottle. We can start somewhere
Here in California, we've been paying a plastic surcharge for plastic bottles and plastic bags for at least a decade. It's disappointing to hear that's not what's happening.
It is good to hear that Texas and not California opted to accept all this non-recyclable plastic.
But in California it was just a money grab for a pass-thru item that hasn't stopped its use!. Tax the corporations that make it, fill it, and repeat the process.
Maybe we shouldn't make so many types of plastic. Why not reduce the types to make recycling easier?
It definitely would help, but plastic is extremely hard to recycle and basically is impossible due to plastic being easily contaminated by other things unlike glass when being recycled. There will still be a need for plastic like for example in the medical industry but hopefully they can use less types of plastic so it's easier to recycle.
@@jackasdasd5143First step is to reduce the different types of plastics to just 3 types made worldwide. Only then it would be possible to reuse plastics recycled for infrastructure rebuilding or repair since it lasts so long. Corporations that make plastics as we know it are only trying to turn it into a zero sum no cost item, hence the lies will continue about its practicality.
Exxon Mobil spend lots of money on Green Washing Advertising
It costs so much to do that taxpayers are going to revolt when the bill hits.
awww dont do James Bond like that haha
Let’s all just stop buying products with plastic.
It's the producers job to deal with their waste! I'm so sick of hearing how it's my moral duty as one person to recycle while the multi-trillion dollar companies producing the problem face no consequences for literally filling the worlds water system with micro plastics! They're Captain Planet villains!
That huge Houston warehouse was built for what? It's an empty shell. I am assuming they have some equipment layout planned for their recycling. So that company, Cyclyx, hasn't done their process to scale. So who was the designer that drew the plans for a 9 football field warehouse? Who thought that 9 football fields was enough? So much BS, if they had a plan to do something then it should have been done already. If it wasn't done yet, don't talk to the media just yet.
"Truck was empty, due to a malfunction." Oh come on!
Yet all the plastic ends up in a feild
New law. All plastic producers, must include recycled content in their products to the tune of 10% per year over the next 8 years. No importing plastic waste to meet this goal. If you make it, it is YOUR responsibility to recycle it. Do expect prices to rise though, that extra cost is going somewhere. No imported plastic that does not meet this goal with plastic from the USA.
Hmmm...interesting story. When I was still living in New Orleans in 2017, I remember hearing that certain foreign countries had decided to stop taking waste from the USA. I was told way back then that almost all of the recycling goes in the landfills in reality. This has apparently taken quite a long while to make the rounds. Thank you for this story and for your vigilance.
Why not go back to glass containers? It may not be the best total replacement but it can help.
Aduro Clean Technologies to the rescue! Currently able to recycle 6 kinds of plastic using lower temperatures and yielding 95% usable feedstock, working with Shell and France’s Total Energies and several other multi-billion dollar companies! Planning to get listed on NYSE, currently listed in Canada. Oh, they can recycle tires too!
Its time past due to place the burden of plastic disposal / recycling onto the backs of the companies that make it, not the consumers .
How dare anyone challenge big gasses integrity.
They gonna hook up a empty truck like a straight up con and then say not to question their integrity
More power to them. I hope and pray this works.
Um, Plastic can be recycled and made in to park benches, and tons of things that can be done by everyday citizens at home with silicon molds and a simple appliance like a toaster oven, pannini press, or a microwave dedicated to just plastic recycling projects.
Houston is kickback central.
"something we'll have to look into" that owner has a "idgaf" attitude he should be sued, fined and jailed for negligence of public safety
Why not swap plastic slot drink bottles with the old glass ones that kids used to collect and return for deposits?
Its called kickbacks. The people up top get money under the table
Its a shame we use such materials that cant be recycled, why can't we just use stuff that can be recycled.
It is a scam obviously smh!
Maybe Texas needs to hire UA-cam creators the Brothers Make brothers to help recycle the plastic waste?
Exxon mobil 🙄🙄🙄
I hope that Exxon is true and successful in this effort.
Lying politician says, “It’s something we’ll have to look into”. What part of the 3 inspections did he choose to ignore?
Don’t buy stuff you don’t need, plastic or otherwise. No, you don’t need to live like a hermit.
Whatever happened to biorecyclying, I thought they figured out how to recycle plastic using bacteria years ago.
every glass recycler has closed up.
Honest journalism! Thank you!
A more promising process may be the recent discovery of some bacteria, fungi and grubs that actually eat various plastics.
Someone from Berkeley found a way to chemically recycle plastic I believe
Petroleum needs to be put back into the oil wells and the wells closed
Every city needs to build a plastic/tire pyrolysis facility!!! Plastic recycling is LIE
This is the responsibility of every governor and mayor!!!!
My good friend works at the recycling center at my town the only thing they actually recycle is the aluminum everything else they take the big trailers and just send them straight to the city dump
The Houston Director of Solid Waste management is part of the problem. He shrugged when he said “that’s something that we’ll have to look into”. He’s nothing but a politician. He’s always known it was bs and clearly doesn’t care. He’s more upset he’s being called on it and that he may get more push back from the public when he tries to bs them again about how green they are. Ultimately it won’t matter though, he’ll keep his job because he’s just playing the game.
Everyone watching this shell game of just moving waste around should visit some of the work really being done in Japan to recycle plastic waste.
💜
ITS LITERALLY A SCAM. THEY NEED TO NOT BE IN CHARGE OF RECYCLING.
Go to Europe and have a look. It’s being done here in several countries. You just need to sort it.
The lies run way deeper than this. If you humans only knew. The lies run just as deep in energy maybe a little deeper.
Need to be milled up and used for road construction but the oil companies would have a mental health decade ya actually did something logical