What Category 6 Hurricanes and Plastics Recycling Have in CommonWhat Category 6 Hurricanes and Plastics Recycling Have in Common
Social media has been buzzing with comments about how Hurricane Milton should be considered a Category 6 storm. This is a bad idea. The reason why also speaks to the current debate about plastics recycling.
October 9, 2024

As I write this, Hurricane Milton has grown rapidly from a tropical depression to a strong Category 5 storm, with the Florida peninsula in its sights. Social media has been filled with comments that it might be/could be/should be considered a Category 6 storm. The arguments against this are informative and can be analogous to my thoughts on plastics recycling.
The big concern is that if the scale goes from 1 to 6 instead of 1 to 5, then Category 3 storms, which are already extremely serious, would be considered less of a risk. By changing the scale, you change people’s perception of the danger, making the lower rated storms seem less dangerous.
The storm with no name
As it is, the government needs to repeatedly remind people that Category 1 and 2 storms are still dangerous, and people need to take them seriously. Storms in the lower categories can be hazardous, too, even with lower wind speeds. A recent example was “Potential Tropical Cyclone Eight,” a storm so weak that it didn’t even get a name, let alone become a hurricane. It hit the eastern end of North Carolina less than a month ago, with some areas receiving 20 inches of rain, leading to massive flooding and washed-out roads. The flood damage was far greater than any hurricane ever produced in the area. All from a non-named storm. People that were interviewed all said they didn’t take it seriously because it wasn’t a named storm, even as forecasters spoke otherwise.
Adding a Category 6 to hurricanes is not a good idea. It will only end up hurting people.
This is why I am so concerned about the latest slew of lawsuits and other reports stating that plastics are not recyclable.
Low recycling rates don’t mean that plastics aren’t recyclable
The vast majority of plastics are recyclable, and by this I mean that they can be recycled. Chop them up, feed them in with or without virgin resin, and make something to sell. The fact that most plastic isn’t currently recycled doesn’t alter these basic facts. Low recycling rates are due to several other factors, especially the low price of oil.
As the price of oil increases, so does the attractiveness of recycled plastics. Ten years ago, when the price of oil was over $120 per barrel, recycled plastics were a seriously considered option by processors. People were after recycled resins by means both legal and otherwise. Just like there are people stealing copper pipes for their recycling value, plastics were being stolen for their recycling value.
It was so bad in Southern California that the LA County Sheriff’s office had a dedicated task force focused on stolen plastics. They were routinely making busts that recovered millions of dollars in stolen plastics that the thieves intended to pelletize for recycling.
Nipping misperceptions in the bud
Oil is now about $70 a barrel, and so recycled resin isn’t as attractive and crime rates are down. Yet environmentalists, district attorneys, and others (with a short-term memory) look at (only) the current situation and state that “plastics are not recyclable,” despite evidence to the contrary.
If the public hears this enough, they will start to believe it, now and in the future, even when the price of oil increases and makes large-scale recycling viable again. They will continue to treat plastic waste as junk, just as they continue to ignore storm warnings for lower category hurricanes (and even the dreaded “Potential Tropical Cyclones”).
That’s why it’s so important that we fight these misperceptions now. Changing the definition of “recyclable” to mean that an active marketplace exists is like adding additional categories to the hurricane scale. It only ends up hurting people due to bad misperceptions of reality.
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