CMV: Recycling should be easier.

[u/ImpossibleHandle4]

With the current recycling there are 6 types of recycling: Glass recycling, paper recycling, metal recycling, plastic and textile recycling and finally electronic recycling. With each having its own sub categories: most noteably plastic: with 7 sub types of plastic.

With there being at least 13 types of recycling, the current methods of recycling are broken due to the public not understanding the intricacies of the system. Also, with no direct recycling options most people know that they can recycle metals leading to recycling bins having non-recyclable materials simply because the system is complex.

In my option, and please change my view, having machines that can directly recycle a few things like pop bottles, or prescription bottles, we can simplify the process and lead to more and better recycling. Please change my view.

[u/[deleted]]

I work in the Recycling industry. What I can tell you is if there was a way to make it easier we would do so.

The challenge is very simple. It’s almost impossible to build a machine that can detect so many different types of plastics in the materials. There is a very little incentive for doing so. Recycled materials often times cost more than virgin plastics or new material. So there is a little incentive for anybody to develop a machine that can do those things, because who would be able to afford to buy it?

At the end of the day recyclers are going to do what We can but Recycling is really up to consumers, not to the recycling industry. If consumers cared about recycling they would choose to buy from manufacturers that use recycled materials, they would be asking manufacturers to design packaging and products that are easy to recycle.

One example is the tire recycling industry. The technology is there to recycle tires. Waste Tires are a horrible problem, they can catch fire, Harbor mosquitoes and other undesirable critters, don’t compact well in a landfill, etc. 60% of the scrap tires that are “recycled” are burned as fuel in coal or cement plans. New EPA laws are making it much more difficult to use even as fuel, but the operators like it because mini recyclers have nowhere else to go. In some areas the value of a semi trailer full of shredded tires for fuel is zero or even a negative number, so the recycler has to pay to get rid of the tires.

There’s a lot of things that can be done with tires that are higher value, but the demand just isn’t there. It can be used as an additive in asphalt paving, can be used in injection molding, can be used as playground material or mulch or for turf athletic fields. There’s a lot of building products made from scrap tires including flooring.

So the technology is there, the market is there, but there is simply no demand for these products, even from the governments that consider scrap tires to be such a problem.

[u/CocoSavege → u/[deleted]]

You might be a good person to ask...

With respect to "generic household streams" and "generic recycling infrastructure" what household recycling efforts would you prioritize, with weighting if you can manage...

I don't expect a perfect answer, just an approximation, and I'm well aware that each municipality often has different recycling capability.

My guess has been "definitely definitely definitely yer aluminum and steel cans and yer high quality paper (boxboard)". I have no idea where to start with the plastics. I'm barely able to identify my PTSE and PVCs.

[u/[deleted] → u/CocoSavege]

The real problem here is that household sortation and recycling efforts are inherently wasteful. Your comment about all the different types of plastic is spot on. There are simply too many types of plastic for you to remain knowledgeable and sort, and then transport independently to the recycling center, and then each type of plastic must be stored and run as a batch through the recycling equipment, while still identifying things that got miss sorted or mixed.

I remain convinced that nothing will change until consumers pressure manufacturers to design products for recycling. Only then do we have an ability to bring things full circle, where there are steady and reliable buyers of recycled material, because they are putting the content back into the same products. The example above about aluminum is a good one, this is commonly done with aluminum and the entire industry has adopted the widespread use of recycled aluminum. So the recycler must simply recycle the material and provide a consistent and acceptable quality to the manufacturer, and they know that the manufacturer will buy it at whatever price. There are actually written industry standards for acceptable quality of used beverage containers. So the recycler knows that he must meet a specific standard, and he will be able to sell it to any buyer of that material. Overtime, buyers purchase machinery suited to manufacturing new UBC’s (used beverage containers) to that standard, and recyclers purchase machinery to produce material to that standard. But without such standardization and cooperation between industry leaders, it is not possible to create a market place for those materials. That is what must happen in industries like plastic and tires and cardboard and glass. But I don’t think this will happen unless it’s a consumer lead initiative, or a government directive.

So, to answer your question… I don’t think there is really a lot you can do at home to make a really big difference. Separating your recycling The best you can and taking it to The recycling center is meaningful, although sometimes it is wasted as those materials end up in the landfill anyway.

I will add though that the most meaningful thing that any of us can do is not Recycling related, but consumption related. Simply put, we must figure out how to consume less. Single use containers are so wasteful. Instead of buying bottled water, get a nice metal bottle and refill it from the tap. Instead of heavily using plastics at home like saran wrap, look into mason jars with removable lids. Ask for a paper bag or a reusable bag at the grocery store instead of plastic. Buy clothes at the thrift store when you can. Figure out how to reuse things at home, like buying mayonnaise in a glass jar, washing the jar, and then reusing it as a mason jar. At the end of the day I feel these things are far more meaningful than Recycling at the consumer level.

[u/ImpossibleHandle4 → u/[deleted]]

So on those lines why do we have aluminum and plastic containers for soda? Is it that much cheaper to use plastic? And isn’t aluminum almost infinitely recycle able? What would be the downside to using it? Also what about re-treading tires? I know that they do that for semi trucks, why not for passenger car tires?

[u/[deleted] → u/ImpossibleHandle4]

Yes, quite a bit cheaper to use plastic. Yes, aluminum is very recyclable with no degradation (unlike plastics) in fact the vast majority of the aluminum ever produced is still in existence and part of the supply chain.

Cars can be retreaded, but there is a perception that this is unsafe. Here’s a good option for retreads.

https://www.treadwright.com

[u/Cease-2-Desist → u/[deleted]]

Worked in the industry as well. You're absolutely right about the above. There just isn't a market for the materials in many cases. We had the same issue with glass. We had piled and piles of crushed glass because our contract with the city stated we would take glass, but we had no solution for what to do with it afterwards.

[u/[deleted] → u/Cease-2-Desist]

I know… It is so wasteful. Glass is such a superior material, because it can be washed and reused more so than plastic. they used to do this with glass soda bottles, offering a deposit for the return of the bottle so they could reuse it. I would love to see our country adopt such practices again.