Does recycling even do anything?

Watch my video about how the UK banned disposable vapes on Nebula here - https://nebula.tv/videos/simonclark-how-the-uk-banned-disposable-vapes - and get 40% of an annual subscription with my code: https://go.nebula.tv/simonclark

This video was inspired by a friend who asked: “does recycling even do anything?”. In answering that question I went surprisingly in depth on the statistics on recycling, and specifically making sense of plastic recycling.

Sustainable Futures at Manchester: https://www.sustainablefutures.manchester.ac.uk/

One Bin To Rule Them All: https://www.sustainablefutures.manchester.ac.uk/research/case-studies/one_bin_to_rule_them_all/plasticshierarchy/

Less Waste Laura: https://www.instagram.com/lesswastelaura

REFERENCES

There were too many numbered references to fit into the description, so those are posted on my website here: http://www.simonoxfphys.com/blog/2025/5/31/references-for-does-recycling-even-do-anything

You can support the channel by becoming a patron at http://www.patreon.com/simonoxfphys

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More about me - https://www.simonoxfphys.com/
My second channel - https://www.youtube.com/simonclarkerrata
My book - https://geni.us/firmament

Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/simonoxfphys.com
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/simonoxfphys
Twitch - https://www.twitch.tv/drsimonclark

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Music by Epidemic Sound: http://nebula.tv/epidemic
Some stock footage courtesy of Getty.
Edited by Luke Negus.

Huge thanks to my supporters on Patreon:

Dave Teare, Eric A Gentzler, Glen Monks, Gary Stark, dryfrog, Marcus Bosshard, bitreign33 .

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