Plastics Industry Offers School Curricula Promoting Recycling and Safety Claims

Plastics companies have developed science lesson plans that are being offered to schools across the United States. The curriculum portrays plastics as safe, recyclable materials and highlights the industry as a source of good employment. Critics, however, argue that the educational material amounts to corporate propaganda designed to shape young students' perceptions in favor of the industry. Concerns have been raised about the objectivity of science education when it is produced and funded by the very sector it covers.