Manufacturers have long claimed that it's not really possible to make packaging out of recycled plastic, because the plastic quality degrades with every recycling step.

Now the EU is starting to require many types of plastic packaging to contain at least 30% recycled plastic, and what do you know, suddenly manufacturers are all switching their plastic choices from eg. LDPE to PET, because PET is more recyclable. In some cases with 100% recycled plastic.

Turns out it was possible all along.

And like, this is not some obscure change. This is happening *all over the place*. If you are in the EU, and you have eg. some cosmetics or soap for which you have both a recently purchased bottle and also one that's a few years old... compare them.

Chances are you're going to find one of them being LDPE or HDPE, and the other being PET. Regardless of what brand or store it came from. Regardless of price point.

Similar deal with LDPE/HDPE getting swapped over to PP for foil packaging (laundry powder bags, wet wipe packs, that sort of stuff). If you've noticed the plastic getting a bit more 'crispy' and a bit less flexible at some point, this is why.

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Relatedly: pay attention to which brands have *exactly* 30% recycled plastic content... they're the ones that are trying to do the absolute bare minimum they are required to.

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