question: ELIF: why can’t straws be recycled? More broadly, why can’t all plastic be recycled the same way?
comment: Straws, depending on the exact type of plastic they're made from, can be recycled. However, due to the fact that they're small, light and easily bent they are hard to process. They tend to fall into cracks in recycling machinery. So, a lot of facilities won't accept straws. In general, there are a lot of different types of material that are all called plastic. You can look at the Resin Identification Code to see what type they are. That's the number inside of the recycling symbol that you see on many plastic products. The different types of plastic require different machinery to recycle them. If the machinery required to recycle a type of plastic is too expensive compared to the value of the recycled material, you generally won't see it being accepted. The recycling industry is fundamentally driven by profit. If an item can't be profitably recycled it likely won't be accepted. These plants aren't running as charities.
passages: Microplastics pollution are a concern if plastic waste is improperly dumped. If plastic straws are improperly disposed of, they can be transported via water into soil ecosystems, and others, where they break down into smaller, more hazardous pieces than the original plastic straw.
   BULLET::::- Polylactic acid (PLA), a biodegradable plastic, require 68% fewer fossil fuel resources to produce than plastic and are compostable but require very specific conditions to break down fully
  
  BULLET::::- Wheat stem drink straws are made from the stem of the wheat plant. They are typically 3-5 mm in diameter, which is the same diameter as commercially available plastic stir sticks and cocktail straws. They are available in five inch and seven and one half inch lengths.
  
  Section::::Environmental impact.
   Section::::Environmental impact.:Voluntary conversions.
  
  After consideration of a ban in the UK, in 2018, after a two month trial of paper straws at a number of outlets in the UK, McDonald's announced they would be switching to paper straws for all locations in the United Kingdom and Ireland. and testing the switch in U.S. locations in June 2018.
  
  A month after the Vancouver ban passed (but before it took effect) Canada's second-largest fast food chain, A&W announced they would have plastic straws fully phased out by January 2019 in all of their locations.
   In 2015, Williamstown, Massachusetts banned straws that are not recyclable or compostable as part of its Article 42 polystyrene regulations.
   Section::::Advantages and disadvantages.:Environmental benefits.
  
  There is much debate about the total carbon, fossil fuel and water usage in manufacturing bioplastics from natural materials and whether they are a negative impact to human food supply. To make of polylactic acid, the most common commercially available compostable plastic, of corn is required. Since 270 million tonnes of plastic are made every year, replacing conventional plastic with corn-derived polylactic acid would remove 715.5 million tonnes from the world's food supply, at a time when global warming is reducing tropical farm productivity.
   Similarly, agricultural plastics such as mulch film, drip tape and silage bags are being diverted from the waste stream and successfully recycled into much larger products for industrial applications such as plastic composite railroad ties. Historically, these agricultural plastics have primarily been either landfilled or burned on-site in the fields of individual farms.
   On April 19, 2018, ahead of Earth Day, a proposal to phase out single-use plastics was announced during the meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government. This will include plastic drinking straws, which cannot be recycled and contribute to ocean deterioration, damaging ecosystems and wildlife. It is estimated that as of 2018, about 23 million straws are used and discarded daily in the UK. Plastic straws will be banned in England from April 2020. However, there will be exemptions for those who require plastic straws due to disability.
  
  Section::::Environmental impact.:Plastic straw bans and proposals.:United States.
   BULLET::::- Environmental accounting can easily be used to pretend that environmental impacts of a company are reduced while actual impacts increase. This has been shown, for example, in a case of corporate carbon accounting: the company celebrated reduced relative emissions while absolute emissions increased. The same company achieved reducing current emissions by "correcting" past emissions as higher (effecting a calculation that presents current emissions as relatively lower).
  
  BULLET::::- In 2018, in response to increased calls for banning plastic straws, Starbucks introduced a new straw-less lid that actually contained more plastic by weight than the old straw and lid combination.
  
  Section::::Opposition.
   The 10 largest emitters of oceanic plastic pollution (which does include plastic straws) are, from the most to the least, China, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Egypt, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Bangladesh,
  
  Plastic straws account only for a tiny portion (0.022%) of plastic waste emitted in the oceans each year. Despite that, numerous campaigns in the 2010s have led to companies considering a switch to paper straws and countries imposing bans on plastic straws. 
   BULLET::::- Waste landfill costs: if plastics represent a significant percentage of waste in a particular region, manufacturing plastics with bio-degradable properties may be more profitable and ecologically friendly than merely disposing of a non-degradable plastic. By using degradable polymers, costs due to waste transportation, landfill maintenance, new landfill excavation and environmental hazard control can be avoided.
  
  BULLET::::- Lost end-of-life plastic potential: processes such as energy recovery of the plastic by incineration or biological treatment and material recovery by recycling have to be taken into account when assessing the feasibility of manufacturing degradable polymers.
  
  Section::::Aspects of plastic processing.:Reusable plastic containers.
   Straws are typically made from polypropylene, mixed with colorants and plasticizers, and do not biodegrade in the environment, according to advocacy group "For A Strawless Ocean". Since the material is strong it can however be reused or recycled into other products. Waste straws in Uganda are collected from beer and soft drink depots, cleaned, and woven into mats for picnics and prayers or joined to form bags.
  
  Alternatives to plastic straws, some reusable, exist, although not always readily available:
  
  BULLET::::- Bamboo straws
  
  BULLET::::- Glass straws
  
  BULLET::::- Metal straws
  
  BULLET::::- Stainless steel straws - cases with straw cleaning-brushes are available
   Hyatt Hotels announced straws would be provided by request only, starting September 1, 2018. Royal Caribbean plans to offer only paper straws on request by 2019, and IKEA said it would eliminate all single-use plastic items by 2020. Other conversions include Waitrose, London City Airport, and Burger King UK stores starting September 2018. A few other cruise lines, air lines, beverage companies, and hotels, have also made partial or complete reductions, but most companies in those industries have not, as of May 2018.
  
  Section::::Environmental impact.:The Ban Controversy.
   Various independent restaurants have also stopped using plastic straws.
  
  Starbucks announced conversion by 2020 to no-straw lids for all cold drinks except for frappucinos, which will be served with straws made from paper or other sustainable materials.
   Plastic straw use is a controversial topic among four sides, the consumer, corporations, policy makers, and environmentalists. To further explore the views of all four of these groups we will introduce each opposition. 
   Starting in 2019, a ban of plastic straws will go into effect in the City of Vancouver, due to a vote in May 2018 that included banning other single-use items. In March 2019, Starbucks Canada announced that they will be debuting strawless lids for cold drinks across Toronto as a part of their global environmental aspirations.
  
  Section::::Environmental impact.:Plastic straw bans and proposals.:European Union.
  
  In May 2018, the European Union proposed a ban on single-use plastics including straws, cotton buds, cutlery, balloon sticks and drink stirrers.
  
  Section::::Environmental impact.:Plastic straw bans and proposals.:United Kingdom.
   In 2017, the Finnish board manufacturer Kotkamills launched a new kind of cup (food service) board which uses no wax or plastic for waterproofing, and thus can be recycled as part of the normal paper and board waste stream, biodegraded, or even composted in small quantities.
  
  The manufacture of paper usually requires inorganic chemicals and creates water effluents. Paper cups may consume more non-renewable resources than cups made of polystyrene foam (whose only significant effluent is pentane).
  
  Section::::Environmental impact.:Paper vs plastic.
   Plastic has replaced traditional materials like wood, paperboard, and metal for the manufacture of containers because of its price, moldability/formability, durability and light weight. Alternatives such as cotton bags, cardboard boxes and aluminum cans often have larger ecological footprints because these use up more energy and water to manufacture and transport than their plastic equivalents.
  
  Section::::Trade groups.
  
  In the U.S., the industry is represented by the Society of the Plastics Industry, Closure & Container Manufacturers Association, Flexible Packaging Association, and others.
  
  Section::::Global market.
   Section::::Applications.:PS.
  
  Most polystyrene products are not recycled due to the lack of incentive to invest in the compactors and logistical systems required. As a result, manufacturers cannot obtain sufficient scrap. Expanded polystyrene (EPS) scrap can easily be added to products such as EPS insulation sheets and other EPS materials for construction applications. When it is not used to make more EPS, foam scrap can be turned into clothes hangers, park benches, flower pots, toys, rulers, stapler bodies, seedling containers, picture frames, and architectural molding from recycled PS.
   In recent years, manufacturers have been working on developing more sustainable alternatives to traditional plastic products. Amongst them are plates and cutlery made from bamboo and wood (mostly birch). Throughout the entire life cycle of wood products, there are far fewer environmental repercussions than with traditional plastics or so called "bioplastics" like PLA. The production process is free of chemicals and the products decompose usually in the matter of only a few months. Currently wood and bamboo products are more costly than traditional plastics and not as widely available, which makes it challenging for some restaurants to switch.
  
  Section::::Materials.:Alternative materials.
   On July 9, 2018, the Starbucks President and CEO, Kevin Johnson (executive) announced that Starbucks will ban the single-use plastic straws by 2020 on all cold drinks from all locations worldwide due to pollution and sea turtle endangerment as the single-use plastic straws failed to be designed for recycling when they were invented. The frappucinos will get straws made from a different material that is sustainable and environmentally friendly such as paper or compostable plastic, while other cold drinks will get straw-less lids. However, the new lids will actually have more plastic than the old lid-straw combination but they are recyclable unlike the old lid-single-use straw combination. The Starbucks locations in Europe, China, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Canada, Hawaii, Alaska, Washington D.C., New Mexico, California, New York, Washington State, New Jersey, Oregon, Maryland, Delaware, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island already took effect of the change.
   Recycled EPS is also used in many metal casting operations. Rastra is made from EPS that is combined with cement to be used as an insulating amendment in the making of concrete foundations and walls. Since 1993, American manufacturers have produced insulating concrete forms made with approximately 80% recycled EPS.
  
  Section::::Applications.:Other plastics.
  
  The white plastic polystyrene foam peanuts used as packing material are often accepted by shipping stores for reuse.
  
  Successful trials in Israel have shown that plastic films recovered from mixed municipal waste streams can be recycled into useful household products such as buckets.
   In June 2019 William McDonough delivered a keynote address at Sustainable Brands on "A Bold New Vision for the Collection, Processing, Circularity and Productivity of Plastic Waste". As a step toward solving the plastics crisis, McDonough directed the audience to "refuse refuse", or reject plastics which are not reusable, recyclable, compostable and recoverable.
  
  Section::::Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Products Program.
   Bioplastics are used for disposable items, such as packaging, crockery, cutlery, pots, bowls, and straws. Few commercial applications exist for bioplastics. In principle they could replace many applications for petroleum-derived plastics, however cost and performance remain problematic. As a matter of fact, their usage is financially favourable only if supported by specific regulations limiting the usage of conventional plastics. Typical is the example of Italy, where biodegradable plastic bags and shoppers are compulsory since 2011 with the introduction of a specific law. Beyond structural materials, electroactive bioplastics are being developed that promise to be used to carry electric current.
  
  Section::::Examples.
   While containers are usually made from a single type and color of plastic, making them relatively easy to sort, a consumer product like a cellular phone may have many small parts consisting of over a dozen different types and colors of plastics. In such cases, the resources it would take to separate the plastics far exceed their value and the item is discarded. However, developments are taking place in the field of active disassembly, which may result in more product components being reused or recycled. Recycling certain types of plastics can be unprofitable as well. For example, polystyrene is rarely recycled because the process is usually not cost effective. These unrecycled wastes are typically disposed of in landfills, incinerated or used to produce electricity at waste-to-energy plants.
   Some new innovations propose plastics much easier recycled, like 2019 polydiketoenamines. (PDK)
  
  Section::::Recycling rates.
  
  The quantity of post-consumer plastics recycled has increased every year since at least 1990, but rates lag far behind those of other items, such as newspaper (about 80%) and corrugated fiberboard (about 70%). Overall, U.S. post-consumer plastic waste for 2008 was estimated at 33.6 million tons; 2.2 million tons (6.5%) were recycled and 2.6 million tons (8%) were burned for energy; 28.9 million tons, or 86%, were discarded in landfills.
  
presuppositions: Straws can't be recycled. straws can't be recycled.
corrections: Straws can be recycled, but they are hard to process. Straws can be recycles depending on the type of plastic they are from.
raw_presuppositions: Straws can't be recycled. straws can't be recycled.
raw_corrections: Straws can be recycled, but they are hard to process. Straws can be recycles depending on the type of plastic they are from.