Why recycling can’t solve the crisis, but we should still do it.

Environmentally-friendly and sustainable are huge buzz words in today’s society. Many people are realizing the irreversible impacts humans have on the planet and the urgent need to change our practices. One of the most pressing issues is that our waste “cycle” is often linear meaning the end-of-use phase (land filling, dumping or burning) is spilling over into our air, land and marine ecosystems.

Some companies have made serious efforts to reduce waste but it’s hard to measure progress when they are not yet required to report the amount of waste and packaging they utilize. This article discusses concerns with increasing plastic consumption, issues with recycling, and what some grocery stores like Aldi and Trader Jo’s are doing about it.

In the Virgin Islands there has been a recent surge of grass-roots and government initiatives from plastic bag bans, restaurant pledges to stop use plastic straws and non-biodegradable to-go containers and small scale composting efforts. Some local businesses and non-profits even accept plastic and aluminum products for recycling off-island. This being said there is currently no territory wide recycling or composting program.

While the push for recycling is important it is also necessary to realize that it won’t solve everything. It’s much more effective to address the root of the problem: the increased use of products, especially plastics. As said by scientist Dr. Max Liboiron in this video by Taylor Hess and Noah Hutton “Recycling is like a band-aid on gangrene” and the only way to solve the issue is to reduce plastic consumption in the first place.

In addition to pollution at end-of-use, plastics are often manufactured using petroleum, which is a fossil fuel. Also disposal processes like recycling can be energy intensive further increasing greenhouse gas emissions. In fact the life cycle emissions of plastics are equivalent to 1.8 billion metric tons of CO2 per year and this number is only going to grow.

The goal of recycling is to offset emissions used in the initial mining of raw materials and early production. However, there is the issue that many products still do not utilize recycled materials due to not enough recycling participation or quality issues. For optimal recycling it it vital that consumers sort their trash correctly which is often not the case. Incorrect recycling means sorters must slowly go through materials to pull out contaminated objects which can be expensive, it can also cause malfunctions in the machinery and other setbacks to the plant or result in an unusable final product. In fact, about a quarter of America’s recycling is contaminated. Some would even say that it’s better to not recycle at all than to recycle incorrectly.

In the past the United States sent most of its recycling to China and other developing countries. However at the end of 2017, China imposed an import ban on most recyclable materials and other countries are following suit. This has had serious repercussions for America’s recycling programs and has caused a drastic hike in prices, leading many to resort to sending the recyclable materials to the landfill.

This all sounds very daunting, so what can we do?

The most important takeaway from this is that we need to consume less and throw away less in general. An effective way of doing this is by reducing and reusing what you can. Another suggestion is to explore products which are produced and can be disposed of sustainably.

Then, if you still produce waste, recycle what you can and buy recycled products if possible. Also make sure to learn the rules for your community to reduce contamination.

Overall, we need to stray from the linear approach when it comes to managing resources and instead look to mimic the cycles present in nature but for our waste.