the green gals podcast

(only have a minute? jump to final thoughts)

The limitations of recycling have been overshadowing its benefits lately. Especially in light of the Exxon lawsuit – which basically alleges we’ve all been lied to for decades about the effectiveness of recycling plastics.

We’ve been throwing our recyclables in a curbside bin for years, thinking we’re doing the right thing.

Is it even doing any good? What can we do to maximize what does work? I spoke with three industry professionals to sort out the dos and don’ts.

Schelly Marlatt
Executive Director, Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful

Schelly leads a hybrid nonprofit organization that is partially funded by the Gwinnett County government in northern Georgia. It is one of 700 affiliates of the national organization Keep America Beautiful, which is “devoted to educating and inspiring people to clean, green, & beautify their communities.”

TAKEAWAYS:

Q: Can you recycle pizza boxes?
A: The greasy pizza box is recyclable – but not if there is still pizza in it.

Q: How clean do recyclable items need to be when we put them in the bin?
A: It doesn’t have to be super clean … but don’t leave food remnants in there because it will become contaminated.

Q: We all know higher numbers on plastic items are harder to recycle – should we still put them in recycling bins?
A: No, only items marked 1 and 2.

Q: The sad truth is only about 9% of plastic is really getting recycled. Even sadder… signs point to that being an over-estimate (see Facts & Figures below). Does that change how your organization advocates for recycling?
A: No… doing the right thing is what’s important.

Q: Is there any hope of improving the percentage of plastics getting recycled?
A: Yes. If people will stop contaminating the loads, that percentage will absolutely increase.

Q: How do I avoid contamination in my recycle bin?
A: Don’t leave food in containers; even one bottle of soda or slice of pizza left in the box can spoil an entire batch of recyclables.

Q: What’s the best way of cleaning recyclables without wasting water (and time!)?
A: You can take a paper towel and wipe out a tough to rinse item like a peanut butter jar or mayonnaise jar.

Michael Sandelier
General Manager, Recycling Management Resources

Recycling Management Resources is a private paper and box recycling company that processes multiple grades of paper and cardboard. It buys used paper and cardboard and turns it into materials that can be utilized by manufacturing facilities.

TAKEAWAYS:

Q: Some types of paper – envelopes, milk cartons, etc. – obviously contain materials other than paper, which can’t be easily separated before putting in a recycling bin. Are those things recycled, and how does that work?
A: There are systems in place to recycle complex materials like poly-coated milk cartons, which are shredded and repurposed into products like particle board or playground surfaces. So yes, they get recycled, and no, as a consumer you don’t have to worry about trying to cut plastic windows off of envelopes.

Q: What would motivate a business to send their used boxes to be recycled, rather than throwing them in a dumpster?
A: Firms like RMR pay companies for their recyclable materials, because it can be turned into a marketable product.

Q: What kind of environmental impact does a recycling business like this have?
A: Every month, about 6,000 tons of material comes into the plant for processing, and 6,000 tons goes out to be repurposed. All of that bulk is diverted from landfills.

Jamey Moran
Metro Program Manager, Ripple Glass

Ripple is a glass recycling company that places collection bins in high-traffic areas like parking lots through partnerships with commercial and municipal property owners. Jamey describes the arrangement as a win-win for communities and the environment. The bins give local residents a free, convenient place to recycle their glass, which is often forbidden from curbside recycle bins. And glass is infinitely recyclable — so it’s one of the most effective ways consumers can divert their waste from landfills.

Q: How does the glass recycling business work?
A: The company generates revenue by collecting glass, processing it and selling it to manufacturers of new glass products, including bottles, jars, and fiberglass insulation.

Q: Why do so many areas ban glass from curbside recycling?
A: When it’s mixed with other curbside recyclables, unfortunately, the risk of contamination from broken glass is too high.

Q: Why should people make an effort to transport their glass to a bin for recycling?
A: Glass is infinitely recyclable, so if you make the effort, it can be used forever. But if you throw away a piece of glass and it goes to the landfill, its life is cut short. We need to keep it in the cycle. Also, it cuts down on extraction of the raw resources used to make new glass, like sand, limestone and soda ash.

Q: How clean does glass need to be when it goes in the recycling bins? Should I worry about removing labels and lids?
A: Just a rinse-out is fine. If you’re already going to run your dishwasher and you want to put your peanut butter jar in, fine … but don’t go out of your way or consume more water than necessary.
Labels and lids are also okay to leave on, because the technology in the plant now is so advanced that those things can be taken off during processing. Ripple doesn’t want these concerns to deter people from recycling their glass.

Final thoughts:

• Glass recycling often takes more effort, but it has the most potential for diversion from landfills.
• Best practices for recycling plastics: clean pieces well, and only recycle #1 and #2, but in light of low recycling rates and recent revelations, reducing how much plastic we consume is the best course of action.
• It’s okay to leave on labels and lids; sorting technology at recycling facilities has improved.
• Don’t be afraid to recycle paper products that might have some plastic or wax mixed in – manufacturers use many different grades of recycled materials, and there’s a good chance it can be processed and recycled successfully.

Facts & Figures:

Note: the EPA has not released data on waste and recycling since 2018. More recent estimates are provided by the World Economic Forum.

• About an eighth of our trash is plastics, according to 2018 data (MSW = municipal solid waste)

• The most commonly quoted estimate of how much of our plastic actually gets recycled in the U.S. is 9%, but recent statistics show that rate has sunk to as low as 5-6%
• Where does plastic go? Up to 9% is recycled. 19% is incinerated, 50% ends up in landfill and 22% evades waste management systems altogether – becoming litter in the water or in uncontrolled dump-sites.
• In 2021, 68% of all paper products were recycled in the U.S.; 91.4% of corrugated cardboard was recycled
• Due to its high recycling rate, aluminum only accounts for 1% of the waste stream in the U.S. Still, 7 million tons of aluminum are still not recycled each year
• About 110 million glass bottles (which are infinitely recyclable) are thrown away every day in the U.S., but only one-third get recycled.

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