How much plastic is actually recycled?

I heard a while ago that only a crazy small amount of plastic we separate out for recycling actually gets recycled.
In the UK estimates are as high as only 5% is reused,
95% lost as more general waste.

Why is this?

1 There are different types of plastic (PET, HDPE, PVC, LDPE, PP, PS etc) and they are hard to separate.

2 Food contamination is a major problem - unlike metal or glass - food residue cannot be removed by high temperature.

3 Dyes and additives interfere - hard to create a clear or virgin white stock.

So a lot of plastic is technically recyclable but not economically recyclable.

The solutions are to:
A Use less
B Recycle more effectively as technology develops
C Develop better ways to manage waste

We may be better treating certain plastics more like a long-term industrial waste material than fooling ourselves they are a continuously recyclable resource.

That may be better than:
* Environmental pollution,
* Incineration 
* or constant failed recycling attempts.

The realistic goal may not be true circular recycling.
Instead:
* Sort it as best can be done
* Stabilise it,
* Encapsulate it eg as compact bricks,
* Store it 
* and prevent environmental leakage.

As technology unfolds this would be a readily available feedstock for a new process. In the meantime it’s locked up safe and not floating in the ocean.

The challenge of plastic recycling something that would lend itself well to a State funded prize initiative.
To motivate the army of garden shed boffins to lend their genius to solving problems Corporations aren’t capable of.