this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2025
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I learned from game theory that these situations are the equivalent of the prisoner's dilemma.
In the prisoner's dilemma, in the case where you only play the game once, cooperation has a worse outcome for you, regardless of what your opponent does. It is a dominated option. Only in the case where the game is repeated many times, and where both players are paying attention to their opponent, only in that case does cooperation become a useful option.
When people recycle, we are choosing to cooperate. But as nobody is paying attention to what we're doing, it is always the dominated option. We end up having to work more, and we don't get better results. And then we inevitably get huge betrayals.
But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't recycle. It simply means the game has shitty rules. That's why responsible government regulations are essential for environmentalism, if we actually want to see results.
Plastic recycling is literally pointless though.
It’s a farce to pretend that plastic can be reused/sustainable in any way. Most “recycled” plastic ends up just shipped off to pollute developing countries in Africa and Asia.
Its why I throw it in the bin! Rather poison my own landfill than someone else's.
The best solution is to try to avoid buying things with plastic, and repurposing plastic that you do have to buy.
It’s not really that much of an answer, but plastic recycling is entirely greenwashing by the industry.
I try where possible but companies have cottoned on to this and now charge more for the greener option.
" Oh you want to buy recycled paper towel that comes wrapped in paper and not plastic? Thats $2 more than the non-recycled one which is wrapped in plastic, cough up you green cuck! "
yup, china has mostly stopped plastic trash from the us, i think malaysia is making moves to prevent that too.
its difficult because plastic is basically toxic when you try to melt it or dissolve it into a usable plastic again, the process is probably more expensive too.