[MUSIC PLAYING]
[FOOTSTEPS]
MATT GUTMAN: Late last year, we started this project
to try to find out how plastic bags and plastic film
are recycled in America.
And months later, late at night, it
led us here, to one of the oldest
incinerators in the country.
COURTNEY WILLIAMS: If a lot of people
really made the connection between what they put
in the recycle bin, what they put
in the garbage, and the fact that they're
going to breathe it, we'd have folks
paying a lot closer attention.
MATT GUTMAN: We live in a world filled with plastic.
And many love its convenience.
It wraps the food we eat, the packages
we order, the groceries we buy.
The United States produces more plastic waste
than any other country on Earth.
But have you thought about, where it all goes?
You may think those iconic Three arrows
forming a triangle mean plastic is off to a recycling plant.
ERIN SIMON: We call it wish cycling, where they think
that they'll get recycled.
MATT GUTMAN: But it turns out, it's not that simple.
A lot of people don't think of what happens.
They have zero idea.
MATT GUTMAN: To get a better idea of just what is happening,
ABC News spent the past six months examining
how plastic bags are recycled.
Teaming up with nine ABC stations
in the largest investigation of its kind.
It's a journey that took us coast
to coast from incinerators--
I mean, it looks like, a building-sized blowtorch.
MATT GUTMAN: --to landfills--
GWEN TANTOCO: Plastics and things like that, that's not
what our facility is made for.
MATT GUTMAN: --and to Washington DC.
Because I hope you understand my frustration.
Oh, I do.
MATT GUTMAN: Deploying dozens of trackers to see just
how the plastic bag recycling system in this country
is working.
Hearing from people in communities who say they're
forced to live with the consequences of all this waste.
ZULENE MAYFIELD: That's why we fight.
This thing landed on top of us and we've
been fighting it ever since.
MATT GUTMAN: So you think you recycle?
ZULENE MAYFIELD: You smell it.
You feel it.
You can't breathe.
JUDITH ENCK: We cannot recycle our way out of the plastic
pollution crisis.
It's not enough for you to put your recyclables
in the recycling bin.
MATT GUTMAN: Come with us as we dig into America's plastic bag
recycling system to get to the bottom of what's being trashed.
The evidence of our global plastic problem
is all around us.
It's in our oceans.
It's washed up on our shores.
It's stacked up in our landfills where it could take
hundreds of years to decompose.
While plastic continues to pile up,
the industry has thrived, going from producing
2 million tons of plastic worldwide in 1950
to 348 million tons in 2017.
In 2020, there was more plastic in the world
than the combined weight of nearly
every creature on the planet.
It's also big business, netting the industry $520 billion
globally every year.
The plastics industry is huge.
It's the fossil fuel industry and the chemical industry
combined.
MATT GUTMAN: And production is expected to double by 204.
Even as we struggle to deal with the plastic
we use with roughly half thrown out after just a single use.
This issue requires everybody coming to the table.
MATT GUTMAN: So what can be done with all that plastic waste?
175 member countries of the United Nations
have now pledged to sign an agreement by the end of 2024
to confront, what they call, an epidemic of plastic pollution.
There is consensus that something needs to be done,
but not how to get it done.
We need an international treaty
that sets strong goals to reduce the production,
generation, and use of plastic.
MATT GUTMAN: One of the greatest challenges
is what to do specifically with plastic bags.
Film goes in a variety of things.
It is an essential product.
MATT GUTMAN: Proponents boast of their utility,
but plastic, in general, is difficult and expensive to
recycle and bags even more so.
Plastic bags are also among the top sources
of plastic pollution worldwide.
JOSHUA BACA: Plastic film, while a phenomenal innovation
by our industry, more needs to be
done to make that material, not just
recyclable, but more recycled.
MATT GUTMAN: At least 10 states have passed legislation
limiting the use of plastic bags,
but Americans still use 100 billion bags every year.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The American Chemistry Council is a trade organization
representing many industries, including
plastic manufacturers, and has lobbied heavily against limits
on plastic production.
WOMAN: Plastic helps us live better lives in countless ways.
And what makes it valuable is its potential
for sustainability.
MATT GUTMAN: In 2011, the ACC introduced the Wrap Recycling
Action Program, or WRAP, as a way
to help reduce plastic waste.
WOMAN: What happens to these bags and wraps?
They can be recycled into new products,
such as beautiful backyard decking,
playground equipment, park benches,
shopping carts, and bags.
MATT GUTMAN: Their website states
that WRAP is a "national public awareness and outreach
initiative" that works with "retailers" as well
as "local and state governments" to encourage people
to recycle plastic bags.
The vice president of the ACC's Plastics Division, Joshua Baca,
agreed to sit down with us.
We want to make it easy, simple, and convenient
for consumers so that they could do
the right things that they want to do,
which is recycle more products.
MATT GUTMAN: As part of that initiative,
the ACC promotes a nationwide directory of retail stores,
like Walmart and Target, that show where
you can bring used plastic bags and plastic film
to be recycled.
And the stores work with third parties to pick up the bags.
Our vision is pretty simple.
It's we view store drop-offs, whether it's
Walmart or Target or your local grocery store,
as the bridge to consumers.
MATT GUTMAN: We wanted to see how that vision is working.
So ABC News, along with nine of our affiliates
and owned stations across the country,
assembled bundles of recyclable plastic bags.
Each of them containing a metal tracking device
super-glued inside, then wrapped in several layers
of plastic bags.
All right, we glued it down.
It's nice and secure.
Got four.
MATT GUTMAN: Our teams fanned out across 10 states dropping
them off at Walmart and Target stores, two of the country's
biggest retailers with hundreds of stores with bins labeled
for plastic bag recycling.
I'm outside of a Walmart in West Hills, California.
This is the Northside Walmart here in Austin.
And I am in San Antonio, Texas.
I'm going to drop these plastic bags.
OK, here's one of the drop offs.
MATT GUTMAN: After the drop offs,
we spent months monitoring each tracker's
location multiple times a day.
Here's where one of those AirTag bags ended up.
MATT GUTMAN: Trackers pinging whenever a mobile phone
or digital device was near.
We checked every location that trackers
pinged from on their journey and determined,
they likely did not encounter plastic bags sorting en route.
One that could have potentially separated a tracker from a bag.
One of the first trackers to move
was one we deployed at a Target in Kingston, New York.
And it showed up about a week later
deep inside a New York landfill.
An outcome that would happen again
and again around the country.
In all, we launched 46 trackers.
23 of them last pinged at landfills
or trash incinerators.
Seven last stopped pinging at transfer stations
that don't recycle or sort plastic bags.
Six pinged at the store where they were dropped off
and haven't been heard from in months.
For three others, we can't definitively
say where they ended up.
And three trackers were shipped to the other side of the world
to Southeast Asia.
One tracker dropped off at a Walmart in Kingston,
New York traveled through New Jersey
and ultimately, 9,500 miles across the world
to Batam, Indonesia.
Another tracker dropped off by our team from KAKE
at a Walmart in Wichita next went to this recycling transfer
station.
WOMAN: We got plastic bags.
We help them find markets for these materials.
MATT GUTMAN: Markets on the other side of the globe.
Nearly three months later, our tracker showed up
outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
And a third tracker dropped off by our team from WFTV
at a Walmart in Ormond Beach, Florida traveling
to a transfer station in Tampa Bay,
then to Port Wentworth, Georgia.
We didn't hear from this tracker for nearly two months
until it pinged near a freeway in Selangor, Malaysia.
All of them places in the same region
with plenty of plastic problems of their own.
It's called the plastic waste trade.
It's the Wild West of exporting plastics.
And it's causing real damage, particularly
in Indonesia and Malaysia.
MATT GUTMAN: You may be wondering
if any of our trackers last ping from facilities here
in the US, which say they are involved
with recycling plastic bags.
The answer is only four did.
Our investigation shedding light on the disturbing reality
that the vast majority of the plastic we hope is recycled
is not.
What do you make of those numbers?
JOSHUA BACA: I don't know all of the logistics that went on
to make that a reality or not.
But here's the point that I can defend.
Plastic film today, in particular,
is designed to be recyclable.
Is it being recycled at a rate that is sufficient?
The answer is no.
MATT GUTMAN: The most recent EPA data from 2018
shows less than 10% of plastic bags in the US
are actually recycled.
Walmart and Target both declined our interview requests, as well
as our request to see what happens at their stores
to plastic bags they collect for recycling.
In a statement, Target said that their "intention
is to make it easy for our guests" to recycle plastic bags
and that they're "committed to looking
at our processes to improve our recycling efforts."
Walmart says they offer "in-store recycling bins
for plastic bags as an option for customers who may not have
access to curbside recycling."
And that they are "pursuing initiatives
to reduce the use of single-use plastic,
including plastic bags."
After learning about what we observed using our trackers
and just hours before our investigation aired,
the research company that manages the online drop-off
directory promoted by WRAP told us,
they've removed all Walmarts and Targets from their list,
"Until they can confirm that their store drop-off film
and bag material is being recycled rather than
landfilled or incinerated."
[WATER RUSHING]
Chester, Pennsylvania, a sliver of a town just
South of Philadelphia squeezed between I-95
and the Delaware River.
The smell here is unmistakable.
Residents talk about their eyes watering, shortness of breath,
lightheadedness.
And some told us, practically everywhere they look,
they see sickness.
MARGARET BROWN: The lady next door died about three years,
now.
Cancer.
213, cancer.
215, cancer.
219, cancer.
And 227, cancer.
MATT GUTMAN: Margaret Brown has lived
on this block her entire life.
Her mother also died of cancer.
MARGARET BROWN: In the city of Chester, 73 years.
I raised my kids here for five generations.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MATT GUTMAN: 2016 State Health Department data
shows Chester residents have a 24% higher risk of developing
lung cancer and are 64% more likely to develop ovarian
cancer than the state average.
The asthma rate for children is four times
the national average.
Of course, it's difficult to prove
these specific health issues are directly caused by pollution
in the environment.
40% of adults develop cancer in their lifetime nationally.
But there are many sources of pollution
inside Chester city limits--
eight sewage disposal facility, an oil refinery,
a highway full of big rigs, and the Covanta trash incinerator.
Since the early 1990s, the Covanta Holding Corporation
has operated the waste-to-energy trash
incinerator just around the corner
from Margaret's front door.
MARGARET BROWN: It was never wanted here.
It was always a problem.
MATT GUTMAN: It's one of the largest incinerators
in the nation burning at least 2,600 tons
of garbage every single day.
One of our trackers dropped off at a store
near Philadelphia ended up finding its way here,
instead of a recycling center.
ZULENE MAYFIELD: People were doing their due diligence
as good consumers trying to be good stewards of the Earth,
but they were being lied to.
MATT GUTMAN: That angered Zulene Mayfield,
leading the fight against the incinerator
since the early 1990s.
Forming a community action group demanding the Covanta facility
and other sources of pollution be
shut down due to a long list of health concerns
among Chester residents.
We had our first protest.
We stopped the trucks right here on this street.
[CHEERING]
This community has been in survival mode, in fight mode--
Ban the burn.
ZULENE MAYFIELD: --since that thing went online.
MATT GUTMAN: How many kids do have asthma?
A whole lot.
But the statistic is that 38% of our children here in Chester
have asthma.
Philadelphia, their rate is 20%.
The national average is 8%--
8%.
MARGARET BROWN: There are so many deaths in this community.
Lung problems.
I have lung problems.
Constant nosebleeds.
Your eyes, they're running and burning all the time.
Are you worried about your children?
MARGARET BROWN: Yes.
All three of my children, you can't sleep listening
to them trying to breathe.
MARILYN HOWARTH: It is very difficult
to directly link any health effects to any one entity.
MATT GUTMAN: Dr. Marilyn Howarth has been studying air
pollution in Chester for years.
She says, there is cause for concern.
So when you burn trash and waste, what goes into the air?
Particulates are the largest air pollutant, but also, sulfur
dioxide and nitrogen oxides.
This incinerator really is the largest single point source of
air pollutants in this region.
And so it really does have a very
high amount of particulates.
And they are within their permits in most of the time.
And so this is really a regulatory problem
with the regulations not really adequately protecting people.
MATT GUTMAN: The EPA has not updated
its emission standards on incinerators in over 30 years.
Covanta says some studies show this kind of incinerator
does not cause significant health impacts.
They tell us, they are not a major polluter in the area.
And they say, their emissions are
well below EPA regulatory caps.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
150 miles away, across the state line to New York,
we visit another incinerator.
One of our trackers last pinged here
in the middle of the night.
It's a different town with a similar story.
COURTNEY WILLIAMS: Everybody's there outside.
Enjoying the river view.
And it's like, literally, right next to the trash incinerator.
MATT GUTMAN: Courtney Williams moved her family
to Peekskill in 2011.
COURTNEY WILLIAMS: My biggest regret is buying this house
and moving to this community.
Because I worry, what risk I've put my children at.
MATT GUTMAN: In the area, a sewage disposal center,
a decommissioned nuclear power plant,
a drywall manufacturer, as well as
the Wheelabrator incinerator.
The facility has a permit to operate
in Peekskill until 2029.
And if it makes it that long, it'll be the oldest
incinerator in the country.
This thing just had its 39th birthday.
MATT GUTMAN: It's smokestack regularly emits
a plume that can sometimes be seen
from downtown and from Courtney's upstairs bedroom.
You open the door and the burning plastic smell hits us.
And the asthma rates in this community
are quite high, as we understand.
COURTNEY WILLIAMS: They are.
They are significantly higher than the rest
of Westchester County, even.
MATT GUTMAN: One of our trackers dropped off at a Target
in Newburgh, New York ended up here
rather than being recycled.
COURTNEY WILLIAMS: They put a tracker
in with the plastic bags.
And instead of going to the recycling place,
it went to Wheelabrator.
That's not where it's supposed to go.
I know.
MATT GUTMAN: After hearing the community's concerns,
we asked Wheelabrator for a tour.
They agreed, granting our team nearly full access
to their operations.
Up close, the incinerators' noise is deafening.
It runs full steam day and night.
MAN: That pit goes down 40 feet vertically.
And we operate 24/7.
ALLIA SAYDJARI: There's way too much trash.
We all need to come together at the table
and have a holistic approach and way to manage it.
MATT GUTMAN: But isn't trash good for your company?
Don't you want more trash?
I mean, each time you get a truckload in,
that's more money for the company.
Our job is to manage the waste that is generated
as sustainably as possible.
We can and we should do everything
upstream to reduce the amount of waste that we are generating.
MATT GUTMAN: How much of what people
think is being recycled actually ends up here at an incinerator?
ALLIA SAYDJARI: Globally, the amount of resources
that we're able to recover across the whole globe right
now is sitting at around 9%.
How much do people think that they're recycling?
I think, they think, it's a lot more.
MATT GUTMAN: We walk around the facility
and watch as the incinerator lights
up to 2,500 degrees melting everything inside.
When we tell them about our tracker ending up there--
Is that something that surprises you?
ALLIA SAYDJARI: Plastic bags are notorious
for being very, very, very difficult to recycle.
It takes a very specific facility
to accept those materials.
MATT GUTMAN: The Wheelabrator facility
says there are no associated health
impacts with their emissions, which are regularly monitored.
MAN: We have different environmental limits
that we have to adhere to in regards to emissions.
MATT GUTMAN: And, they add, they're needed here.
Without them, they say, the alternative
could be much worse.
ALLIA SAYDJARI: You saw how much waste is being generated.
It's got to go somewhere.
If we didn't exist that waste would be put on large semi
trucks, then be trucked to the nearest landfill, which
can be hundreds of miles away.
MATT GUTMAN: Many of our plastic bags
did end up at landfills, like this one,
in a city that's one of the richest in America.
Home to celebrities like the Kardashians and Justin Bieber.
We're at a landfill in Calabasas, California
where one of the trackers we put in a Walmart 15 minutes
away last pinged.
[BEEPING]
On the ground, the site's managers help us track it
to its last known coordinates.
It's somewhere right around here.
MATT GUTMAN: According to the EPA, half of our waste
ends up in landfills with food being the number one source
and plastic being the second.
Essentially, a mountain that is filled with trash and dirt.
How long does it take for it to biodegrade?
Oh, gosh, it's going to be here
for thousands and thousands, millions of years.
MATT GUTMAN: Across the US, landfills
are a top source of methane--
a major contributor to climate change--
and are almost at capacity, with one study projecting that they
will run out of space by 2039.
For years, the American Chemistry Council
has been presenting the national WRAP program and the Stewart
drop-off system as a way to help reduce the amount of plastic
going to landfills and incinerators
by providing consumers with a convenient way
to recycle plastic bags and film.
What percentage of what gets put in recycling bins
do you actually think is recycled?
Well, not enough.
If we're being really frank with ourselves.
The systems that we have today that govern recycling
are way outdated.
They're, frankly, quite broken.
It's not streamlined.
And so not only is there a role for private sector investment,
there is also a very important role for government.
Consumers can't possibly cope with the complexity
of recycling plastic, which is why the vast majority of even
the plastics that are earmarked for recycling
end up in incinerators and landfills or even abroad.
Here's what I can tell you about that.
We made a commitment of a handful of years ago that says,
100% of the plastic packaging we make by 2030
will be recyclable or recoverable.
And we're putting our money where our mouth is.
$8 billion of investments to date to scale all types
of recycling technology.
So you're talking about the marvels of innovation,
but why not live in a world in which you produce less plastic?
JOSHUA BACA: Because I bet you, if you looked
at that suit you're wearing, it's
probably made out of a type of plastic, called polyester.
That is manufactured from natural gas and oil.
It's made from linen.
JOSHUA BACA: If you look at your pen
that you're using right there-- - Absolutely--
--probably has a little bit of plastic.
There is no doubt--
That microphone that you're using, also
has a little bit of plastic.
And your point is?
Computers--
That plastic is in everything, which
means that we should produce more of it
without any guardrails?
No.
Plastic is-- like I said, we have two issues.
There is no doubt that there is utility in plastic.
The question we are asking you is that you are marketing
WRAP as the panacea to plastic.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
WRAP is not the end all be all.
It was a proof of concept.
Chances are, you have a lot of material like this.
MATT GUTMAN: The ACC's promotional material references
WRAP as a national program with thousands
of participating locations.
There are more than 18,000 drop-off
bins across the country.
MATT GUTMAN: But Baca kept referring
to WRAP as a single pilot program in Seattle.
The WRAP program was limited to one jurisdiction
to serve as a proof of concept to show
that it could scale investments across the United States.
Back in Seattle?
Seattle was the area.
MATT GUTMAN: All of a sudden, the ACC's media coordinator
asks to interrupt the interview to clarify.
But seems to repeat Baca's claims.
So the WRAP program was just a pilot project in Seattle.
When did that start, that pilot program?
It was in--
2018, 2019.
So you had one pilot program to try to recycle
plastic in Seattle in 2018.
And what have you done since?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Well, I think I've told you a lot of the things.
MATT GUTMAN: Baca says the ACC is not working
with retailers nationwide.
The AAC's website suggests otherwise.
So you've invested money, but you're
not really working with retailers,
is what you're saying.
But I think your premise of your--
No, no, no. I'm very confused.
So you're not actually working with retailers
to try to promote--
Not in every single jurisdiction, no.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MATT GUTMAN: After the interview,
it still wasn't clear exactly how WRAP works.
A few minutes later, Baca and his team
asked to come back to update us with new information.
Updated facts.
--update you on a couple of things.
Here's what I can tell you about WRAP that I
want to be crystal clear about.
What WRAP does is it sponsors a directory of all the store
drop-off facilities in the United States.
The Seattle project, which I want to be very crystal
clear about, was something that was above and beyond what
we normally do in that project.
We didn't just do it in Seattle.
We did it in Vancouver, Washington.
We did it in Milwaukee.
We did it in Hartford, Connecticut as additional areas
where we went above and beyond sponsoring the directive.
We just sat down for 45 minutes.
You never mentioned those other cities.
Yeah, I didn't know those cities.
Do you know how long Seattle went on for?
I don't have the data right in front of me.
MATT GUTMAN: We checked with Seattle.
The pilot project there happened in 2022, not in 2018.
It lasted five months and gathered 25 total tons
of recyclable plastics.
And all of that was exported to a recycler in Canada.
We then asked about what the ACC's website calls
a national public awareness and outreach initiative
with retailers that have plastic bag recycling bins where
we deposited our trackers.
Is the plastic drop-off recycling program at--
[MUSIC PLAYING]
--retailers, is that working?
It doesn't work to the scale that we want.
I think, I've been very clear about that.
MATT GUTMAN: The ACC telling us the industry
is changing course.
Now, renewing its push for adapting curbside recycling
for plastic bags, an issue WRAP was
originally designed to address.
After talking to dozens of people
all across the plastic recycling process,
there seems to be one thing they can all agree on.
The current plastic recycling system is not working.
And critics say, it's likely to stay that way
as long as new plastic remains far
cheaper than recycled plastics.
JUDITH ENCK: They're not reliable markets
for the plastics.
That's where you need government to take action.
MATT GUTMAN: So what can you do?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
For one, learn more about the community around you.
And of course, most importantly, reduce, reuse, and only then,
recycle what you know you can.
ERIN SIMON: I need to have people
not give up on recycling.
And then recycle smart.
Read what's on that bin.
Don't wish cycle.
I know that sometimes, you put something in it
and hope for the best.
If you really want to get advanced, advocate.
MATT GUTMAN: And for those in the shadow
of those landfills and incinerators,
they say, they won't give up the fight.
--doesn't care!
Their trash is in the air!
I've been asked a lot, like, "Why don't you just move
away, like, if all of that horrible stuff
is in your community?"
And my answer is always, "Where would I go?"
This is our land.
This is our community.
That's the incinerator right down there.
MATT GUTMAN: Back in Chester, Zulene is still
organizing because she says for her community,
everything is at stake.
ZULENE MAYFIELD: And that's what this is about.
These are personal things.
We all have people that--
from this city, we've lost a lot.
I'm trying to save my mother, my family, my nieces, my nephews,
my sisters and my brothers.
Very personal battle.
That battle ought to be yours, too.