Sheer simplicity – It’s what makes recycling work

CRAIG DOUGLASS
SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
July 15, 2019

Most will agree today that recycling is the right thing to do. It’s one thing, at least, that each of us can do to positively impact the environment around us.

But do you know how recycling works, or what’s the key to a successful recycling program? The more residential customers know about recycling, the greater the likelihood we’ll all do our part to help ensure an ongoing and viable recycling program, even when that program continues to change.

The key to both understanding recycling and doing it effectively is simplicity.

Like all industries in our modern world, recycling is driven by our expansive free-market economy.
That economy is driven by capitalism—the set of market factors associated with private or corporate ownership of the production and distribution of goods. Capitalism works, in part, because of competition and the competitive pricing of raw materials.

Some of the raw materials used in the production of those goods come from recycling. The stuff worldwide that manufacturers need, and at a competitive price, determines the market for the waste products that make up sustainable recycling programs. Those products are what go into your curbside recycling carts. The city doesn’t decide what to accept. The state or county doesn’t decide. It’s ultimately decided based on what the marketplace demand allows.

Many people don’t know that a great many of this country’s recycled products are sold offshore to China and other nations not possessing the natural raw materials to supply their manufacturers. In recent years, many of these countries have chosen to severely restrict the types of recycled materials they are willing to buy from our private recycling companies.

These countries, particularly China, want the quality of recycled materials to increase, with little contamination from things like broken glass. The better the quality, the better the chance our recyclables will be marketable, which is what enables local recycling programs to operate and ensures they can be sustained. Without the ability to sell recycled material on the open market, recycling will come to a halt. It’s really that simple.

Residential customers are the vital front-line troops in the recycling process and as such must be informed upfront on precisely what materials are marketable and thus acceptable for recycling.

With that in mind, here’s the simplified list of products currently acceptable for recycling—ordinary paper and cardboard; empty plastic bottles and jugs (hard plastics No. 1 and No. 2); and empty aluminum, tin and steel cans.

Glass is no longer acceptable because glass containers most often do not arrive at the processing facility intact. Mixed broken glass shards, slivers and small fragments cannot be separated from other materials, and thus contaminate the materials that could have been marketable.

Waste Management, the private company responsible for the collection, processing and marketing of our local recycled materials, recently renegotiated its contract partially based on ensuring back-end marketability of recycled materials. The simpler the list of products accepted for recycling on the front-end, the simpler it is to ensure back-end marketability—which is the cornerstone of a sustainable recycling program.

The mission of each of the 18 regional solid-waste management districts in Arkansas includes diverting as much waste materials from landfills as possible. We take that mission seriously. That’s why we will continue working with individuals and private industry to responsibly respond to a changing, more demanding and competitive worldwide recycling marketplace. If we don’t, landfills will be the only option for all of the waste generated by an ever-growing population.

It’s simple—we can keep recycling going if we keep recycling simple. To do that, we all have to stay informed to “do recycling right.”

Craig Douglass is executive director of the Regional Recycling & Waste Reduction District in Pulaski County.