Humans create a lot of waste. But when you throw something away, how much do you know about where it goes and how it is disposed of? This is the final article in a five-part series exploring what happens to the countless materials we throw away.
Few environmental precepts are as strongly embraced in America as the need to recycle. For some people, recycling serves as a proxy for sustainability. A complete recycling bin that eliminates numerous wasteful practices. However, recycling is not the ultimate solution to environmental problems. America’s recycling system faces serious problems of its own.
If you’ve never seen recycling beyond moving a cart to the curb, here’s what happens after the truck picks it up.
Source separation or single stream
Older readers will remember the early days of material separation recycling, when every material needed its own bin and even different colored glass had to be separated. Households often had to drop off multiple containers at recycling centers over the weekend. Even in communities that collect recycling at the curb, spending time separating materials at home and maintaining numerous bins have been barriers to recycling.
Garbage collectors began offering single-stream recycling in the 90s. Single stream recycling, also called “combined,” “single bin,” or “all-in-one recycling,” allows households to place all of their recyclables together in one bin. The advent of single-stream recycling has increased recycling rates, but it has also increased contamination rates. Despite higher prices and more pollution, single-stream recycling has been environmentally friendly for about 20 years.
recycling system
Like waste disposal and large-scale composting, recycling is a large-scale undertaking usually carried out through government contracts. Recyclable materials are commodities whose prices fluctuate depending on market demand. Curbside recycling is collected by large dump trucks and delivered to a material recovery facility (MRF or “muff”).
MRFs do not actually recycle materials, but rather sort them for recycling. These are essentially large-scale sorting lines, where workers complement a series of mechanical systems to separate recyclables by type, usually into large piles. Although MRFs are very efficient, materials such as plastic bags can cause the machines to fail, resulting in significant downtime. And from food waste to non-recyclable plastics or products made from a variety of materials, contaminants can pass through the system and end up in bales with goods. Contamination rates affect the price, and if a certain threshold is exceeded the entire bale becomes unrecyclable.
In theory, recycling processors buy packaged recyclables and use them to manufacture new products. There are some paper, metal, and plastic processing companies in Korea. The United States used to export a third of its recyclables to China. and Average contamination rate 25%Exported materials required additional sorting to be recycled at Chinese facilities. Then, in 2018, China effectively banned foreign recyclables, largely to boost its domestic recycling economy. America is literally [plastic] bag.
system outage
China’s ban on foreign recyclables completely collapsed the U.S. recycling system. wake up call About overdue improvements to the system. Although they were contractually obligated to take over the materials, they were unable to find buyers, so many recyclers began stockpiling the materials they collected. Some recycling facilities market discovered In Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and India. But these countries will need to expand their processing capacity to handle the volumes that China once handled; their own limitations Control the flow.
With international markets closed and domestic processors restricted, local Recycling programs have suffered. And from 2022 There is more plastic than ever before It was sent to an American landfill. In some areas where residents continued to separate recyclables from trash, these materials ended up in landfills or incinerators anyway. Lack of long-term solutions has forced many communities to increase collection rates or formally abandon recycling programs. Even Seattle, a famous advocate for recycling, has decided: Do not accept plastic bags In an effort to make the program more efficient, we are using plastic film for curbside recycling.
The future of recycling
Changes in domestic recycling resulting from China’s recycling ban are not all negative. American companies are abandoning the idea that China might ease regulations. And they started building for the long term. domestic solution. Across the country, some paper mills have begun retrofitting to handle waste paper, and at least one of the shuttered mills has reopened. Investment in plastic and scrap metal recycling plants has increased. Ironically, most of the initial investment came from Chinese companies, but they are still building domestic recycling capabilities.
Domestic disposal costs are inevitably much higher than exporting waste to China, where environmental laws are lax and labor is cheap. This is only feasible if the recycled material is much cleaner than what we sent to China. One possibility is to return to source-separate recycling. But the industry is reluctant to give up investments in MRFs, which are actually pretty good at separating clean goods.
Since National Sword was enacted in 2018, annual investment in plastics recycling globally has totaled $32 billion, or $190 billion. According to the Circulate Initiative:. The organization notes that $1 trillion per year in plastics recycling infrastructure is needed for the industry to make meaningful progress.
The high contamination rates have a lot to do with what the industry calls “aspirational recycling.” You may also hear the term “hopeful recycling.” Many people who feel guilty about throwing things away put things in the recycling bin that don’t belong there. Or, if you misunderstand the rules and find that only some plastics are allowed, you put all the plastic in the bin. Across the country, local recycling programs are stepping up their efforts to educate residents.
what to do
Even or especially if you are a conscientious recycler, you should know that recycling rules are fluid in the United States. The impact of COVID-19, along with the ongoing impact of the Chinese ban, continues to disrupt recycling services across the country. . Contact your local recycling provider to find out what is currently recyclable in your community and learn about best practices. When in doubt, throw it away. If that offends your sensibilities, first redirect that energy toward creating less waste.
Will the United States build enough infrastructure to handle its own waste, or will it find new places to send its recycling in the future? No one knows for sure. But one thing is certain. Whoever handles recycling in the future will demand that we do a better job of separating waste and goods.
Editor’s note: This article, first published on November 12, 2019, was updated in November 2024. Read Part 1 of a five-part series, Understanding Where Your Garbage Goes.
