Hey, Sarah Gonzalez here.

So in 2020, NPR and Vesigate, of course,

bonnet, Laura Sullivan came to us with a story.

The story was about the big lie about recycling plastics,

and she had receipts.

We made a show about it with Laura and PBS Frontline,

and we're going to play that episode again today,

because it just won a big award.

The Alfred I. DuPont Columbia University Award.

So we're going to replay it today in part

because we're proud and we want to celebrate,

but also because this is a show that

changed the way a lot of people,

including a lot of us on Planet Money,

think about the oil industry and recycling plastics.

This is Planet Money from NPR.

Back in the 1980s, here's how recycling worked.

You could recycle glass, paper, and metal,

but recycling plastic wasn't really a thing yet.

The cost of recycling plastic was really expensive,

so nobody collected it.

This is Koi Smith.

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