Recycling. It’s such a feel-good action, dropping a plastic bottle into that blue can and knowing you’re doing something good for the environment. Yet recycling is, in many ways, somewhat of a scam. 

As you’ve likely heard, recycling seems like a great idea, but the actual rate of what’s recycled is abysmal. Of the 8.3 billion tons of plastic we’ve produced since the 1950s, we’ve recycled only around 9 percent. The rest lies mostly in landfills or pollutes our ground and water. 

So, why is our recycling system so broken, and what should we do about it?

 

To fully comprehend this question, it’s important to understand the step-by-step process: 

1. Collection and screening
   1. From our curbside recycling bins, these materials are first collected by logistics companies and transported to a recycling facility. Materials are checked for contamination: loads whose contamination exceeds a threshold level are thrown out, and non-recyclable items are discarded.
2. Sorting and washing
   1. Plastics, papers, and metals are sorted based on material, color, and more: depending on the facility, this can be done mostly by hand or with the help of machines. Materials are then washed, and the leftover residue is removed. 
3. Sorted materials are resold to manufacturers
   1. These newly recycled materials, marked “non-virgin”, can then be sold to producers. Depending on the cost of the recycling process, the profitability of recycled materials can vary greatly. With these materials, manufacturers can make new products!

So, what exactly goes wrong here? When I was researching, I was surprised to learn that recycling in the US used to be considerably more organized and effective. Let’s dive into a quick history of when it all went downhill:

When the US first adopted recycling in the 1970s, we had a multi-stream system. This meant that people were responsible for sorting their own recyclables. Additionally, there was more emphasis on people cleaning their recyclables and ensuring that contamination didn’t occur. 

However, in the early 2000s, the world economy transformed drastically. China’s market flourished: hoping to gather as much raw material as possible, they took in all of the US’s recyclables, whether or not they met quality standards. Considering this, the US also shifted their recycling focus from quality to quantity: people put all their recyclables (paper, plastic, metals, etc) into a single stream to send to China. The government emphasized that the more, the better, which caused the quality and organization of recycling to decline dramatically. 

Yet, with this huge influx of plastic to China came increasing problems. Pollution and waste piled up, harming wildlife, contaminating waterways, and more. This all came to a head in 2018, when China, its economy stabilizing and environmental problems compounding, suddenly banned plastic imports that didn’t pass strict contamination standards. 

This meant that large amounts of US recycling, which didn’t pass these standards, suddenly had nowhere to go – and seemingly overnight, the profitability of recycling came crashing down. 

 

Now, in the present day, our recycling system comes with many flaws, which we’ve been ignoring by exporting everything to China. A few major problems include:

1. A lack of education and public awareness. 
   1. Many people don’t actually know what and how to recycle. Of course, this leads to many recyclable materials being thrown in the trash – however, it also leads to the opposite. When consumers don’t know if an item is recyclable, we often recycle it anyway, just in case. However, by putting nonrecyclables in recycling bins, we actually create contamination that leads to more waste. Currently, 25% of America’s recycling is contaminated with non-recyclables like food, grocery bags, and more. When these materials infiltrate the recycling stream, it can cause entire loads of recycling to be discarded (think yogurt-soaked bundles of cardboard – what manufacturer would want that?) Thus, everything in such loads, even recyclables, would be sent to the landfill. Additionally, because contamination is incredibly costly (upwards $300 million per year in the US alone), it can make recycling unprofitable and therefore unappealing to producers. 
2. Outdated recycling laws
   1. Many of our current recycling laws were enacted in the late 1900s, when our system was multi-stream and loads consisted largely of paper. Yet as our recycling system has transformed, these laws haven’t kept up. Many aspects of our current system, like mixed materials or imports and exports, are not accounted for. 
3. Lack of incentive for companies to use recycled materials
   1. For many recyclables, like plastics, manufacturers have no real incentive to use recycled rather than new sources of these materials. Firstly, the recycling process can be expensive – collection, cleaning, sorting, etc, can rack up prices. Furthermore, recycled materials often have volatile demand and price – fluctuating greatly depending on factors like the specific recycling facility, changes in quality and classification, and more. This, paired with a considerably low market demand for recycled materials, repels manufacturers from using or investing in recycled materials. 
4. The source: overproduction of single-use plastics
   1. In the end, the largest issue is not what we do with plastics and recyclables after consumption, but rather the production itself. No matter how much we improve our recycling system, the main problem continues to be the creation of single-use plastics.

That being said, large-scale institutional changes need to occur. These include:

1. Increasing consumer awareness and education. 
   1. Nation-wide efforts should be made to educate consumers about what can and cannot be recycled, and how to do it properly. This could be done through campaigns, primary school classes, brochures and flyers, and more!
2. Diverting funding and effort to developing recycling infrastructure.
   1. An important aspect of improving recycling is streamlining the process and strengthening our domestic market for recycled goods. We can pass legislation to improve how we sort and classify materials and to standardize quality classifications, thereby reducing price volatility. We can find ways to incorporate more non-virgin materials into new products to be sold, such as through government legislation requiring minimum recycled content. 
3. Incentivizing producers and consumers to reduce, reuse, and recycle. 
   1. When it comes to the free market, of course, money talks. Governments can use taxes or subsidies to make recycling more profitable and increase demand. This, in turn, would encourage producers to use recycled materials and invest in recycling technology and techniques. Additionally, additional costs for waste or plastic consumption (think of those 10-cent plastic bags at the grocery store) could incentivize people to reduce and recycle. 
4. Cutting it off from the source
   1. The most important change, however, is reducing the production of single-use plastics. We need to figure out where plastics are required (e.g., single-use medical supplies) and try to increase the recycling of these materials. Where plastic is unnecessary, we should phase out their usage and turn to other materials instead.

 

While pushing for these large-scale changes, there are also smaller things that we, as consumers, can do:

1. Focus on the other 2 Rs: Reduce and reuse. The best thing to do is to reduce our consumption of single-use plastics in the first place. Where possible, reuse these products rather than buying new ones. Recycling, rather than your first instinct, should be your last resort. 
2. Educate yourself! Learn about what materials are recyclable, especially which types of plastics your local municipality takes (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 in Naperville, and plastic bags at some grocery stores). Learn how to sort your plastics if necessary, and realize what can’t be recycled and throw it in the trash. Compost what you can, and clean your materials (especially food containers) before recycling. 
3. Strive to reduce your consumption of single-use plastics: use reusable bags, buy in bulk, and look for recycled products when possible!
4. Urge local leaders and representatives to pass legislation reducing waste. 

 

Obviously, there’s a lot more nuance to this problem than I was able to go into, and in the end, the responsibility for plastic waste lies largely on producers, institutions, and governments, not consumers. However, there are things that we can do to be more educated about the current state of the environment and what we can do! Hopefully, if you’ve come this far, you’ve gleaned some new insight on this topic. 

 

For more info, check out some of these sources that I found helpful:

https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2020/03/13/fix-recycling-america/ 

https://cmr.berkeley.edu/2023/05/america-s-broken-recycling-system/ 

https://e360.yale.edu/features/piling-up-how-chinas-ban-on-importing-waste-has-stalled-global-recycling