Is Recycling a Fraud?

plastic bottles in a recycling center bin

Is Recycling A Fraud, by Chaz Miller, Waste 360

plastic bottles in a recycling center bin

Over the last few years, recycling has been subject to a barrage of bad press. First it was the bad markets caused largely by the Chinese decision to ban the imports of recyclables. Then came the stories claiming that our recyclables get tossed into landfills or are sent overseas to be dumped. That was followed by easily quotable and highly misleading statistics such as only nine percent of plastics are recycled. No wonder many people are suspicious about recycling.

Chaz Miller | Apr 11, 2022

Recycling, after all, requires more from us than trash. Garbage is easy. You put it all in a bag, put the bag in the trash can and wave goodbye when it is picked up by the garbage truck.

Recycling is hard. You have to separate the recyclables from the trash and put them in a separate container. Sometimes you don’t have one, you have two recycling containers and sometimes you also have a bin for food waste. Let’s face it, recycling requires us to do more. In our convenience mad society, this is a barrier.

Yet, people are willing to take this extra step for a variety of reasons. Usually, they boil down to doing the right thing and saving resources. But if we believe our extra work is in vain, we will ignore our recycling bins or pay little attention to what we toss in them.

Unfortunately, data recently released by the Shelton Group shows that while almost all of us believe recycling is good for the environment, just under half of us say recycling isn’t working well and almost a third aren’t confident that what they put in the bin gets recycled. That number has doubled since 2019.

I’m not surprised. Over the last few years, recycling has been subject to a barrage of bad press. First it was the bad markets caused largely by the Chinese decision to ban the imports of recyclables. Then came the stories claiming that our recyclables get tossed into landfills or are sent overseas to be dumped. That was followed by easily quotable and highly misleading statistics such as only nine percent of plastics are recycled.  No wonder many people are suspicious about recycling.

What’s frustrating, though, is the eagerness of politicians and advocates to claim recycling is “broken” in order to promote their cure for what ails recycling. They should know better. I’m frustrated by the reluctance of recyclers to challenge the negativity and to make it clear that markets are back and programs are getting stronger. Kudos to the Northeast Resource Recovery Association and for the work it has done in this area.

Recycling relies on the willingness of people to do more with their trash than just throw it away. If we sit back and let falsehoods prevail, Americans will lose their faith in recycling. And that is truly bad news.

 

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