In light of America Recycles Day, I want to share my opinion of recycling's place in environmental sustainability -- as an afterthought R, subsequent to refusing, reducing, and reusing.
Recycling is a good place to start but it cannot be the place that we stop. Recycling is not enough; we need to actively reduce the amount of material we “recycle”.
I think the moral of the story should be: reduce before recycle; with what’s left, recycle right.
I don't believe we’re going to recycle our way out of this mess, but I do think there is an off ramp.
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I'd like to make a few acknowledgements before beginning:
1) Bexley has a Zero Waste Plan to reduce the amount of material sent to the landfill by 90% by 2040. The plan is linked at bexley.org/masterplans.
2) Recycling creates about 5,000 jobs in Central Ohio and supports 370 businesses.
3) An item with packaging – recyclable or not – can be more environmentally friendly than an item without packaging or with recyclable packaging. However, it is hard to definitively know which one is more sustainable.
4) America Recycles Day is an initiative of Keep America Beautiful, which has been criticized for greenwashing.
When we recycle, I think we should recycle right:
Recycling right is the process by which one places their items in their toters so they actually can be recycled. This involves only putting in items that Rumpke accepts, and ensuring the items are clean and not trapped in a bag. The only items accepted in our curbside program are clean:
plastic bottles, jugs, tubs, and select cups;
glass bottles and jars;
paper, cardboard, and paperboard;
metal cans; and
cartons
Unaccepted items in the toter end up in the landfill, and might cause the entire load of materials to also be dumped. When in doubt as to whether or not something is accepted for recycling, feel free to ask me, Rumpke, or throw it out.
Please refrain from ‘wishcycling’ -- putting something in the toter hoping it gets recycled, as this does more harm than good. You’ve worked hard to recycle, don’t undo your hard work by contaminating the bin.
Recycling is a great place to start:
Recycling right is a great first step, a “dip your toe in sustainability” experience. But we’ve been recycling in Bexley for 30 years now, and it’s time to move beyond recycling to the actions that make more of a positive impact than recycling: first refuse, reduce, reuse, repair, recover, repurpose, and rehome.
One of the best things individuals can do to mitigate the climate crisis is reduce consumption of resources. If you need to consume, try used or sustainable items if possible. Once used, try to rehome or repurpose. If recycling is the last option before the landfill, recycle right.
Downcycling is real:
The thing about recycling is that it isn’t the magical panacea we make it out to be. To begin with, recycling uses gas and energy. But also, items may not go from the toter to the factory to be remade into the same product, and then back on our shelves. This cycle is the case for glass and metal, but paper and plastic aren’t recycled -- they’re actually downcycled, meaning each time they’re made into something new, it is a product with slightly less integrity than it had before. Eventually, the material fibers are so weak that nothing new can come out of it, and it ends up in a landfill or as litter.
Our mindset of recycling an item to justify its use (“It’s okay that I’m using this, I’m going to recycle it when I’m done) really isn’t the case, it’s often just a delay in sending something to the landfill.
It goes above and beyond recycling:
We’re not going to recycle our way out of this mess – the issues are too large to be remedied by recycling only. Recycling does play a role in mitigating the problems, but we should first refuse, reduce, reuse, repair, recover, repurpose, and rehome; these are all more impactful than recycling. When we prioritize reducing and reusing (when necessary), we're taking BIG steps to protect humanity's ability to thrive on the planet.
There are many places to go from here:
There are many places to go from here, and we hope you go onward and upward. I hope you'll consider making this America Recycles Day the impetus for your learning, changing, and teaching. Learn about recycling markets, the National Sword, plastic recycling, recycling emissions, the chasing arrow symbols, and niche recycling, to start (you can find information about many of these topics at greenbexley.org/refuse-and-reduce). Make changes to reduce the amount you need to recycle, and when you have to recycle, recycle right. Teach others how to recycle better, and how to reduce consumption to recycle less. Let them know that recycling shouldn't be justification for using a product. Tell them that party cups aren't accepted. Remind them that wishcycling does more harm than good, and can ruin their neighbor's otherwise good recycling. Teach others how to reduce the amount they need to recycle, and how to correctly recycle what they need to.