>> narrator: coming to frontline in april... >> health experts say we are not even close to seeing the worst of this yet... >> narrato a special report on right now-virus pandemic. "plastic wars".th >> in state, none of this is recyclable. >> narrator: have efforts to it worse? plastics problem made >> do you think the industry astic?ecycling to sell more >> narrator: frontline and npr investigate. >> for the oil and gas industry, plastic is tir lifeline. i thisthe big war. >> narrator: now, "plastic wars". >> frontline is made possible by ation from viewers like you. thank you.

and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major support is provided by the john d. d catherine t. to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information atma ound.org. the ford foundation: working with visionariesn thees frontlf social change worldwide. at fordfoundation.org. additional support is provided by the abrams foundation,le committed to exce in journalism. the park foundation, dedicad to heightening public awareness of critical issues. the john and helen glessnermi trust. supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. and by thesm frontline urnaund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler.di and onal support from the millicent and eugene bell foundation. (water burbling) >> laura sullivan: in 2015, ari

ne biologist came across a sea turtle in distress. >> oh. >> i don't want to pull it too hard. >> yeah, i mean, it's bleeding already. ohpoor baby. i'm sorry. (bleep) (bleep) christ. that is plastico. , man. >> that's plastic. t >> dell me it's a freaking straw.ak >> it's justg... >> sullivan: her video of the encounter quickly went viral. >> this poor sea turtle. >> sullivan: it would attract more than 35 million views. >> ...became a rallying cry for action. >> sullivan: and focused public attention on a growing problem. >> that turtle video certainly a did haimpact. >> plastic pollution: a planetary crisis. >> sullivan: plastics in the oceans have been building up for decades. >> in an uerwater paradise, a plastic nightmare. >> sullivan: recurng images of dead whales... >> 80 plastic bags found inside the whale. >> sullivan: bloated seabirds... >> oh. >> sullivan: ...and littered waterways have fueled a global anti-plastic movement.

>> enemy number one-- the plastic straw. >> many u.s. cities are taking steps to ban plastic grocery bags... >> save our earth before it's too late! >> sullivan: and yet, despthe backlash, the industry that makes plastic is expanding. >> the start of constr on that multibillion-dollar plastics plant... >> sullivan: plentifulupplies of natural gas are driving down the cost of making plastic. the u.s. is now one of the world's largest plastic producers. >> it's going to be the largest plant of its kind the world. >> sullivan: and industry is investing tens of billions of ladollars in new plastic ps. >> construction will eveually employ 6,000 people.va >> sullin: by 2050, it's estimated that global production of plastic will triple. >> a plastic boom. >> there's going to more plastic than eveon the face. >> sullivan: i wanted to understand how we came to this moment, how the plastic industry has been able to thrive all these years in the facof a growing crisis, and oppositiontr that's now sger than it's

ever been. ♪ ♪ for decades, the national response to the growing astic-waste problem has focused on one solution: recycling. and few places have pursuedcl recyg more aggressively than oregon. what we put in our recycling bins ends up in sorting plants like this one, outside of portland.re >> wctually very full right now. >> sullivan: this is, this is all coming in fresh. this is the first unload, right? >> yea so that's what it looks like when it comes in. >> sullivan:inod singh is the outreach manag at far west recycling. >> sullivan: every single piece of this be sorted in some way...

>> yeah, you have to separate paper and then the metals and th the plastics. >> sullivan: there are a lot of different kinds of plastics that have to be sorted. >> and what we're doing here isi we're sorting it outo the milk jugs, the natural hdpe, thw pigmented hdpe, p.ater bottles... ki>> sullivan: they're loo for plastics. >> yeah-- so all the plastic will come off before the line ends. >> sullivan: some items, like soda bottles and milk jugs, are easier to recycle, so there's money to be made. >> so, this is all plastic that has a me. >> sullivan: but most other types of plastic are technicly diffict and often costly to recycle. and that makes them nearly impossible to sell. so they keep piling up. this is plastic that has nome ho >> this is plastic that has noso home, it's your clamshells, ziploc bags, film, a cd, a food, like, a fo wrapper. >> sullivan: ithe business,

they're called mixed plastics. g >> now, you'ting more mixed plastics, like pouches, and everything comes in a, in a clamshell now. >> sullivan: so, if somebody throws their te bottle into their bin, that's a win. >> yeah. >> sullivan: b what you're saying is you're seeing more and more of this stuff. >> packaging is evolving. >> sullivan: most mixed plastics end up in a place like this.re >> what you'eeing happening full-size, that's a, probably a 53-foot trailer. >> sullivan: in medford, oregon, rogue disposal's landfiltakes about a hundred loads of trash a day. and more and more of it is plastic. f >> plastms, plastic bags, the plastic wrapping that comes around a lotckaged goods-- that all goes into the garbage. it's margarine tubs, clamshells, the deli containers. until there a viable option for recycling those things, we should be putting it ia landfill. >>beullivan: but that's not d fs

the things we buy have beensi increaly packaged in plastic. are you david? i'm laura sullan. >> very nice to meet you. >> sullivan: nice to meet you, too. >> welcome to portland. >> sullivan: david allaway is a senior policy analyst with theen oregon departmof environmental quality. so much of all this stuff in the grocery store is plastic now. >> it's really inexpensive. >> sullin: it's an easy way to package it. >> it , and it performs, it performs very well. it has really good engineeringie qual it protects food very well. >> sullivan: this is my basic question, because it seems le everybody is buying lettuce in a x now. is this recyclable? >> in this state, none of this is, none of this is recyclable. >> sullivan: okay, what about all these? this is everywhere in every supermarket. >> in oregon, again, there are no curbside ograms that would accept a of these tubs. >> sullivan: okay, so, this is classic, when, a lot of americans do this, like what you're doing right now. >> yep, that's right.ip >> sullivan: they t over. what are we looking at? >> at the bottom of all these plastic containers is this

little chasing arrow, the littln recyclsymbol, with a number. and the number, there's some .ewords, it says, "1 p.e.t this package here is technicall. recyclab you could recycle this in a lab. >> sullivan: okay. >> but it's not economical to recycle it, given the current economics of recycling. >> sullivan: but if it's not happening in oregon, imakes me wonder what's going on in the rest of the country.i >> yeah, i woulduld say that this package is rarely recycled in most parts in the country. >> sullivan: yeah. >> can i give you another example here? >> sullivan: yes, please.e >> so, let's taka look at these blueberries. >> sullivan: okay. >> this is classic. and if you turn this over, you see the chasing arrows. on the bottom, it says, "100% recyclable."in there is no prograregon that wants this in the curbside mix. but more than half of all people that live in the portland area believe this belongs in the curbside container. >> sullivan : well, it says it's recyclable. .>> it says it's recyclab it has the recycling logo.

it's very confusing to a lot of people. >> sullivan: this confusion about what can a can't be recycled, and where plastic ultimately ends up, is no accident. over the past year, we've been vestigating the plastic crisisof and found that manhe problems we face today were set in motion decades ago by the very companies who make plastic in the first place. ♪ one of those companies isnt du, and on the grounds of thfirst dupont family home, i found the hagley library (old movie scorelaying) it holds one of the world's largest collections of industrial history.ic >> this is an am city, a real community of homes and homemakers like thousands of others across the nation. we call it plasticstown, u.s.a. >> sullivan: i'd come to see what its archive could tell me about the evolution of the >> the table is set with

polyethylene products, too. >> sullivan: america's postwar boom preseed endless opportunits for this new durable, lightweight material. >> modern-day miracles that were made with the help of petrochemicals. >> sullivan: from packaging to clothing to home furshings... >> very durable. >> sullivan: plastic's wide-ranging applicaons... >> glassine, polyethylene, mylar... >> sullivan: ...promised a new world through chemistry. >> step intohe world o manmade materials that take up where nature left off. >> the thing that made them unique was the ability to do more with just a little bit of material, to make things that we used lighter and more efficient. so, plastic came to be ud in many applications because it performed better. >> that was not a trick. >> it dia good job of doing what it was asked to do. m e life more efficient and easier. >> (chanting): save our earth! >> sullivan: but by 1970, the plastic industry would have to confront the turbulent times of

amera's environmental awakening. i >> onen every ten americans took part in rallies... >> sullivan: earth day was one of the largest mass protests in u.s. history. >> oh, earth day was profound in termheof people waking up to t fact that we live on a finite planet.lo and there was of concern about the trend that was happening towards the more throwaway, disposable listyle. (dramatic music playing) >> sullivan: in response, many compies, including plastice makers, and even s environmentalists, got behind an iconic ad campaign that focused attention onhe public's role. >> and i remember being a kid and watching those ads, the most famous one with the crying indian. >> some people have a deep,ab ing respect for the natural beauty that was once this country. >> he was actually italian,ia dressed up like an i but the fake crying indian, the most famous one, ends with this very dramatic sentence where they say... >> people start pollution. s

people cp it. t >> people all arou country bought that line and thought it was our responsibility to take care of litter.ca >> americans d more trash than any other country in the world. >> sullivan: while the efforts to change consumer behavior helped clean up the more visible litter problem, they did little to address the ruse... >> what makes our lives convenient is burying us. sullivan: the uncheckedwa growth in househole. >> a barge filled with garbage is causing quite an international stink. >> loaded with more than 3,000 tons of waste from new york's long island... >> sullivan: by 1987, a wandering barge called the mobro became an emblem of the growing crisis. >> greenpeace went and climbedug aboard it and took banner that we put on it. we sai "next time, try recycling."me it really be metaphor of, "we are bumping up against limits here. we cannot keep just continuing this mindless consumerism, mindless consumption, and dump

it somewhere else." >> american has a garbage sullivan: at hagley, we found a collection of internal plastic ank you. documents... (voiceover): ...about this period of time, when the industry was in the crosshairs of the environmental movement, and plastics we under attack. as we continued reportg,e found even more internal spoke with over a dozen industry insiders, including three top executives who represented the big plastic producers and agreed me.talk publicly for the first back then, one of the vice presidents at thsociety of the plastics industry was lew freeman. he now heads a loc enronmental coalition, but he remembers a pivotal boardme ing in the late '80s, when the industry was worried about its public image. >> the ve president of the dupont company pulled me asideu and said, "you, ys better get up to wilmington. there's dissatisfaction about what's going on with the soliwaste issue."

we took a trek up to wilmington, and this one dupont executive, he said, "i think if we had five million dollars"-- which seemed like a lot of money then. >> sullivan: five million? >> " we had five millionco dollars, we could, wd, we could solve this problem." >> sullivan: they created the council for solid wastewn solutions, drarom their ranks of bigil and petrochemical companies that made plastic, li amoco, evron, dow, and exxon. the group had a plan and turned to a veteran of the industry,ro liesemer, to execute it. >> they wanted to know, was i y interested in being the o actually made recycling happen across the u.s.? >> sullivan: i mean, you got handed this task... >> yeah. >> sullin: ...to recycle plastic in the united states. >> in the united states. literally me. i had no staff. but i had millions of dollars to do what i felt was necessary. >> in a highly controversialac on, one county in new york state has voted to ban all packaging de of two kinds of plastic. >> sullivan: it was a critical moment.

a growing backlashas threatening the future of plastic. >> in what may be part of a nailonal trend, the city cou of saint paul, minnesota, voted to outlaw the use of polystyrene plastics. >> sullin: liesemer was senten to minnesota on an u mission. brand-name companies that used plastic were facing bans on their products. >> there was an attitude that if your product was not recycled, then it should not be in the marketplace. soit was up to us in the plastics industry to solve this problem so that they could continue to package their products in plasti >> sullivan: and liesemer found a solution. to appease government officials, the industry funded a localcl reg pilot project. >> the industry attitude was, "we'll set this up and get it going, but if the public wants it, they are going to have to pay for it." >> sullivan: the plastic bans were averted.nk do you that they took a lesson away from how to fight

the bans? >> oh, yes. it was, "we need to be doing things." >>ullivan: like what? >> don't wait until legislation appears. >> slivan: you're saying pre-empt it. >> yes, do it first. and we did. >> sullivan: did you feel like they cared more about selling plastic than they did about making recycling work? >> making recycling work was a way to keep their prodts in the marketplace. >> sullivan: it s a way to sell plastic. >> yes.on it's a win-win situa you get recycling going, that has its benefits, and it improves the image of the terial. >> sullivan: the industry found another way to promote plastic using recycling. responding to pressure from states and environmentalists to better identify the many types of plastic, it created a code tell them apart. that code was a numbering system put inside the well-known symbol for recycling, the chasing

arrows. r the probleyclers said, is that it left the impression that all those kinds of plastics were actually being recycled. coy smith ran recycling centers in southern california in the 1980s and early '9. all right, there you are. plastics industry, they went around to states, and they convced those states to pass laws, and they did this very quietly. they passed laws that required that symbol with the number on it be put on plastic containers sold in that state. i mean, for most states, they did it in, recyclers didn't even know it happened. and the next thing you know, all the plastic containers havemb these s on them. >> sullivan: is this a good thing or a bad thing? >> it's a bad thing. sullivan: why? >> because the average person saw the symbol, they know the symbol, and said, "well, it's recyclable, right?"li >> sn: "it's got three arrows." >> well, like, all of a sudden, our own customers, they would bring it in and not only say it has the triangle, but it would, they would flat-out say, "it

it." it's recyclable right on and i'd be, like, "i can tell you i can't give this away. there's no one that would even take it if i paid for them to take it." that's how unrecyclable it was. >> sullivan: stuck with plasticy thouldn't sell, smith and other recyclers met with representatives from the plastic industry. do you see the one...he >> yeah,'s my name, right there. >> sulvan: and came up with report identifying key problemsd with the numbering ce. >> some firms are using it as a green marketing tool. "the code is being misused." >> sullivan: the plastic industry that you were working with agreed to these and signed onto this report.di >> the >> sullivan: so they knew that these problems existed. >> they knew these problems existed, absolutely. >> sullivan: recyclers and theou plastic makers cldn't agree on how to change the code. industry would only switch to a triangle, which recyclers said was too similar to the chasing arrows. industry wouldn't even consider, say, no triangle, or a circle,an or, i . >> they didn't want to go anywhere near no triangle. we said, "go to a square, go to

some other symbol, just not the triangle," and they, they said, "no." coming up with ways to have their product perceived as re recyclable and more environmental makes their product look better. theyant to sell more plastic coainers. >> sullivan: recyclers also appealed to government regulators, but they sided with industry. they sd that the chasing arrows symbol s okay, as long as it was small and on the bottom of packaging. what if it's got a chasing arron sign on ityou think that means it's getting recycled? >> uh, that, that was one of the comments early, that it impliede that those products eing recycled. that wasn't the intent. w >> sullivae they? were they misleading the public? >> i don't think so, bause when i looked at them, at the arrows, i thought, "this is ade way toify the products so that recycling, the early stages of recycling can take place." >> sullin: but even as

liesemer and his colleagues were publicly promoting recycling,prg expressed doubt it was ever gog to happen on a broad scale. one internal document from the society of the plastics indust cautioned, "the techniques of cleaning and separating the mixed plastics... has not beenal developed for large- economic application." another said, "there are no effective marketechanisms for mixed plastic." d this document was candid: "there is serious doubt" p widespresticecycling "can ever be made viable on an economic basis." how could they go into all of these communities and tell people, "you just have to recycle," when they knew there were so many problems and so h madles? >> some were very skeptical but felt thehad to do it. i think others were, were more hopeful. e there was never husiastic belief that recycling was

ultimately going to work in a significant way. >> sullivan: freeman's boss at the time, larry thas, the head of the society of the plastics industry, was blunt about it. >> i was the front man for the plastics industry. no getting around it. >> sullin: thomas wouldn't sitwn or an on-camera interview, but agreed to talk on the phone. >> if the public thinks the recycling is working, then they're not going to be as concerned about the environment. i think they knew that the infrastructure wasn't there to really have recycling amount to a whole lot.ul >> svan: thomas wrote a confidential memo in 1989 about the precarious position e industry was in. "the image of plastics among consumers is deteriorating at an alarmingly fast pace," it says. "we're approaching a 'point of no return.' alysts are beginning to take notice. we must immediately undertake a

major program of unprecedented proportions to reverse thisti fast-movinl wave of growing negative public perception." so the big plastic producers came up with a mu.imillion-dollar solution >> when you look at plastic...va >> sul advertising. >> ...helps things stay fresh and safe and light. >> it spent most of its money, dollars, on advertising... >> plastic also saves energy. v >> to tout thetues of plastics as a way of heading ofc the crm the industry was experiencing. >> when we started that advertising program, i think the image of plastics was in the mid-30s-- you know, 30, 35% favorability. >> sullivan: that's pretty low. >> if you're in politics, you're in deep trouble with a 35%. rati >> presenting the possibilities of plastics. >> wn they were running the advertising on television,t they were noout how plastics can be recycled, but all the

wonderful things that plastics bring to us. plastics make it possible. >> the fact that you now don't have to worry about dropping a shampoo bottle that was ma out of glass on the bathroom floor because it's plastic. and thers nothing wrong in an dustry promoting those kind of things, but that's not addressing theroblem that people are criticizing you about. >> sullivan: and it worked? >> and it worked. >> sullivan: (chuckles) 'cause you went from 30% favorability... >> from, let's say mid-30s to mid-60s. sullivan: favorability. >> mm-hmm. (commercial music playing) >> glass? that's the past. thermaset is the future. >> sullivan: over the next several decades... >> what once was glass will soon be plastic.n: >> sullilastic became the unrivaled material of choice for consumers.es >> busy lifest and a growing urban population mean an increase in demand for food that is fresh... >> sullivan: plast exploded. >> convenient... t >> sullivan: from 192010, production more than doubled. >> and fast. flexible packaging has become part of our daily lives.

>> sullivan: and with all that new plastic came mountains o plastic waste. >> here we are at our gdb south >> sullivan: south, ok. in new jersey, i met a man who built a $180 million recycling business off of that waste. >> use and discard, and then this is where it all ends up. >> sullivan: sunilagaria is naonal chairman of the institutfor rap recyclingi, the industries. his company buys throwaway plastic from some of the largest big-box stores in the u.s. oh, my god, what is this?ha >> this is jusers, one type of plastic. >> sulliva(gasps): why are these all here? >> well, you would imagine that when youu know, you take a garment off the rack and take it to the checkout cnter... >> sullivan: yes. >> then this should go back. >> sullivan: that they would just reuse it. >> yeah, but they said, "oh, yow know whall just buy new hangers. in the meantime, let me juste recyis." >> sullivan: oh, boy.

hanger gets used one time.im >> one >> sullivan: startinin the late '90s, bagaria and other recycling brokers had a one-wor answer to thowing plastic-waste problem: china. >> i mean, china did a big onest for the recycling in, i must say. >> sullivan: yeah. >> you know, because, as lonas it remotely resembled plastic, they wanted it.y >> sullivan: tuld take it. >> yeah-- polystyrene, p.e.t., pvc,olypropylene. because that's how big a demand of manufacturing was there in china. they wanted raw material. "give me raw material," that's all they wanted. >> sullivan: how long did that go on for? >> almost 20 years. but later, we surely realized that there was always another aspect of what was going on in china. >> sullivan: whichas what? >> they would just take, like, the low-hanging fruits. >> sullivan: the good stuff. >> good stuff, easy to do. >> sullivan: yeah. >> and the remaining plastic waste will then be disposed of.

>> sullivan: eventually, the reality oft was happening in china became clear. >> these chinese children spend most otheir waking hours between plumes of smoke and mountainof plastic. >> sullivan: and in 2018, china stopped taking imported plastic waste.ou >> now thery is trying to clean up its image. se >> bece thght that it was getting recycled gave us- the freedokay, no problem, let's, let me continue to use it.ti it is tely getting recycled. what is the, what is the problem?" we never asked the question, "are they doing it the, the right way? are we damaging the environment more in the name of recycling?" ♪ >> sullivan: when the recycling market in china went away, bagaria and other broker scrambled to find a new home for their plastic. and countries like indonesia saw a business opportunity. last fall, i met up with bagaria

there. he was checking out a recycling company that he ses his plastic to. >> this is his factory. >> sullivan: this is youry. fact >> yeah. >> sullivan: bagaria had come to make sure his plastic was actually beingecycled and turned into tiny pellets that are usedo make new plastic products. >> sullivan: ah, therey are. >> this is the holding tank. sullivan: hot pellets. how much resnsibility do you feel like you have over what's happening here? the scrap. we are the shipper of it all originates with us. we could ship scrap and hope that it is being recycled in the way it should be. or thether way is, come here, see how serious he is about doing it the right way. ♪ >> sullivan: but there are growing concerns here that a lot of plastic waste is not being handled the right way, and tindonesian officials areing to prevent what happened in china from happening here. is this one of the big

priorities here? >> yeah. (speing local language) >> sullivan: so, contaminated plastic trash is as big a problem for u guys as narcotics and drugs coming into the country? >>eah, yeah, yeah. >> sullivan: wow. last year, ctoms found that half the containers of plastic waste they inspected... >> sir, sir, can you explain little bit?>> ullivan: ...were contaminated with trash and plastic that can't be recycled. ♪ we wanted to see for ourselves what was happening to the plastic coming here.er oh, it's right there? >> yeah. >> sullivan: that opening? onrecycling company here caught our attention... yeah, pt new harvestindo. (voiceover): based on indonesian customs documents we'd obtainedt 191 ners being held right now. let's just go knock and see ifma ybe someone will talk to us. (voiceover): with the help of an indonesian journalist, we tried to speak to someone at new

harvestindo. e available.told there was n >> we need to confirm... (speaking local language) is the data that we have is correct or not?li >> sulvan: can we come in and look? ournalist speaking local language) (guard responds) >> sullivan: looks like a lot of shipping containers. >> yeah. >> sullivan: i think we're in the right place. >> yeah. >> sullivan: the customs document we had said the company was getting plastic from the u.s. with no one from new harvestindo willing to speak to us, we still doing with all those bales of plastic waste and whether it was all being recycled. we'd heard about an environmental activist who's been tracking what happens to the plastic coming into indonesia. hi. i met up with yuyun ismawati in a small rural community nearby. this place, it's huge.

>> yeah. w it's huge and verye. you can sefrom that corner to the end of that valley over there. >> sullivan: what's it like to look at a field this size and i see it coverplastic trash? >> i can show you the pictures. >> sullivan: oh, really, youto pictures? >> yes. >> sullivan: yeah, i'd love to see that, yeah.si we took a seat by th of the road, and she showed meol pictures she'dlected of plastic that locals said had been dumped here. >> the sacks are from a plastic company. when i came here in june, ie asd them, whd they get this from? and then they said it's from harvest, they call it. >> sullivan: harvest. (voiceover): waste pickers would look for plastics of value, and the rest would bburned. >> so, this is how it looked like when they burn it. >> sullivan: so it's like a big, sort of a big fire on this pit.a >> yeah. people with respiratory probm, they really get affected. and some children got

hospitalized. (horn honks)ft >> sullivan: a the community complained to the government about the burning, the dumping opped here. i mean, how, how big a problem do you think these kinds of dumping grounds are in indonesia? >> big. they are everywhere around this area. sy here, the recyclinem that we have at the moment is not really recycling, because some part of it exported, being exported all over the world, to be "recycled." >> sullivan: yeah. >> but you never know whether it's really recycled, beinged recyverseas or not. there is no proof. >> sullivan: we reached out to the two recycling companies known locally as harvest. new harvestindo still wouldn't respond to us, and the other company denied it was hind the dumping. but later that night, on a back street, i met up with a newes hando worker who agreed to talk to me about what the company does with its plastic waste. hi. >> hi... >> sullivan: thank you so

much for coming to meet me. (voiceover): as long as we didn't disose his identity. when you get a bale of plastic, how much of that bale is plastic that the company wants, and how much of it is stuff that is just plastic that you're not going to do anything with? : (speaking local languag va >> sullin: what do you do with the rest of it? >> sullivan: how long has that been going on for? ♪ ouldullivan: he told me he take me to a place where the company had recently bn dumping plasc. after a 30-minute drive, we reached a quiet neighborhood ad.h an area hidden from the the smell of burnt plastic was in the air. and all around, there were sacks

of plastic and big piles, too. this is from purchase, new york. this is totally american. this is from california. this is a pile of u.s.cl reg. (voiceover): new harvestindo nied it was responsible fornd doing anything that damaged the environment. it sd in an email that it had a comprehensive system to handle plastic waste,nd it folls all indonesian laws and regulations. the company has not been charged with any wrongdoing related to mping. >> in last 20 years, we've seen more environmental degradations and environmental problems in indonesia because we are struggling to, to cln up the modern debris and modern litter indonesia. the additional burden of waste

fromverseas, i don't know ho we are going to handle it. >> sulliva you're saying you've got plenty as it is. >> yes, because we, we are struggling to handle our own waste. is ending up in the ocean. waste one study estimates that 60% of ocean plastic comes from asia. what do you think americans need to know? >> americans need to know that your waste ended up here.an the consumption and lifestyle that you have, i think it's, you have to rethink,ca e have to reduce the amount of plastics that we, tha we produce at ment. >> save our rth before it's too late! >> sullivan: that message is reinvigorating a backlash against plastic, theikes of which the industry hasn't seen for decades. >> i can talk loud. >> sullivan:t's facing opposition to the construction

of new plants. >> everybody up here sd they don't want the plant. there shouldn't be any more talk about it. >> as of today, plastic ba are banned in jersey city. >> sullivan: and plastic bans are spreading across the country. >> this is our moment, california. let's get these bills passed. .t's do right by our futu >> sullivan: a major showdown is shaping up in california. the legislature wants to imposes new fees on c makers and restrict single-use plastics. >> this is a big moment.va >> sul this is big moment. >> yeah, so, if the california market changes, we know it's gointo put pressure on kind of, the kind of products that are out there. ♪ >> sullivan: amid the backlash, i headed to the texas gulfre coast, wil and gas companieare under pressure from climate change and increasingly turning to plastics, now their biggest growth market. we reached out to more than a dozen major plastic makers. t the only ot would sit down with us was chevron phillips. jim becker is the vice president of sustainability.

you've seen california, the legislation... >> yeah, yeah.ba >> sullivan: som across the country, and a lot of targets on single-use plastic. >> uh-huh, yeah, our view is, you have to be very careful with that, 'cause sometimes the substitute products can have a bigger environmental impact than the thing you are banning. >> sulliva right. >> so, we don't think banning these products is necessarily the, the right way to go. illips want to see happen?on >> we support, actually, theme c.c. goals--can chemistry council. >> sullivan: yeah. >> goals of getting plastic waste out of landfills by, i think, the date is 2040. >> sullivan: chevron phillips would like to see all of thated plastic recyack to maketh new plastigs? >> yeah. >> sullivan: how, how do you ge it to a place wh0% of w do you get there?g recycled?

>> much more education needs to happen... >>ullivan: yeah. >> ...on how to recycle. you so have to really build up the infrastructure for collection. we're going to have to invest in innovation, because some ofes technologies still need to be further developed. >> sullivan: if the oil dustry is able to get 100% of, of the material recycled... >> yea >> sullivan: doesn't that affect the bottom line? >> yes, it would, it would, b the alternative is, having plastic waste in the environment. we don't want that. >> slivan: you think that the company feels so strongly that it is willing to make less money? >> i think that's true. i guess i think of it more as an investment in managing plastic waste. ♪ o >> sullivae again, the industry is puing recycling. today, its mn lobbying group is the american chemistry council, and until recently, its vice president of cs was steve russell. you fundamentally think thatn

the united states, recycling could ramp up to a capacity to handle the vast majority of plastic that's being produced? >> so, i understand that there's a lot of skepticism around that, because the systems today have not kept pace. our system is woefully inadequate, and it needs dramatic invtment. it needs improvement. but the proof here is the dramatic amount of investment that's happening right now. our member companies, sabic an shell and lyondellbasell, all of whom have made major announcements in traditional and advanced recycling to begin to intervene in that space in order to bring their scale, their technical know-how, and theiro capacityart providing products that are based on waste... b >> sulliva you're talking about a couple of companies. there's also an entire industry that going to triple production by 2050. >> mm-hmm. >> sulliva how are those two things going to meet anywhere in the middle? >> it's not going to happen this month or by the end of the year, buwe're moving now. old types of recycling need to

be modernized, and new types of recycling need to be brought on board. the good news is they're coming. ♪ found one of these newregon, i technologies. in south portland, the plastic industry was showcasing a demonstration oject. >> has everybody got their gear? >> sullivan: and on the day i stopped by, local lawmakers had ten invited in to hear ab the benefits of a new sorting machine that industry says will make recycling plastic more economical. >> if you want to step up, up above, you can see the machine in action. >> sullivan: one of the onsors was the american chemistry council. >> the idea behi that particular facility is if, if we improve the way that, thatmo reclable down the conveyor belt, right, so they get separated, we're going to create better, cleaner streams of like materials. when we do that, we end up withe that are more easy to sell and that are more easy for consumer-goods cpanies to

incorporate into their packaging. >> sullivan: but as we continued our reporting in oregon, we heard about a surprisingly similar effort that took place more than 25 years ago, at ain recycompany 50 miles away called garten services.o >> we're going inte office. i've got a couple of newspaper articles i want to show you from the past. >> sullivan: the plastic industry had brought amo tration project here in 1994. >> the garten foundation of a salem unveilew sorting machine that may change the way we recycle forever. sorting system in sale thestic first of its kind in the world. >> so here, we've collected so old newspaper articles from 1994.po >> sullivan: will gate is the chief operating officer of garten. >> i mean, it says, "sorts o the problem." >> sullivan: a sorting... >> a sorting machine, that's right.ou >> sullivan:ot this from... >> from the plastics council. >> sullivan: the plastics... >> they wanted us to sort plastics, when people thought plastics mig be starting to be a problem. >> today, the american plastics council unveiled the machine.nt

>> they say resiwill put all their plastic containers in one bag. >> it just kps getting better, doesn't it? >> sullivan: what, what happened to it? years later, we, it, we shut it down, because there was no way to make money at i and we sold that $1.5 million machine for scrap. >> sullivan: you sold the machine foscrap. >> for scrap, that's right.ma it didn' any sense. and i'm afraid that that samein thg is happening right now. this is the plastic that nobody wants. the whole idea about, "oh, just sort better,t'll be great. let's make more single-use plastics"-- don't buy into that. not a good idea for thero enent, not a good idea for the earth, not a good idea for your wallet. >> sullivan: you can't sort youu waof this. >> no, no, period. wonder whether the plastic industry is just recycling old ideas. >> they said i couldn't dream. m calla piece of trash and swore that's all i'd ever be.

>> sullivan: like in the '90s, the industry has been spending money on ads. >> and now i'm what i've always wanted to be. >> sullivan: ...encouraging consumers to recycle. >> remember, a lot of theth plastic packagin you have in your kitchen is recyclable. >> smoke jumping is the pinnacle of wildland firefighting. >> sullivan: and touting thes virtue plastic. >> we're covered in plastic-based gear from head to toe. (commercial muc playing) (commercial music playing) >> this is the world we see. >> let's be the ones... >> that came together to change the world. >> sullivan: what do you think? >> déjà vu all over again. >> sullivan: why do you say that? tell me about that. >> this is the same nd of

thinking that ran in the, in the '90s. >> sullivan: what do you think the messaging is here? >> it's showing the peopleg pick the litter. that kind of implies that that's where the responsibility lay. i think the chemical industry, and the plastics indtry specifically, need to take very seriously this reaction that's going on. i don't think this kind ofis adveg is, is helpful to them at all. >> lately, there's been a t of talk about how plastics impact our lives, for better or worse. >> sullivan: the reality is, for all the ads and promises over the ars, it's estimated that no more than ten percent of plastic has ever been recycled. and the guy industry tapped decades ago to get recycling going isn't surprised. i showed ron liesemer industryrt repowe found dating as far back as the 1970s. and this one talks about the cost of serating plastics from other trash, there're variousla types ofics, and that the

cost of new plastic is so low that sorting and reprocessing ifused plastic can't be jud economically. and this was in 1973. have we made any progress? >> i would say that their conclusions in 1973, you said? are still true. the economics that are described there are, still prevail today and likely will prevail tomorrow. >> sullivan: is hard to have faith in the plastics industry, when it got out of its crisis in the '90s by telling americans to recycle, even though ty knew it was not ecomically viable. the crisis passed. now here we are again in a crisis. plastics are once again on the, inion, and now the industry is telling the public again to recycle. >> the industry is not telling

the public just to recycle. we've got to fix the recycling system, clearly, that's, that's job one. but more importantly, we have to look at reuse models, using less where we can, developing new materials-- which is the plastic makers' responsibility-- thatbe caetter recycled, and also really impornt that we deployth technologies that are now available to us at scale. this is just an industry coming up with a way to get out of a crisis. >> no, no, this is about all of us uerstanding that we each have a role to play in, in making the system that we have better and achieving the goalsat think everybody would have to say, "we cannot continue with business as usual.ch it's time foge, and this is that time." >> sullivan: hmm. >> let's put these away. and let me show you another recycling label. >> sullivan: back in oregon, i put the question to dad allaway. the question that people are going to have is, what are they supposed to do to make this

better? >> the common refrain in this whole elis that it's all up to consumers. and that's the way recycling has been sold, as well, okay?an "you just need to sort out your recyclables and do your part. , your part, save the ear recycle." and when it comes to understanding and reducing thevi nmental impacts of materials, including packaging, consumers have the lowest amoun. of lever the big leverage is with the producers.s producould disclose the environmental impas of their materials publicly. and by impacts, i don't mean whether or not it can be recycled.th i mean, what icarbon footprint? what are the toxics emissions? how much water was withdrawn to produce this product? >> sullivan: the effect on the planet. >> the effect on the planet... >> sullivan: that this product has. >> that's right. here's this flexible bag, and it's a, it's a plastic-metal laminate... >> sullivan: allaway is a leading thority on the

environmental impacts of mateals like plastic. so you're saying consumers stand here and think, "what can i recycle?" but the question really is, "how i reduce?" >> reduce the impact. the producers know what the different formats are,heythese don't disclose it. instead, what they disclose is the recycling logo. because what it allows industry to do is, it allows industry to keep the conversation focused on ecycling, and never move conversation on to the bigger issues, whh are the full environmental impacts of all thistuff. >> sullivan: but it isn't just industry that's kept consumers focused on recycling for so long. environmentalists have, too. looking back, do you think putting the banner on the mobro was a mistake? >> you know, i have looked at that picture and ponred that for decades. i think we were naive. i think we were overly opmistic about the potenti

of recycling. and perpetuating that narrative led us astray. i mean, absolutely, society- wide, we bought this myth that recycling will solve the problem anwe don't need to worry abo the amount of plastic being produced. >> sullivan: in washington last november, during america recycles week... >> welcome to e.p.a.'s 2019 america recycles innovation fair. >> sullivan: e.p.a.an administrator ew wheeler was talking up the future of recycling. >> in many ways, we're just getting started. n d to increase the interest in and demand for recycled materials and more products made from recycled materials. >> sullivan: companies came with their latest ideas. >> it's 100% recycled content. >> sullivan: some, like keurig, saw a need for better technology. hi, i'm laura sullivan, npr and pbs "frontline." what's happening with k-ps? >> k-cups are going recyclable. >> sullivan: i mean, you got a, couple of hurdles, in t sense that you're going to have

to have people sorting out tiny cupsright? >> ideally, mechanical sorting. >> sullivan: how many k-cups do you sell? >> about 11 billion.n: >> sulli1 billion, a year? >> a year. >> sullivan: so, the idea would be mechanical sorters pick out 11 billion k-cups, right?de >>ly, we want all of them back. >> sullivan: others, like colgate-palmolive, saw a need for better education. >> so, we're here today toca sh our first-of-its-kind recyclable tube. >> sulvan: so, if, if you put this in your curbside tonight, do you think that th tube would be recycled? >> we need more work. we're working with other organizations to get the word out. >> sullivan: so, not yet >> not yet, not yet. >> sullivan: i notice that you guys put the big chasing aows. >> correct. >> sullivan: do you think that because it's not quite a little misleading?that might >> we don't think that we're being misleading becausecl technically it is rele. >> sullivan: as i made my way through the innovation fair...ke

>> we are ep america beautiful, we're a non-for-profit. >> sullivan: you guys have been. around for a long ti >> we've been around for over 65 years. >> sullivan: the mood was optimistic. less than ten percent of plastic has actually ever been recycled. what do you think? >> well, that is a, it's a challenge, and i think what's good is that we're all working together to help improve someli of those rec habits and understanding behavior.li >> sn: do you think that america can recycle its way out of this plastic crisis? w >> i belieh the proper infrtructure and the proper education, and we all work together, as aollective, we ca wi>> the world is flooded th plastic garbage. >> 18 billion pounds of plastic waste end up in the ocean ever ar. >> the equivalent of a garbage truck dumped every minute. >> sullivan: how does thisct confliompare to what you saw en in the '80s and '90s, when this sort of last came up with this kind of fervor? >> well, one thing that's different is, the, the actual ecological context is differenta that we'rey bumping up like, we can't delay trts.

another ten, 20, 30 years, or we're going to...is >> sullivan: so, thit. >> this, this is it.s for the oil and dustry, the stakes are higher, too, because single-use plastic is their plan b. they're not going to be able to continue drill that oil and gas and burn it for energy anymore, because the climate can't sustain it. so this is their lifeline.oi they are to double down on single-use plastic like we have so we're heading towards a real battle. is is, this is the big war. >> the u.n. estimates, by 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. >> plastic in your food. >> microplastics are invading our water supply. >> sullivan: how big a moment is this? >> i think it's a transitional i think it is a big moment. >> sullivan: biggest you've seen, in your career? >> it's the biggest i'veeen. this is the first time you've ever seen companiefrom across the whole supply chain a coming together to, to say, "we

need to fix this." t so you ck about this stuff a lot. we have to show hard results. we have to srt showing success. and we know that. ♪ >> sullivan: 40 years on, despite a plastic cris that's been getting worse, the industry's future seems bright. demand for low-cost plastics continue grow. and the production of new plastic is rapidly expanding. ♪ >> science tells us that we need to significantly reduce our use of merials overall, and yet for the most part, the policymakers are stillocused with laser-like intensity onre cling. there's nothing wrong with promoting recycling, except when recycling sucks all the oxygen out of the room, and we nevedo anything else. fothe last 40 years, the conversation in this country has

been about the recycle part of "reduce, reuse, recycle."ul >>van: that wasn't an accident. >> no, it was not an accident. it w created. it was manufactured. ♪ >> go to pbs.org/frontline for more on what consumers r need to know aboycling. >> the little recycling symbol with a number. >> and follow our latest reporting on the coronavirus. including a new series of our podcast, "the frontline diatch". >> ...if you could look atitaly. what is the advice you're those of us living inrs america? >> they're saying get ready because this is ve, very real. >> connect with the frontline community on facebook and twitter, and watch anytime on the pbs video app, or pbs.org/frontline. >> narrator: the crackdown on chinese muslims. >> the number of people that can be held is unprecedented. >> woman: >> narrator: frontline goes undercover to trace the missing... >> can i trust you

>> narrator: and exposes a next-generation surveillance state. >> the combination of cutting-ge technology and brutal policing methods to control a population. >> narrator: "china undercover". >> narrator: coming in april... >> today the world hlth orinnization officially call it a pandemic... >> narrator: from washington state... >> washingn state is reporting more deaths from the virus... >> narrator: to washington d.c. >> anybody that needs a test gets a test, they're there. >> narrator: corspondent miles o'brien investigates... >> patient number one arrived here in this... >> he did. >> narrator: when polics and science collide. a frontline special report, "coronavirus pandemic". >> frontlines made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major support is provided by th johnd catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world.

more information at macfound.org. the ford foundation: working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwid at fordfoundation.org. additional support is provided by thebrams foundation, committed to excellence in journalism. the park foundation,ca ded to heightening public awareness of critical issues. the jo and helen glessner family trust. supporting trustworthy journalism that infos and inspires. and by the frontline journalism fund,ro with major supportjon and jo ann hagler. and additional support from the miicent and eugene bell foundation. captioneby media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> for more on this and other "frontline" programs, visit our website at pbs.org/frontline.

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- [narrator] this video went viral, but it's not unique. incidents like this can be found in every corner of america, from major cities to small towns. punitive discipline creates a disproportnate criminalization of black girls, and disrupts one of the most important factors in their lives, education. - i would like for schools to become locationsin the most for heso they can become locations for learning. - [announcer] pushout: the criminalizationla of b girls in schools is made possible by the novo foundation, the ford foundation ju films, and the meadow fund. additional support by t following: (relaxed music)