Recycling 101 — Inspire Wellness & Nutrition

On Earth Day I attended a virtual workshop about recycling. The experts were very knowledgeable and relayed a lot of very practical, fascinating, environment-saving information. For many years I have participated in our township’s recycling program - filling my bin with glass and plastic containers, cardboard boxes, magazines, newspapers, and metal cans. The bins are picked up biweekly and I usually don’t give it another thought!

This recycling workshop made me think more about the process of recycling and ask questions. What happens to these recyclable materials? Are the items I am putting in my recycling bin actually recyclable? Is there a better way to reduce waste and the impact on our environment? Once I started doing a little research, I realized that I had opened a “can (recyclable?) of worms”!!! I will attempt to answer these questions below.

First, what is recycling and why do we do it? Recycling is the process of taking our waste and turning it into something new and useful. According to the Recycling Partnership (https://recyclingpartnership.org/), a leading national force for improving recycling, “recyclables have the power to become new packaging and products. When your recycling becomes something new; U.S. jobs are generated, greenhouse gases are reduced and natural resources are saved.” It makes so much sense to turn our recyclable waste into something new and useful, rather than send it to landfills! The Recycling Partnership website contains a lot of information about recycling, and what they are doing to help create what they call the “pathway to circularity.”

What happens to recyclable materials? Our recycling is picked up by haulers and is taken to a materials recovery facility (MRF). This is where items are sorted, processed, and stored before being sold to the markets that make new products. These markets can include paper mills, can and bottle manufacturers, textile mills, plastic manufacturers, and more. Plastics seem to have the most issues in the recycling world. There are many different types of plastics - they are identified by the triangle with the number on the bottom of containers. They range from 1 - 7, with 1 and 2 being the easiest to recycle, and 3 - 7 being “mixed use” plastics, which are more difficult to recycle. In the past, mixed use plastics were sold and sent to China; however a couple of years ago, China banned the import of foreign plastic waste. According to LiveScience.com, the US has had to create new markets for this mixed-use plastic; and while working on this, unfortunately, much of this waste ends up in landfills.

Are the items I am putting in my recycling bin actually recyclable? The answer to this question depends on where you live and what your MRF can recycle. There are some overall general do’s and don’ts, for example for the City of Philadelphia (Philadelphiastreets.com) here is a list of non-recyclables:

Plastic Bags
Styrofoam™
Disposable Plates, Cups, and Takeout Containers
Greasy or Food --soiled paper & cardboard
Tissues, Paper Towels, and Napkins
Light Bulbs
Cassette Tapes (VHS and audio)
Garden Hoses
Needles and Syringes
Propane Tanks
Pots & Pans

Some PA townships only take plastics with the numbers 1 and 2; others will take all 1 through 7. Where I live in Newtown Square, we can now recycle plastic bags and what are called “flexible plastics”. These are the plastic pouches many companies are using to hold snacks, shredded cheese, baby food, laundry pods, dog food, and much more. According to Kelly Offner, Executive Director of Keep Philadelphia Beautiful, it is important to look at your township’s recycle website to make sure you are including recyclable items. If you mix in non-recyclables with recyclables, or if your containers are not clean, this can result in an entire truckload going to the landfill! Shocking, I know!

Is there a better way to reduce waste and the impact on our environment? Zero-Waste is a concept described by BioEnergyConsult.com as the “redesign of resource life cycles so that all products are reused, thereby systematically avoiding and eliminating the volume and toxicity of waste and materials. The philosophy of Zero Waste strives to ensure that products are designed to be repaired, refurbished, re-manufactured and generally reused.”

We can reduce our waste and the impact on the environment by adopting some EASY “zero-waste” practices in our daily routines:

Use a refillable water bottle
Use a refillable travel coffee cup for your Starbucks or Wawa drinks
Use cloth napkins instead of paper, and cloth rags instead of paper towels
Use reusable bags at the grocery store, including the small net bags for produce

There are many websites that offer practical tips on zero waste living - here are a few: zerowastehome.com, wellnessmama.com, sustainablejungle.com.

I hope this has helped “demystify” recycling and given you some ideas about zero waste living. We all need to do our part in protecting our precious environment. Proper recycling and reducing our waste can make a big difference!

Be inspired,