Is recycling a myth? When Tesco launched its four Rs – Remove, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – two journalists decided to insert a bug into a plastic bag to see what really happened.
The life and death of a plastic bag
Is recycling a myth? When Tesco launched its four Rs - Remove, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - two journalists decided to insert a bug into a plastic bag to see what really happened.
The plastic bag's useful life lasted for a few hours at most. It was picked up by a shopper at Tesco, Britain's largest supermarket chain. It cradled their groceries while they walked across the car park. Minutes later, its job was done.
A year ago, the plastic bag would have been scrunched into a ball and thrown into a bin, destined for the nearest landfill.
Soft plastics, the stretchy, crinkly materials that make up plastic bags and most food packaging, are notoriously hard to recycle. They must be separated by hand into different grades, then washed, shredded, melted and filtered. Today, only 6% of the UK's soft plastics complete this process.
But in 2021, TescoTesco launched the four Rs strategy in August 2019. The supermarket pledged to remove plastic where possible, reduce it where it could not remove it, reuse more and recycle what remained. set out to change this statistic. The supermarket giant installed deposit boxes at stores across the country and encouraged customers to bring back their used plastic products.
Shoppers soon noticed the boxes. So did Kit Chellel, an investigative journalist. He wanted to know exactly where the plastic was going. "It goes off to dirty, smelly places to be sorted and dealt with by someone else, and you don't think about it again."
Chellel decided to find out for himself. He placed a tiny digital tracker in a shopping bag and dropped it off at a Tesco Superstore in west London. The plastic bag's second life had officially begun.
Soon, the bag was on the move. It was loaded onto a lorry and driven to Harwich International Port on England's east coast. The plastic boarded a ship and set sail.
A day later, the bag was in the back of another lorry, driving east across Germany and then past the Polish border. Then the truck left the motorway and entered the quiet town of Zielona Gora. It bypassed the museum and the historic church, trundling down the cobbled streets towards a shabby industrial estate.
Finally, the truck drove through the gates of the Eurokey Recycling GroupIn 2020, the firm had annual revenue of £52m. The company's manager travels by private jet. , a "waste broker" which takes rubbish and sends it to other companies.
For two months, the plastic bag lay untouched in the potholed yard, 700 miles from London. Other plastics left the plant, to be turned into new Tesco bags or burnt as fuelThe plastic is burned to fuel cement factories. Proponents say it is clean because high temperatures destroy harmful toxins. But the burnt plastic still produces carbon dioxide emissions. .
But this bag had a different fate. In January, the tracker pinged again - this time near Adana in southern Turkey.
Nobody knows what happened next. The tracker went silent again, and the silence was never broken.
There are many reputable recycling firms in Turkey. They comply with environmental regulations. But some scammers accept the fee to dispose of low-grade plastic and then burn it, releasing toxic chemicals.
Activists in Adana have found Tesco bags at illegal dump sites.
This plastic bag's journey ended in Turkey, perhaps recycled, perhaps burned or dumped. But one thing is clear: the plastic problem affects the entire world. MicroplasticsMicroplastics are fragments of degraded plastic that are less than five millimetres in length. They are blown into the atmosphere and transported by ocean currents. have fallen in snowfall on mountain peaks and grouped in the stomachs of earthworms.
And every year, more plasticsEvery year, nearly half a billion tons of plastic are produced worldwide. are produced. Unless something changes, this problem will only get worse.
<h5 class=" eplus-wrapper">Is recycling a myth?</h5>
Yes: The four R strategy introduced by Tesco and other big brands is not as simple as it seems. Recycling is a complicated and messy process. This investigation reveals just how often it fails.
No: Many plastics, particularly hard plastics, are used time and time again. Recycled products are used around the globe. As the world celebrates Earth Day today, we must not give up hope.
Or... We put our faith in recycling to let go of our guilt as we consume ever more plastic products. But the real solution to the pollution crisis is to stop producing single-use plastics altogether.
Tesco - Tesco launched the four Rs strategy in August 2019. The supermarket pledged to remove plastic where possible, reduce it where it could not remove it, reuse more and recycle what remained.
Eurokey Recycling Group - In 2020, the firm had annual revenue of £52m. The company's manager travels by private jet.
Fuel - The plastic is burned to fuel cement factories. Proponents say it is clean because high temperatures destroy harmful toxins. But the burnt plastic still produces carbon dioxide emissions.
Microplastics - Microplastics are fragments of degraded plastic that are less than five millimetres in length. They are blown into the atmosphere and transported by ocean currents.
More plastics - Every year, nearly half a billion tons of plastic are produced worldwide.
The life and death of a plastic bag

Glossary
Tesco - Tesco launched the four Rs strategy in August 2019. The supermarket pledged to remove plastic where possible, reduce it where it could not remove it, reuse more and recycle what remained.
Eurokey Recycling Group - In 2020, the firm had annual revenue of £52m. The company’s manager travels by private jet.
Fuel - The plastic is burned to fuel cement factories. Proponents say it is clean because high temperatures destroy harmful toxins. But the burnt plastic still produces carbon dioxide emissions.
Microplastics - Microplastics are fragments of degraded plastic that are less than five millimetres in length. They are blown into the atmosphere and transported by ocean currents.
More plastics - Every year, nearly half a billion tons of plastic are produced worldwide.