Just One Planet: When it comes to recycling, don’t believe the labels
By Brigit Binns, columnist
–As a book-obsessed only child who risked dire retribution most nights by reading under the covers with a flashlight, I never thought I’d say the words “Don’t believe what you read.” Sadly, that statement may be truer today than at any time I can remember. And in the world of waste, the resource you’d be most inclined to trust is the least correct. I’m talking here about the stamp on the bottom of most plastic items, especially the dreaded “single-use” plastics.
Pick up a plastic take-out container from your favorite food-service establishment and turn it over. The familiar little 3-arrows-with-a-number logo we’ve all trusted to guide our environmentally-conscious efforts since its creation—for the first Earth Day, in 1970—has literally zero relationship to our current reality in San Luis Obispo County. And the problem is that many who would like to cut down on their waste footprint still haven’t gotten the memo.
Column by Brigit Binns.
I asked Patti Toews of the Integrated Waste Management Authority of SLO County how I could easily communicate a list of the items that should be placed in the blue curbside bin. To our meeting, I hauled along a few bagfuls of “show-and-tell.” The rigid black plastic tray that cradles a rotisserie chicken. The plastic clamshell that protects my favorite lettuce. Yogurt cups; milk cartons; festive wrapping paper. The plastic film that encloses my favorite cheese. Patti and her fellow IWMA member Aaron Gomez shook their heads at every single thing.
“The only plastic items we can recycle in the county right now are ‘rigid plastics with a neck’.” Think laundry detergent and cleaning product bottles, rigid dairy and dairy-like containers (not waxed milk cartons). And that’s about it. Everything else goes into the landfill. Worst of all, if you unknowingly place items in the blue bin that don’t belong there, they’ll gum up the machinery and could result in the whole batch going to the landfill. Uncoated paper and clean cardboard are still fine. Don’t get me wrong: there are regions where #5 polypropylene can be recycled; we don’t live in one of them. Product-labeling can’t possibly keep up.
During the many decades that we “wish-cycled” all of our garbage to China, the waste management industry in the USA became lazy. The industry did not innovate to solve the problem because they could simply export it. Now, when countries like Germany, Denmark, and Singapore have state-of-the-art waste processing facilities, we’re scrambling to find landfill space for items that are sometimes used by the end consumer for mere moments before languishing in the soil—sometimes for up to 500 years – think Styrofoam, which thankfully will be banned in our county starting April 9.
Almost everything we make can be recycled, but it is incredibly expensive. With no market for these materials, there’s no financial motivation. Many communities in the US are abandoning recycling pick-ups and services altogether. In the two-or-so years since China refused to take our waste, our landfill use has skyrocketed into the stratosphere. The current situation is clearly unsustainable, but there are no easy solutions. In fact, there is a strong financial motivation for waste processors to just skip recycling and divert to the landfills.
This land is our land, and we are defiling it.
Up until the 1950s, plastic was not ubiquitous in American households. Food was purchased in paper, glass, or metal – all recyclable. Busy or not, people cooked at home rather than getting take-out. Coffee shops served beverages in mugs, then washed and re-used them. It was a different time, partially shaped by the conservation-mindedness and economy sparked by the Great Depression. My mother hoarded a houseful of perfectly good containers for decades; most were never used again.
It will likely take a similar seismic cultural shift to return our “throwaway culture” to the old ways of conservation and sustainable practices. In the meantime, IWMA.com is a great place to research your options. The first step? If at all possible, don’t bring that plastic into your home to begin with. Here are a few other choices you can start making right now:
- Choose aluminum foil and other metallic packaging over plastic when you can; metal is highly desirable in the waste stream. Uncoated paper is also a good choice, but don’t recycle shiny-coated paper or soiled paper products.
- Purchase featherweight, washable net produce bags and remember to take them with you to the farmers market and supermarket.
- Check with your favorite take-out joint: Will they allow you to bring your own (clean) containers? This has been legal in California since the passage of Assembly Bill 619 last July, but is still optional for each establishment. Most restaurateurs I spoke to are open to the idea, though somewhat concerned about its practical application.
- Just say no to plastic plates and coated paper plates. Or wash and re-use plastic plates if you need a lot of them.
- Invest in a metal water bottle and, if necessary, some form of home water filtration.
- Collect all your thin, “plastic film” (think plastic wrap, salad bags) and drop at a local collection center, such as Kohl’s.
Yes, in many cases, these steps require a bit of extra effort and expense. Our planet is worth it, don’t you think?
Editor’s note: This is the second of a new series of articles on environmental issues and sustainability by Brigit Binns. The opinions expressed here, are solely those of the author.
