Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
I remember during the last century, I lived in a small town in New Jersey. In the 1970s, the local boy scout troop would have a recycling event once a month. On these Saturdays, my dad and I would get in his car, and we would bring newspapers, cardboard, and glass to the event. The scouts would take our items, along with the items of others, and put them into large dumpsters. My assumption was that the recycling businesses would come and take our recyclables away and then...recycle them! My dad and I never talked about why he took the items to the recycling event. The story in my head was that he cared about the Earth and wanted to make a difference.
Now, in the current century, almost 50 years later, we are still recycling. Lucky for me, I have a blue recycling bin in my garage. Every week, a truck comes to my neighborhood to pick up my recycling. I have to push my bin out of my cul-de-sac to a main road, but otherwise it’s pretty easy for me to contribute to recycling. My community recycles paper, cardboard, aluminum, and plastic. In addition, I have a green bin. I fill this bin with yard and plant waste. From March to December, a truck comes and empties this bin. I pay an extra $10 a month for my green bin. There is also an option for a glass bin. For $10 a month, they will pick up your glass. I don’t have that much glass waste, and I can take my glass to a drop off spot for free, 24/7 just a couple of miles away. So I haven’t gone for the glass bin option.
A few weeks ago, I received an email from my waste removal and recycling provider. They are trying out a new experiment. They want to try food recycling. For a 3-month trial period, I was invited to get a food recycling bin. There were 2 bin size options: a large bin (similar to the glass bin) or a small bin (the size of a cement bucket). Depending on how much food waste you had, you could choose your bucket size. The food waste would be picked up and brought to a facility where it would break down anaerobically and be converted into natural gas. The trial would be free. I figured, why not try it?
I have mixed feelings about all the waste management going on. Part of me feels like the rationale I made up about my dad. I believe I am doing some good for the Earth. Then there’s the part of me that thinks, am I really doing good for the Earth? Let me share why my feelings are so mixed up.
I live in a dry part of the world. Last summer, there was a serious drought with wildfires raging in the area. This summer is shaping up to be the same, if not worse. In the 10 day forecasts, we see temperatures listed with highs going no lower than 96. For me to recycle plastics, I have to rinse out the plastic to get the sticky bits off. That wastes water in my parched community.
I’ve been reading about plastic recycling lately. Apparently it’s not that successful. Some articles I read claim that we aren’t recycling plastic at all, and the plastic is just being brought to the garbage dump. Back before Covid, I was part of the local community recycling committee. One day, the organization went on a field trip to our local recycling plant. There, we saw the plastics being cleaned and compressed. We were assured that these items were then going to a facility that recycled plastic. So why am I reading about plastic not being recycled? Well, the reality is that currently 95% of plastic is NOT being recycled. China was the main location for plastics recycling. Based on political disagreements and an over abundance of contaminated plastic, China stopped taking plastic from the United States in 2018. Yet only 10% of American plastic was being recycled when China took our plastic. So that detergent bottle that I put in my recycle bin? It’s probably going to the trash dump.
Still, there is a 5% of recycling that does get recycled. Plus, there was a time when more recycling of plastics was happening. But was it a good process? Plastic recycling creates toxic fumes, and the process is a fire hazard. It costs more to purchase recycled plastics than new ones. You can learn more about the plastics recycling process here: Plastic Recycling Doesn’t Work.
So I’ve stopped putting plastics in my recycle bin. This process has been hard for me. I’ve had a recycle bin at my residences for years. I remember a bin (it was small, but still a bin) at my home in 1986. I don’t remember when plastics started being a part of the recycle equation, but it’s been a long time. I believe it started in the 1990s.
Then there’s the recycle mantra: “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.” I notice that recycle falls at the end of the phrase. So how much reducing and reusing am I doing? I save some of those plastic containers my food comes in for my home projects and kitchen needs. Still, that’s a small piece of the puzzle compared to how much plastic comes into my home. I do some up-cycling of glass in the glass art that I create. Honestly, I go out and buy the glass at thrift shops. Glass recycling is a viable process. I feel less guilty about taking my glass to those outside dumpster locations. Still, I wonder how much energy it takes to recycle glass. The gas it takes for me to get to the dumpster, the truck to come and pick up the glass, as well as the glass recycling process itself.
Beyond my own efforts at maintaining the Earth, I wonder about industry. If I look at the packaging that’s used to hold, store, and ship the products I buy, I see lots of waste. How much of a role are these companies playing in support of the “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” mantra? I’m sure there’s plenty of waste in their factories that I don’t see. That plays against the backdrop of me as the consumer. How much am I helping the ecological cause when I continue to buy from these companies? If I’m ordering off of Amazon, what about the waste in that bubble wrap? What about the fact that my package makes it to my home in 2 days? What sort of waste is involved in that process — jet fuel, packaging, emissions, etc. Thinking about the pros and cons has me dizzy.
Let’s get back to the food waste recycling experiment. Because I live alone, I chose the little waste bin. Since the bin is so small, I can put it at the end of my driveway, and the waste management truck picks it up. For this experiment, there are only a limited number of bins being picked up. I noticed 2 in my 13-house neighborhood. How many carbon emissions are being created picking up these few bins? Will they be able to measure the viability of this effort with so few homes? Are they even measuring the carbon emissions in the process? So I wonder about the feasibility of this concept.
I have a friend who owns a car that is old and not fuel efficient at all. They never recycle their waste. Yet they never purchase a new car and they buy many of their material items through websites selling used items or in thrift stores. They are reusing. So does it matter that their vehicle’s carbon emissions are higher than my new hybrid vehicle’s are?
I know I’m not doing my best when it comes to ecology. I realize my awareness has value. Yet is it enough? Probably not. Will my drop in the bucket make a difference?
