Predictably, when someone wants to declare proof of their concern for the environment, they will say, “I recycle.” That’s great.
I’m glad they do. But, I also wonder if noble actions stop at the point products are taken to the curb or drop-off center for recycling? Do we know what happens next, and continuously, until our discarded stuff fi nally returns as new stuff ?
Most people are aware items collected for recycling are sold to diff erent markets (generally metals, aluminum, paper, plastic and glass), and the challenges to recyclers are in fi nding markets and getting a price for the products that will at least pay for their collection and processing (sorting, baling, shipping, etc.). Usually this is the extent of what average recycling residents of a town know about what happens to the things they have designated for the collection bin. The unknown and ignored continuing story of these items’ life cycles is a gap in our chain of responsibility for what we have purchased and then cast off . Environmental action occurs when we fi rst examine and take ownership of our choices and then act to correct their negativeimpacts. In other words, environmentalism doesn’t end at the curb; it begins there.
Because they are commodities, recyclables are subject to the ups and downs of this nation’s economic conditions just like any other commodity.
If people aren’t building houses or oft ces, or buying anything much except necessities, then all the things made from recyclables also decrease.
To complicate the picture, recyclables are marketed globally, an even more volatile arena, which fluctuates with political and economic situations.
This makes exporting our nation’s resources a very unpredictable gamble and strengthens the case for building more American mills and industries to use this material here rather than outsourcing it to countries that turn our devalued materials into products they sell back to us. Scrap metal and plastics are two of our largest exports to China. That country is building skyscrapers from our scrap metal, whichis imbedded with our investments of mining costs, manufacturing costs, energy costs, transportation costs, scrap handling costs, etc. “In a sense, China’s industrial might is being created out of the ruins of our own,” wrote John Seabrook in The New Yorker (Jan. 14, 2008).
Marketing is like walking a tight rope, and only savvy managers and brokers of these materials can stay established and consistently sell to the best markets.
Traditionally those getting the best prices have succeeded because they keep the quality of their recyclables high. For the 45 years I have watched this business develop, “keep it clean” has been the mantra of successful recycling.
Because of municipalities either not investing in continuous civic education programs on how not to waste or from not having the political guts to require we all recycle, many programs have been taken over by large industries. They sell the elixir of “Don’t worry your pretty heads over this trash. We’ll make it easy and convenient, run your programs, up the volume of recyclables and market it all.
Just sign here.”
Consequently, a collection practice called“single stream” has been sweeping the land. This is a one-container-for-allrecyclables mixed-method, which is inherently contrary to keeping products clean. A friend of mine has named it “the cancer of convenience.” Tossing recyclables unseparated into one container is lazy, irresponsible behavior, and people get careless and sloppy. Glass gets broken into the paper and mixed with the plastic, liquids stick stuff together, and diapers, needles and other gross and dangerous garbage itemsoften join the mix. This is all collected together and then dumped on a sorting line at materials recovery facilities (“dirty murfs” in trash lingo, because they usually are) to be separated by hand into resource streams and sold.
Yes, the volume goes up, but the quality goes down, and a percentage of what was once “recycled” is too contaminated to be sold, so it is landfilled or, in some places, incinerated. Keep in mind, the largest wastehandling companies have primarily been in the landfi ll or incineration business allalong. They need waste to bury or burn. They will have plenty, it seems, since now China has put up a “Green Fence,” rejecting what some companies have tried to sell as recyclables because in reality it has become contaminated garbage.
In future articles, the story of what happens to our stuff will be continued.
FRAN ALEXANDER IS A FAYETTEVILLE RESIDENT WITH A LONGSTANDING INTEREST IN THE ENVIRONMENT AND AN OPINION ON ALMOST ANYTHING ELSE.
Opinion, Pages 11 on 09/22/2013