Does recycling your plastic actually work? - Shannon Odell

Dig into the biggest problems facing our current plastic recycling process, and explore potential solutions to these systems. -- If you’ve ever looked at the bottom of a disposable bottle or cup, you’ve probably noticed a recycling symbol. Seeing this, many people assume the item should be put in a recycling bin. Yet many plastics are incapable of being recycled at most centers. In fact, only 9% is recycled each year. So why are so few plastics recycled? And what do these symbols actually mean? Shannon Odell investigates. Lesson by Shannon Odell, directed by Yuval Haker, Alon Sivan. This video made possible in collaboration with Speed & Scale Learn more about how TED-Ed partnerships work: A special thanks to Rebecca Altman who provided information and insights for the development of this video. Support Our Non-Profit Mission ---------------------------------------------- Support us on Patreon: Check out our merch: ---------------------------------------------- Connect With Us ---------------------------------------------- Sign up for our newsletter: Follow us on Facebook: Find us on Twitter: Peep us on Instagram: ---------------------------------------------- Keep Learning ---------------------------------------------- View full lesson: Dig deeper with additional resources: #digdeeper Animator’s website: & Music: ---------------------------------------------- Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Jeremy Shimanek, Mark Byers, Avinash Amarnath, Xuebicoco, Rayo, Po Foon Kwong, Boffin, Jesse Jurman, Scott Markley, Elija Peterson, Ovidiu Mrd, paul g mohney, Steven Razey, Nathan Giusti, Helen Lee, Anthony Benedict, Karthik Balsubramanian, Annastasshia Ames, Amy Lopez, Vinh-Thuy Nguyen, Liz Candee, Ugur Doga Sezgin, Karmi Nguyen, John C. Vesey, Yelena Baykova, Nick Johnson, Carlos H. Costa, Jennifer Kurkoski, Ryan B Harvey, Akinola Emmanuel, Jose Arcadio Valdes Franco, Sebastiaan Vleugels, Karl Laius, JY Kang, Abhishek Goel, Heidi Stolt, Nicole Sund, Karlee Finch, Mario Mejia, Denise A Pitts, Doug Henry, Keven Webb, Mihai Sandu, Deepak Iyer and Javid Gozalov.