[OKRA] Where Do Our Recyclables Go? Commentary by Chaz Miller

[Ellen Bussert]

[image: image.png]
Recycling is working.  Read what Chaz Miller has to say.  Better yet, plan
on attending OKRA's Annual Recycling Conference September 29, 2023 and hear
what Chaz Miller has to say about recycling markets and trends..  The theme
this year is "Offsetting the Recycling Objection."  For more information go
to:  www.recycleok.org.


COMMENTARY <https://www.waste360.com/commentary>
Where Do Our Recyclables Go?Article-Where Do Our Recyclables Go?
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Alice Mutasa / Alamy Stock Photo[image: recycling bales]
I asked myself this question as I was preparing to speak at my home
county’s Recycling Awards ceremony. I wanted to let our award winners know
their efforts are not in vain. While they may have seen or read stories
claiming recycling is a hoax, I knew our county’s recyclables are being
turned into new products.

Chaz Miller <https://www.waste360.com/author/Chaz-Miller> | Jun 08, 2023

I asked myself this question as I was preparing to speak at my home
county’s Recycling Awards ceremony. I wanted to let our award winners know
their efforts are not in vain. While they may have seen or read stories
claiming recycling is a hoax, I knew our county’s recyclables are being
turned into new products.

I decided to start off with a series of before and after pictures. Before
was pictures of the different materials we put in our curbside bins:
aluminum and steel cans, corrugated boxes, PET bottles, etc. After was the
products they are recycled into.

Some new products are easy to show. Our aluminum cans are turned back into
cans. Our steel cans are made back into cans or other steel products. Our
boxes are turned into linerboard and corrugated medium and then used to
make new boxes. Our mixed paper is used to make recycled paperboard for
cereal boxes and other products.

Food and yard waste are easy, too. Our yard waste is composted in-county
and turned into a soil conditioner. Our food waste goes to a composting
facility in a neighboring county where it is also turned into a soil
conditioner.

GLASS is more challenging. Curbside glass is not color sorted. Nonetheless,
we are somewhat unique in that ours goes to a glass recycling company that
has the equipment to optically sort some of the broken glass for resale to
glass bottle companies. The rest goes to different aggregate uSES.

Plastics are the hardest to explain because the different resins and
products in our bins results in a slew of different markets. Two are easy
enough. PET containers can go into fiber uses such as new carpets or into
new bottles. Ours go to whomever pays the most. Natural HDPE milk and water
jugs are prized by consumer products companies because they are not dyed.
Their recycled pellets can be dyed and used for detergent, shampoo, and
other packages. Natural’s versatility currently makes it the most valuable
recyclable in your bin.

However, those dyes cannot be removed when the packages are recycled. As a
result, our colored HDPE goes into construction-related products, often
pipe. After all, who cares about the color of an underground pipe? PP
yoghurt tubs and similar packages also go into construction uses, including
paint pails.

My message was simple. Recycling is working. It’s not perfect and it never
will be. Markets for our recyclables reflect the uncertainty of this
economy. But thanks to our awardees efforts we are getting more recyclables
from hard to recycle places such as muti-family housing and businesses.
They are making a difference.

Showing what our recyclables are turned into isn’t a new idea. Recently I
saw an article in the Raleigh, NC, newspaper answering a reader’s question “Is
Recycling Worth It”
<https://amp-newsobserver-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.newsobserver.com/news/local/article271363852.html>.
The response looked at a number of local markets showing that recycling
works. It is a good, incisive piece of reporting. I’ve seen similar pieces
in other newspapers over the years.

Showing the success of our recycling efforts is especially important given
the onslaught of negative media portrayals of plastic recycling. The
anti-plastic lobby is particularly vocal on this point. They see recycling
as a threat to their “end plastic now” agenda. So, they relentlessly attack
the very idea of recycling plastic. That their false story undermines all
recycling doesn’t seem to bother them.

If they are right and plastic recycling is a hoax, why did more than 2700
people attend the Plastic Recycling Conference
<https://www.plasticsrecycling.com/> this March in Maryland? I moderated
the markets panel for that show. Our room sat about 200 people. We didn’t
have enough seats. People had to stand. Dozens were willing to stand for
over an hour in order to learn more about markets. The exhibit hall had 225
exhibitors. Buyers and sellers had a great opportunity to get together.
Either the building was full of extremely deluded people or plastic
recycling is a real business.

Plastic recycling is the new kid on the block, just as plastics are the new
material on the block. Collection, processing and recycling technology have
improved over the years just as they did for other materials. It is
suffering growing pains, but plastic recycling is a reality. So are paper,
metals and glass recycling.

The message that recycling works resonates with people. Lower greenhouse
gas emissions, a cleaner environment and more jobs are important. They are
also somewhat abstract. Knowing that recycling is working by using aluminum
cans or cereal boxes or carpet or plastic lumber or any of the thousands
and thousands of products made from the materials in your recycling bin, is
an immediate and substantive proof that recycling works. This is where your
recyclables go. Back to you.
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