The path to viability

In 1970, Americans recycled 6 percent of our total waste. Today, we recycle nearly 35 percent. Our research shows that more Americans recycle today than those who vote—surprising but true!

Broader-based environmental sustainability efforts being championed by businesses and institutions have further validated the benefits of recycling.

We’ve come quite far in almost a half century as our industry has evolved from handling only trash to viewing recyclables as valuable resources that should be recovered. But we still have a long way to go with ever-evolving technology, economies and public education. A good deal more needs to be done, and it begins with everyone understanding his or her roles in the recycling process and demystifying many of the common inaccuracies that exist about recycling and waste disposal.
 

Common challenges

Let’s start by exploring some common challenges. You have a garden hose, plastic grocery bag, clothes hanger, syringe and greasy pizza box with cheese still stuck to the cardboard: Which of these items does not belong in your recycling bin?

Ask this of the average American, and you likely will be faced with a very confused response. You may receive a different response in different parts of the country depending on what kind of consumer education is available and how engaged residents are on how to recycle correctly, or—as we call it at the National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA)—how to practice clean recycling. While recycling has become a common behavior for most Americans and with curbside recycling now available to 60 to 70 percent of the population, communities still need to learn about the right way to recycle.

Not all Americans know and practice proper recycling techniques. Through a Harris survey NWRA commissioned, we learned that 67 percent of Americans are confident they know how to recycle; that leaves a whole third of the public who need to be educated. Consumers must be educated on smart recycling, and good behavior must be rewarded.

When the wrong things are placed in the recycling bin, they become contaminates that can make recyclables in the collection bin nonrecyclable, forcing these items into a landfill rather than into consuming facilities. The ability to recycle materials is lost when families and individuals don’t follow steps to ensure their recyclables aren’t contaminated. Consumers must be educated about what is and what is not appropriate to put in a recycling bin and how to minimize contamination by ensuring that recyclables are clean and that food and other nonrecyclable waste stay out of the bin.

Considering what we know about consumer awareness of clean recycling, NWRA, along with our partners launched Begin with the Bin, http://beginwiththebin.org, a comprehensive but easy-to-navigate website that narrows down the 10 things that can almost always go in a recycling bin. Our handy infographic makes it easy to review what residents should always clean out and put in their recycling bins. And, as we expand our efforts to educate the general public about recycling, we will add a list of items that should never go in the bin.

Getting back to the question, Which of these items—garden hose, plastic grocery bag, clothes hanger, syringe and greasy pizza box with cheese stuck to the cardboard—does not belong in a recycling bin?

None of these items should ever go in the bin for a variety of reasons: contamination, safety and potential damage to sorting equipment at recycling facilities. For example, plastic shopping bags can gum up the equipment of a MRF (material recovery facility), forcing the line to shut down intermittently to cut the numerous plastic bags free from the machinery so it can operate properly.

Grocery bags and other plastic films need to be returned to participating grocery stores that will ensure the bags are properly recycled, but they should not be put into single-stream recycling bins.

The cost of recycling

While we work to educate consumers about clean recycling, we need them to also learn one other important fact: Recycling is not free.

In fact, recycling is becoming more expensive, and most of the general public is completely unaware. Recycling is a commodity business where recyclables are sold to be reprocessed into new products that run the gamut from roadways to bottles and cans to fiberglass and apparel. However, prices for recyclables are so low today that it is tough to cover capital expenses associated with recycling and all other related costs.

Commodity markets affect the value of recyclables, and in recent years certain materials have become incredibly expensive for our members to process because their values have dropped significantly.

Recycled plastic markets, for example, could be in trouble. Low oil prices may be good for us every time we fill our cars, but as the price of oil declines, so does the price of plastic resin. This makes it so that manufacturers may choose to use virgin plastic because oil prices make it cheaper to produce virgin material than to recycle existing plastic.

Beyond the challenge posed by the low cost of oil, we are faced with concerns about items that can be recycled but for which there is little market. For example, prices are so low for glass bottles that companies or municipalities often have to pay to have this material hauled away. It’s a simple issue of supply and demand.
 

Ensuring viability

We aren’t saying that recycling is going to come to a complete stop. Demand for sustainable packaging, consistently increasing recycling rates, a commitment to our environment and numerous other benefits ensure that recycling definitely has a future.

As with any industry, however, when it comes to recycling, it must be economically viable for all participants in the process to have a future. During earnings reports from some of our publicly traded members, it’s been said more than once that recycling is in crisis. Leading waste and recycling industry executives have been vocal in recent months about recycling in the context of dramatic swings in global commodities pricing and other economic factors that have affected the recycling business.

Our members recognize that recycling is a social good and a valued service and, therefore, want to continue to promote it; but, this can’t be done at a loss, and they can’t be expected to absorb the cost of this service. Consumers need to understand that to maintain the recycling services they currently enjoy, someone needs to foot the bill. This is an issue the public needs to understand and be willing to invest in. Whether its municipalities paying the bill or directly placing the responsibility on residents, the economic risk of recycling must be shared.

The general public can help to stabilize the otherwise growing costs of recycling by doing their part: washing items before they go in the bin, checking our http://beginwiththebin.org site for tips and tools to advance their recycling behaviors and making sure to stick by recycling’s golden rule: When in doubt, keep it out!

The author is senior director of communications and marketing for the National Waste & Recycling Association, based in Washington. She can be contacted at jmayorga@wasterecycling.org.