"Recycling" is often a shorthand for any rubbish separation. In various countries now, plastic is separated at the municipality’s order so that it can then be burned utterly in an incinerator (plastic and metal waste are frequently separated together, so the metal can be recovered after burning). Burning prevents even microplastics.
Also, recycling can involve wholly reusing plastic containers several times, not breaking the plastic down to make new stuff. This has been done in e.g. the Nordic countries for decades now: soft-drink bottles are returned to the supermarket at a special machine (so you get a deposit back), then they are washed and refilled by the bottler.
My experience is a few years old and apparently this system has changed, see this Reddit discussion[0]. But 0.5L and 1.5L bottles in Finland used to be made from much thicker and more durable plastic than in most other EU countries so they could be washed. They were then stamped, and once a certain number of uses was reached, they were finally disposed of.
A good point. Where’s the cost-benefit to use _more_ plastic to create more durable products, even at the cost of recyclability?
Right now I’m making a product that should last 10 years outdoors. I wanted to pick PET or HDPE for their high recyclability, but if it leads to a shorter product lifespan (and all the opportunities to drop out of the recycling stream), what’s the point? Our plan is use a more rugged plastic and take back old product ourselves to recycle, only because we have a willing injection molder.
ABS is one of the most commonly used plastics and very unrecyclable, but it might be more acceptable if the electronics in it were supported for more than 3 years.
Your source seems to suggest it's a deposit return scheme, not a bottle reuse scheme?
First sentence in the article:
>Germany has the world’s largest and highest-performing deposit return system (DRS, also known as a deposit return scheme)
later it says
>In a few years, the market share of refillable containers fell below this quota, and so a DRS for single-use containers was established in January 2003.
A lot of bottlers use reusable bottles, thick walled bottles (15ct deposit) that are sold in crates. For a lot of soft drinks and water they tend to be made from PET (because it’s lighter than Glass).
Don’t get me started on the German habit of buying water in crates rather than using perfectly fine tap water
Then you also have thin-walled PET bottles which are 25 ct deposit and one-use. Return rates are rather high because of the high deposit.
The crates are often a PITA to deal with because you need to return them to a shop that sells the same bottles (there are some standards, but some bottlers think a non-standard bottle is a USP). Whereas the 25ct bottles must be taken back from any store that sells 25ct bottles themselves.
Also, recycling can involve wholly reusing plastic containers several times, not breaking the plastic down to make new stuff. This has been done in e.g. the Nordic countries for decades now: soft-drink bottles are returned to the supermarket at a special machine (so you get a deposit back), then they are washed and refilled by the bottler.