Recycling… is there any point?

The answer might be a little surprising.

According to information published by the EPA in 2018, the United States alone produced 262.4 million tons of municipal solid waste (the stuff we and businesses throw out in our trash cans). Although an increase of only 1.33% in one year, it is a 26% increase from 1990.

262.4 millions tons of municipal solid waste equates to 4.48 pounds of trash per person, per day. Though this number may be staggering, it is actually a decrease in the amount of trash produced per person per day since the year 2000. 👏Good job everyone! Time to pat ourselves on the back.

Actually, hold that thought.

These statistics were completed for study years up to 2015. In the last several years, e-commerce has boomed and is expected to hit a 200% increase in 2021 from just 4 years prior. This is double the amount of trash and plastic used in shipping and packaging in just 5 years! We are not even considering the environmental impact of the actual shipping processes (vehicles, planes, processing and distribution centers, etc.).

Although plastic packaging consumption grows 3.8% per year, the rate of plastic recycling has decreased per capita since 2015.

Now what about cardboard? Actually, cardboard use in e-commerce has decreased or been stagnant since 1995. Packagers are considering other options for shipping materials, such as plastic sleeves and films. To me, this appears to be trading one problem for another. However, cardboard cannot be recycled more than a few times before it is unusable.

Plastic, on the other hand… just kidding it is the same case. Plastic can only be recycled one or two times before it is unusable in the consumer product industry.

So what products can be recycled infinitely?

Things like aluminum and other metals, and glass. These items can be recycled almost indefinitely. Paper can be recycled five to seven times on average.

Now that we’ve established an idea of what can actually be recycled. Let’s talk about if it is actually recycled. But before we get into that, I want to establish an understanding of the recycling industry.

For decades, the United States has been sending much of its recycling to China, up to 40% of our 87.2 million tons of waste Americans have put in the recycling or compost bin each year. In 2018, China began to refuse recycling imports as part of pollution control efforts, which has had drastic effects on the recycling industry in the U.S. Many municipalities simply cannot afford the rising cost of recycling. Some municipalities have dissolved their recycling programs, whereas others simply send the recyclables to the landfill, burn, or stockpile them.

So what can we do?

Although it seems hopeless, I have a few suggestions on how we can all improve recycling and reduce our contribution to the massive amount of waste produced annually in the U.S.

Reduce Waste

The only surefire way to make sure that we are sending less waste to the landfill, and ultimately our streams, rivers, and oceans, is to reduce our overall waste. The easiest way to reduce waste is to reduce consumption. A few tips to do this:

• Bring reusable bags to the store. ANY store. You can also try avoiding getting items bagged when you don’t need it or only have a few items.
• Avoid grocery store packaging. This can mean avoiding the use of produce bags, using your own reusable produce bags, choosing low-packaged goods or choosing cardboard packaging over plastic, since it takes less time to decompose in a landfill.
• When ordering goods online, choose the option (if available) to send in as few packages as possible. Sometimes the vendor will give you a small credit for doing this.
• Shop local and bring your own containers. Sometimes places like farmers markets, health food stores, butcher shops, etc. can sell items in bulk or without packaging, so you are free to bring your own container to package your goods. When buying bulk items at the grocery store, just make sure you weigh your container first, and then you will not be charged for its weight on checkout.
• Choose eco-packaging. Sometimes companies offer more eco-friendly packaging which use less material. This may be advertised so you can easily differentiate eco-friendly packaging from conventional.
• Choose items packaged in containers you might reuse. If you can get peanut butter in a plastic container or a glass container, choose the glass. You can use the leftover peanut butter to create a great pad thai sauce in the original peanut butter jar, and then use the empty jar to mix up a homemade salad dressing. Save your cardboard box from Amazon to wrap a gift. Use your empty egg carton to sprout seeds for a garden. There are a million ways you can reuse containers, you just have to be creative.

Create Your Own Compost Bin

In order to reduce your food waste placed in landfill (not a landfill’s biggest problem, but a space problem nonetheless), you can create your own compost bin. There are thousands of DIY compost bin plans online and you can really customize it for your space and price level.

Check Your Local Recycling Rules

Some recyclers will take all of the collected recyclables to a landfill if they are contaminated with non-recyclable items. These non-recyclable items may include off-spec plastics, dirty containers, non-corrugated cardboard, etc. So the best way to make sure your items are recycled (if your municipality recycles) is to know and follow your local recycling agency’s rules.

Get Involved

If you community does not recycle, you can always try to get involved in creating local policy. There are plenty of creative solutions, changes in recycling processes, or funding programs that can be put into place to get a recycling program off the ground. Getting recycling to come or return to your municipality may ultimately result in increased taxes; however, for some people it may be worth the cost in order to ensure that our world has a cleaner future for ourselves and our children.

Recycling may seem pointless, and I don’t blame you if you are discouraged by it. However, there are so many things you can do to reduce your waste. If you guys have any other suggestions as to how to reduce our impact on landfills, comment below! I’d love to hear from you.