Recycling has really taken off: it’s hard to find a community in the United States that doesn’t have at least a modest recycling program. You might be tempted, gazing out on a nation awash in blue bins, to conclude that recycling has won that environmental revolution that started 25 years ago.

You’d be wrong.

Putting cans and bottles and newspapers in a recycling bin to put out at the curb is a fine thing, and the fact that more and more people are doing it makes recycling possible. But putting recyclables in a recycling bin isn’t recycling. Recycling is the process of taking those raw materials from your recycling bin and turning them into new things. If those cans and bottles and newspapers don’t get turned into new products — preferably new cans and bottles and newspapers — then recycling isn’t happening.

In other words, putting those blue bins out at the curb isn’t recycling any more than stocking grocery store shelves is cooking.

Lots of things can happen between the recycling bin and the factory to make your carefully sorted trash actually go to the landfill instead. Improperly sorted recyclables, broken glass ground into newspaper, contaminants like motor oil in plastic bottles, or food grease on cardboard can cause an entire truckload of collected recyclables to be discarded. So can the vagaries of the commodities market: when the price drops for scrap plastic, for instance, your liter soda bottles can and do end up littering riverbanks in other countries when the local processor can’t sell them.

Even when recycling does work well, it’s not always the best solution for handling our discarded things.

Take glass, for instance. Put a used beer bottle in the recycling bin and it gets hauled away, crushed, hauled some more, melted down at high temperatures, formed into new bottles, transported yet again, filled with another portion of beverage, then shipped to a warehouse and then to a store.

If that glass bottle was to be reused rather than recycled, we can skip many of those steps. Most importantly, the bottle would be washed and sterilized rather than melted down, saving a huge amount of energy.

Same goes for other items like grocery bags. Now that those ubiquitous plastic bags are being phased out across California, people are turning to more durable shopping bags that can be reused hundreds of times. Instead of theoretically recyclable single-use plastic bags getting hauled to a factory and recycled, with additional energy and resources needed every time you use a grocery bag, the reusable bag just goes between house and store in your car or on your bike at a minimal cost of energy and resources.

But wait: there’s an approach that’s even better for the environment than reuse or recycling: not buying the stuff in the first place. Given a choice between a theoretically recyclable single-use water bottle and a reusable water bottle that you might refill thousands of times before tossing it in the trash, the best choice for the environment may well be just drinking out of the water fountain without using any bottle at all. Even a reusable item, when it eventually wears out, will consume resources when it’s recycled or landfilled, and so will creating its replacement.

That’s why recycling experts created a sort of mantra decades ago, and it’s still relevant today. That mantra: “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.” Those options are listed in declining order of priority.

Reduce: It’s best to consume less stuff, whether that means choosing an item with less packaging (or none at all,) or even just doing without something you don’t actually really need.

Reuse: If you have to buy something, make sure to get a durable, reusable version if it exists. Reusing items saves energy and resources compared to buying new ones. And that’s true for items from containers to cars to clothing to — even though it pains me to say this as a writer — books.

Recycle: If you can’t Reduce or Reuse, then this is the last resort before the landfill. Don’t take for granted that material labeled “recyclable” will actually be recyclable in your community. (Most plastic containers aren’t, despite those “chasing arrows” symbols imprinted on the bottom.) Make sure to sort your recyclables according to your local hauler’s directions. And if the products you buy aren’t made of recycled content, then you’re not “closing the circle” of supply and demand.

It’s not that sorting your recyclables and putting them out at the curb isn’t important: it’s crucial. But we can be doing so much more.

Source:  http://www.kcet.org/news/redefine/reduce/recycling/why-sorting-your-trash-into-blue-bins-isnt-recycling.html

How to break down the barriers

Despite good intentions, only half of plastic bottles in Britain and France are recycled. Creativity is needed to change habits

Government, industry and consumers in the developed world have known about the environmental and financial benefits of recycling for well over a generation. Yet it’s not something everyone does – despite knowing they should.

In fact, while three-quarters of British and French consumers say they always recycle plastic bottles at home, recycling rates in these countries still fall short, with only around half of all plastic bottles being returned for recycling. So why is it seemingly so difficult to recycle?

A six-month study, Unpacking the Household, conducted by Coca-Cola Enterprises and the University of Exeter and released in March, sought to uncover the different barriers that exist for people recycling in the home.

Despite the circular economy becoming a key phrase in the sustainability lexicon, it hasn’t filtered down to households. A key finding was that some people misunderstand what happens to waste once it leaves the home, not realizing that recycling is a circular – rather than linear – process. Meanwhile, people also perceive the recyclability of materials as a complex issue. And when in doubt, materials tend to be discarded rather than recycled.

The research suggests that recycling is often not a conscious decision but an instinctive routine built into our everyday lives – in other words, an unconscious habit. That isn’t the best recycling behavior, and although it isn’t always easy to break bad habits, the research pinpoints that new ones can be created at certain times when householders are most open to change, such as when they are designing a new kitchen or moving house.

Behavioral barriers differ by age and between generations but not gender. For example, children can make important contributions to household recycling rates. In the study, youngsters frequently recalled recycling information they had learnt and practiced at school and relayed it to their parents – helping identify opportunities to break habits and motivate adults to change their own behavior.

Source:
TheGuardian.com
 Professional/Guardian Sustainable Business

Here are the top five reasons to participate:

• It’s easy.
• It’s free.
• It pays.
• It saves.
• It’s green.

Recycling the unit can have the impact of taking two cars off the road for a year. By ensuring your old unit is safely and responsibly recycled, you save it from rusting away in a landfill and instead re-purpose the materials back into the manufacturing stream.

“Old refrigerators and freezers can use up to three times the energy of newer models and are often expensive to run,” said Tamara Sondgeroth, Focus on Energy’s Director of Operations. “These older devices can be big contributors to household energy costs because of their inefficiency.”

PP:http://www.hngnews.com/poynette_press/news/local/

Oviedo, Winter Springs lead the way in recycling

While nearby cities including Winter Park struggle to improve recycling up to state standards, Oviedo and Winter Springs continue to lead the way in the push toward lofty statewide goals for recycling and sustainability.

New 96-gallon recycling carts were distributed to Oviedo residents last December, replacing the previous 18-gallon bins at homes at no additional charge.

The All-In-One cart system allows residents to recycle paper, plastic, cardboard, aluminum, metal canisters and glass all from one container.

But that doesn’t mean everything made from metal or plastic can be tossed in the bins; Items that can’t be recycled yet commonly end up in the bins include aerosol cans, aluminum foil, batteries, light bulbs and Styrofoam.

Residents in apartments and condominiums have their own options too. Anyone without curbside recycling can drop off recyclables in bins behind Oviedo City Hall, located at 400 Alexandria Blvd.

Oviedo leads the way for reusing trash in Seminole County, recycling 35 percent of its waste each year, according to figures reported in 2012.

In 2008 the state set a goal of recycling 75 percent of its waste by 2020. No Central Florida cities have reported hitting that number yet.

Oviedo accounted for more than 25 percent of all recycling in Seminole County last year, Mayor Dominic Persampiere said.

 Written By Tim Freed:  July 11, 2014

SOME COUNTIES ARE FALLING BEHIND

HOLMES COUNTY New figures from the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation show recycling rates are up statewide. Some areas are doing a better job than others. Holmes county officials say re-educating consumers is a vital part of the process.

Floridians seem to be taking better care of the environment. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection says recycling statewide is up one percent from last year, when the state recycled 11.8 million tons of trash.

In 2012, that amount was just 9.7 million tons.

“I think it’s wonderful that maybe we’re getting more people involved in recycling,” said Holmes County Recycling Center Coordinator Ann Payne. “The more people that will recycle, the better for all of us in the future. Our children, grandchildren.”

Monday officials at the Holmes County Recycling Center were processing more than 100 tons of cardboard.

The center receives everything from cardboard and plastic to old T.V’s and tires. It’s a lot of junk, but Payne wishes there was more.

Many items that come to the recycling center such as paper and plastic are from the public, but Payne says many people still use hazardous ways to get rid of their trash.

“We’re so rural that people in the past have either, burned any kind of cardboard and paper type products. Landfill, or a lot of people use to just dig holes in the area and bury their trash. The fire of course, with the dry areas we’ve had and all the problems, we could get the wildfires. Also, burying things, it can leech down into our water aquifer and contaminate water,” she explained.

Last year the center took in more than 277 tons of cardboard and more than 65 tons of tires.

Payne says the county plans to use advertising and summer programs to make people even more aware of recycling efforts.

Holmes County was ranked 25 out of 45 counties, with a 28% recycling rate.

By Yvette C. Hammett | Tribune Staff
Published: March 2, 2014