Why recycling plastic may be more harmful than we realise

For most of us, rinsing out our plastics and dropping those single-use containers into our kerbside recycling seems like a worthy, if unremarkable, pursuit.

But a new study suggests even recycling plastic may be doing more harm than we realise.

In this week’s episode of The i Podcast, science and environment correspondent Tom Bawden and environment correspondent Daniel Capurro join host Serina Sandhu to look at how exactly we can kick our plastic habit and clean up our recycling act. 

From increasing its toxicity to releasing billions of microplastic particles in every cubic metre of wastewater, recycling may not be the silver bullet we once hoped.

Now, ministers are set to increase a crackdown on "wishscycling", when well-meaning households drop items that can’t be recycled into their green bins.

So how else can we prevent our plastic consumption from wreaking havoc on the environment and taking its toll on our health? 

Written and produced by Phoebe Fleming, edited by Julia Webster. The executive producer is Albert Evans.

Music featured is by Michael Kobrin and Lexin Music - licensed via Pixabay.

Check out their music here:

https://pixabay.com/music/modern-classical-the-introvert-michael-kobrin-10959/

https://pixabay.com/users/lexin_music-28841948/

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