Solid Waste Recycling

What is Recycling?
Where to Recycle
Recycling - Keys to Success
Deciding When to Recycle
Recycling Guide

WHAT IS RECYCLING?

Recycling means to use something again. Newspapers can be used to make new newspapers. Aluminum cans can be used to make new aluminum cans. Glass jars can be used to make new glass jars. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of recycling.

CLOSED LOOP RECYCLING

Closed loop recycling is making an old product into the same thing again. It means turning old aluminum cans into new aluminum cans, or old glass jars into new glass jars.

Turning plastic milk jugs into flowerpots is not closed loop recycling because a different product is made.

Closed loop recycling is ideal because there is already a market for the recycled product; manufacturers don’t have to hope that people will buy aluminum cans, they know people will. That may not be true for recycled plastic flowerpots, though.

Recycling Saves Landfill Space.
Americans are producing more waste with each passing year, most of which is hauled off and buried in landfills. What’s wrong with that? Well, it’s expensive and usually controversial to dig new landfills or to build new incinerators. Recycling is one way to reduce the amount of waste that is landfilled.

Recycling Can Reduce the Cost of Waste Disposal.
Getting rid of trash isn’t a free proposition. Garbage trucks must pay to dump their waste at a landfill. The payment is called a tipping fee, and it is based on the weight or volume of the garbage. Tipping fees vary in different areas. In Vermont, one landfill charges about $65 a ton for the waste it receives. Recycling reduces landfill costs because less waste is landfilled. In 2003, recycling and composting diverted 72 million tons of material from landfills.

Recycling Can Save Energy.
It almost always takes less energy to make a product from recycled materials than it does to make it from new materials. Using recycled aluminum scrap to make new aluminum cans, for example, uses 95 percent less energy than making aluminum cans from bauxite ore, the raw material used to make aluminum. One exception to the recycling-saves-energy rule is plastics. Sometimes it takes more energy to recycle plastics than it does to use all new materials.

Recycling Saves Natural Resources.
Natural resources are riches provided courtesy of Mother Nature. Natural resources include land, plants, minerals, and water. By using materials more than once, we conserve natural resources. In the case of paper, recycling saves trees and water. Making a ton of paper from recycled stock saves up to 17 trees and uses 50 percent less water.

Recycling Can Reduce Air and Water Pollution.
Using aluminum scrap instead of bauxite ore to make new aluminum products cuts air and water pollution by 95 percent. If you want to do something for the environment, recycle those aluminum cans! 

Recycling Creates Jobs.
Recycling is estimated to create almost five times as many jobs as waste disposal. Recycling requires businesses that collect, haul, and process recyclables, as well as businesses that manufacture products from recycled materials. People employed in the recycling industry may be material sorters, truck drivers, sales representatives, process, engineers, or chemists. The National Recycling Coalition reports that recycling supports 1.1 million jobs in the U.S.

WHERE TO RECYCLE

Many people think the United States should recycle more of its waste. Even the experts disagree on the best way to go about it. Should communities pick up residents’ recyclables? Or is this practice too expensive for over-stretched city budgets? Does community recycling deprive the traditional picker-uppers (Boy Scouts, high school groups) of the opportunity to raise money for their clubs? Let’s take a look at some ways recyclables can be collected.

Curbside Collections
Residents leave their recyclables at the curb or in some other designated place where regular trash is picked up. Communities may require residents to sort their recyclables—such as aluminum cans, newspapers, and glass—into separate containers or they may be mingled together. Curbside collection programs boast the highest recycling rates. Some experts say curbside recycling nationwide could reduce the volume of solid waste by 15 to 25 percent.

Drop-Off Centers

RECYCLING fever

Recycling programs are growing across the United States. The media and the enviromental movement have focused attention on our mounting waste problem. Now recycling has become the in thing to do. Americans recycled just 6 percent in 1960 and 16 percent in 1990, but we recycle about 31 percent today.

In some areas, people bring their recyclables to collection centers. This saves the community the cost of curbside collection but relies on residents willing to drive to the center for little or no payment. And they usually must crush, sort, and clean them.

Reverse Vending Machines
In many places, there are machines that accept used beverage containers and reimburse the depositor on the spot. Reverse vending machines are convenient because they are usually located inside or outside grocery stores.

Deposits
Several states impose a five or 10-cent deposit on returnable bottles and cans. Consumers get their deposits back when they return the containers to the store for recycling. These so-called “bottle-bill” states originally passed deposit laws to combat litter problems. Now they are one step ahead of the game. Deposits help solid waste disposal problems, too.

Pick-Up by Volunteers 
This is recycling the old-fashioned way. Community groups, such as church groups and the Boy Scouts, collect recyclables to raise money for their clubs. These groups usually just pick up aluminum and newspapers because their scrap value is higher than other recyclables.

RECYCLING- KEYS TO SUCCESS

PROGRAMS
Experts debate whether Americans should be asked to recycle their waste (a voluntary program), or whether they should be required by law to recycle their waste (a mandatory program).

Mandatory Recycling
Some communities have passed laws or ordinances mandating that citizens recycle at least some of their trash. Typically, residents in these communities separate their newspaper, aluminum, glass, and other recyclables from the rest of their trash. Other communities may only require that newspapers be separated for recycling. Residents who do not comply with local recycling laws may be fined, or their trash may not be picked up. In an effort to encourage recycling, many communities have adopted pay-as-you-throw programs.  Community residents are charged by the number of trash containers they set out for collection.

In Seattle, Washington, the amount residents pay for garbage pick-up is based on the size of their garbage cans. Usually, the cost of pick-up for one small 12-gallon can is about $10 per month, while the cost for two large 32-gallon cans is almost $33 per month. Residents who are serious about recycling end up paying far less for their garbage disposal.

Voluntary Recycling
Under a voluntary recycling program, residents are encouraged to recycle their waste, but they are not required to do so. Residents who choose not to recycle their waste are not fined or penalized in any way. Are mandatory programs better at recovering recyclables than voluntary programs? The statistics show that mandatory programs are more successful.  In voluntary programs, about one-third of the community recycles. In mandatory programs, about one-half of the community recycles. Why don’t more people recycle under mandatory recycling programs? 

The answer is simple. Enforcing the laws is impractical. It means going from trashcan to trash can to find out who is recycling. In 2006, Seattle began enforcing its recycling program. Residential garbage cans that contain more than 10 percent recyclables are not emptied, but left at the curb full of garbage. Tags are left on the garbage cans saying why they were not emptied and explaining how to separate out the recyclables for pick-up the following week. Business owners who do not recycle can receive $50 fines.

In any case, new studies suggest that successful recycling programs are those that make it easy for people to recycle. The most successful recycling programs provide residents with special containers for sorting their waste and collect the recyclables weekly along with the rest of the trash. Ease and convenience are the keys to success.

DECIDING WHEN TO RECYCLE

THINGS WE recycle

Does recycling always makes sense? No, not always. Recycling sounds great, but recycling costs money and uses energy, too. Recyclables have to be collected, sorted, shipped to manufacturing plants, and then made into new products. 

Collecting recyclables is only the first part of the story. We can be good citizens and recycle our trash, but if nobody wants to buy the recyclables, we haven’t accomplished much. In other words, somebody has to want to buy old newspapers because it is cheaper to use them to make a new paper product than it is to use virgin paper stock.

What happens when nobody wants to buy recyclables? The East Coast experienced this problem about 15 years ago when there was a glut of old newspapers. Communities on the East Coast collected newspapers for recycling, but nobody wanted to buy them. The newspapers just sat around in warehouses waiting to get a second life.

That is not recycling. Recycling means to make something old into something new. Collection is only the first step. There is good news for the East Coast, though. Thanks to consumer demand for recycled paper products, the newspaper glut has disappeared. Today, many recyclers are eager to get their hands on as much used paper as possible.

RECYCLING GUIDE

MATERIAL	CAN be recycled	CAN’T be recycled	HOW TO DO IT
GLASS	Jars, bottles Clear, green, amber	Light bulbs, dishes,  Pyrex, crystal	Rinse, remove lids. Separate by color
PAPER	Newspapers, boxes egg cartons, phone books, white office paper	Waxed, glued, plastic, or foil coated	Keep clean and dry
ALUMINUM	All aluminum—cans pie pans, foil wrap,  old windows, lawn furniture		Rinse and crush
STEEL	Steel (tin) food		Rinse and crush
PLASTICS	All plastics	Check with your recycler	Rinse

Last Revised: September 2006
Source: National Energy Education Development Project, Museum of Solid Waste , 2006