The Daily Valet. - 5/9/22, Monday

✔️ We Only Barely Recycled

Monday, May 9th Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

Please recycle this newsletter when you’re done with it.

Cory Ohlendorf , Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

Today’s Big Story

The U.S. Barely Recycled Last Year

Only 5% of plastic waste in the U.S. is being recycled, according to an Energy Department report

Think about how much plastic you interact with in a day. It’s a lot, right? Now how much of that plastic do you think gets recycled? Most of it? Not even close. That Voss water bottle is not being melted down into a new Voss bottle—or even a Poland Spring bottle for that matter.

According to the Last Beach Cleanup and Beyond Plastics report, the recycling rate for post-consumer plastic was just 5% to 6% in 2021. They discovered about 85% of plastic ends up in landfills, with 10% incinerated. The Department of Energy released similar research, analyzing data from 2019, and came to the same depressing number: just 5%.

The reasons are many, according to environmental and waste-management experts who spoke to the Wall Street Journal, and include population growth, a desire for single-use plastics, and dwindling demand for recyclables.

Many American and European cities suspended parts of their recycling programs in 2019 after China tightened restrictions around recyclable imports. (Historically, China has been an important player in the plastics and recycling industries.) When the country stopped taking imports of plastic altogether, the U.S. and other countries knew they were in trouble.

Plastic is notoriously difficult to recycle, even though it’s literally everywhere. According to the EPA, as of 2018, the average American used more than 200 pounds of plastic a year. That’s a 263% total increase from the average person using 60 pounds a year in 1980, reports Gizmodo. Some plastic is indeed recyclable: PET plastic bottles, labeled #1 in the looping arrows symbol, are one of the few items that are regularly recycled. But many other plastics don’t end up in a circular economy, no matter how well we sort and dispose of them.

Environmentalists say the new recycling data should be a “wake-up call” about plastic recycling (or lack thereof). Even at its peak in 2014, the U.S. has only ever been able to recycle 9.5% of its plastic waste, and advocates argue that more recycling infrastructure is unlikely to raise that record or reverse recycling’s downward trend.

↦ Dig Deeper: California is investigating Big Oil for allegedly misleading the public, promoting the idea that plastics could be recycled so people would buy more of it.

Important Days and Hardened Lines

First lady Jill Biden makes unannounced trip to Ukraine

On a day of commemoration of the end of World War II in Europe, Russia's war in Ukraine was marked by posturing and signaling on Sunday, as each side ramped up its rhetoric and resolve.

Today in Russia, the revered May 9 holiday, marking the Soviet victory over the Nazis, has been hijacked by Putin. It will be a lavish government-orchestrated show of military might and a claim of rightful dominance over a lost empire—a day to galvanize public support for the war by slandering Ukraine as a successor to Nazi Germany. (A claim that was just denounced by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.)

In a sign of solidarity and good will, first lady Jill Biden spent part of Mother's Day making an unannounced trip to Uzhhorod, Ukraine, a small city in the far southwestern corner of Ukraine. At a converted school that now serves as temporary housing for displaced citizens, Biden met with Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska, who has not been seen in public since the start of the war on February 24.

In regards to another school that was serving as a shelter—one that was bombed by Russia—UN Crisis Coordinator for Ukraine and UN Assistant Secretary-General Amin Awad issued a statement in response, saying the incident is “yet another stark reminder of the cruelty of this war.”

↦ Meanwhile: Remember Patron, Ukraine’s top bomb-sniffing dog, who we introduced you to a few weeks ago? Well, he was awarded a medal from President Zelensky.

Motherhood Deferred

The U.S. median age for giving birth hits 30

The median age of American women giving birth has jumped from 27 to 30—the highest on record—as birthrates have declined for women in their 20s and jumped for women in their late 30s and early 40s, according to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Decisions by college-educated women to invest in their education and careers so they could be better off financially when they had children, as well as the desire by working-class women to wait until they were more financially secure, have contributed to the shift toward older motherhood, one sociologist explained to NBC News.

And according to the New York Times, the experiences of American mothers look very different across the country. People are more likely than before to live in places surrounded by people like them. And local factors—job opportunities, housing prices and social mores about things like going to church and using contraception—all influence their family planning.

Since unintended pregnancies are highest among teens and women in their 20s, and more of their pregnancies end in abortion compared to older women, ending Roe v. Wade would likely shift the start of childbearing earlier on average—reversing of the trend of the past three decades.

↦ Dig Deeper: Fresh off of Mother's Day, our resident life coach tackles a few common underlying mommy issues.

The Boulder, the Better

Rock climbing is on the rise

Bouldering isn't new—in the last decade, interest in rock climbing has been steadily rising in North America—but it's definitely having a moment. Last year, 53 new climbing gyms opened in the U.S., which amounted to the most new openings in the country for a single calendar year.

Gym owners attribute the growth to sport climbing's debut at the Tokyo Olympics, reports Forbes. It was one of the more popular sports and Nathaniel Coleman became America's first climbing Olympian to bring home a medal.

It's also a sport you can happily do out in nature too—ideal during the height of the pandemic. It not only provides peace of mind, but there are tons of genuine health benefits too like boosting your flexibility, balance and even memory.

And the numbers are pretty impressive: More than 10 million Americans are regularly climbing. There are now more than 500 indoor climbing walls in the United States, powering a $493 million industry, according to market research firm IBISWorld.

↦ Meanwhile: Asian Americans are fighting to make the great outdoors more inclusive.

In Other News

↦ 80-1 Shot ‘Rich Strike’ Races to Huge Upset in Kentucky Derby

↦ 500kg of Cocaine Was Discovered in Sacks of Coffee at a Nespresso Factory

↦ Here’s Why Flying Sucks Right Now

Other Things We’re Talking About Today

Deliveries

The new Doctor Who

Cumberbatch on ‘SNL’

The Speedmaster Is a Classic

And we’re giving one away to one lucky reader.

Our recent Rolex giveaway was such a big hit, you all asked for another legendary watch giveaway. And we don’t want to disappoint. So we’ve gotten together with a few of our favorite brands to bring you another iconic timepiece to win.

This time, it's a more refined version of Omega's famed Moonwatch, the Speedmaster Date Chronograph. It’s worth around $3,450 but you could win it … for free.

Here’s what we love about it: Omega’s signature timepiece is one of the most desirable watches in the world. With a sturdy 40mm stainless steel case, it's prominent on the wrist, but still with classic features. Surrounded by a black aluminum tachymetric bezel, the dial features a vertical chronograph configuration is complemented by an angular date window.

↦ Win: Enter now for your chance to take this beauty home.

What We’re Eyeing

Sunspel x Rosie McGuinness Camp Collar Shirt

This is the next iteration of the camp collar shirt. The bold, tropical prints are giving way to more sophisticated, abstract and geometric patterns. Sunspel just collaborated with London fashion illustrator Rosie McGuinness for a summer collection and the designs feature rich colors and stylized leaf motifs. Like this shirt ($235), cut from lightweight Italian cotton poplin, tailored in a relaxed fit. Wear it with the matching swim shorts for a sharp, comfortable summer outfit.

↦ Want more? 5 stylish items to buy this week