Recycling efforts insufficient to solve the plastic crisis: CEO

The world is unable to recycle its way out of the plastic crisis, with only about 9 percent of what is placed in recycling bins being recycled, said Grove Collaborative Co-Founder and CEO Stu Landesberg.

Unrecycled plastic waste accumulates in landfills or the natural environment.

Landesberg attributed this to infrastructure limitations and plastic not being an infinitely recyclable material.

He noted that materials like aluminum and paper can be infinitely recycled with high energy savings, while plastic can only be recycled two or three times.

Landesberg added that plastic always ends up being downcycled, which is the process of recycling items into lower-quality materials or products.

Every year, there is nearly $1 trillion worth of the home and personal care products wrapped in single-use plastic.

Grove Collaborative, which sells these types of products, has committed to becoming 100 percent plastic-free by 2025.

The consumer packaged goods industry generates a massive amount of single-use plastic waste, as 40 percent of all plastic is produced for single-use packaging.