The Loma Prietan
April/May 1999
When Is "Recyclable" Not?
by Nicholas L. Cain
Anyone who bothers to recycle knows the scenario. You finish a plastic container and rinse it out. Just as you're ready to dispatch it to the recycling bin with a nice fade away jump shot, you check the small number embossed in the plastic. Consulting your recycling guide, you shake your head and toss it in the trash.
The American Plastics Council (APC) claims that plastic is one of the most environmentally friendly packaging materials available. They note that plastic's light weight saves shipping resources and that, "plastics often help reduce the consumption of packaging material when compared to glass and steel."
Further, the APC proudly states that they have contributed roughly $1.25 billion dollars a year to bolster national recycling efforts since 1990, and that Americans now recycle over 1.3 billion pounds of plastics yearly. Impressive figures - until one realizes that the American plastic industry sold over $274 billion dollars worth of products in 1996, and produced almost 67 billion pounds of plastic last year.
There are over seven classifications of recyclable plastic in use today. The different types of plastic are indicated by a number contained in a recycling sign and stamped on the bottom of most plastic containers. The presence of those numbers in the comforting confines of the "chasing arrows," as they are called, might lead one to believe that most plastic is recyclable.
Unfortunately, a study of Peninsula communities shows that this is hardly the case. In the tri-county area in which the Loma Prieta Chapter is based, only those who live in Santa Clara cities served by Green Valley Disposal can recycle all of the numbered plastics. Even in this best case scenario, the fate of much of that plastic is unclear. The residents of San Mateo and San Benito counties - and most communities in California - have no such option. Plastic, despite industry efforts to argue to the contrary, is one of the most difficult packaging materials to recycle.
Though most households in California have a curbside recycling program that
includes containers bearing the #1 and #2 imprint - PETE and HDPE respectively - plastic recycling in general is not popular.
Nor is plastic recycling financially viable for most commercial recycling services. The many types of containers available, and the total incompatibility between different types of plastics means that sorting and processing these plastics becomes a complex and expensive proposition. This vicious circle has made plastic the least recycled material collected by curbside recycling programs.
Browning Ferris Industries (BFI) is one of the largest waste disposal corporations in the country and serves much of San Mateo County including Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Redwood City. They administer an effective curbside recycling program - residents recycle almost 50% of their garbage - but one that only collects #1 and #2 plastic. "There isn't really a market for plastic, so few people recycle it." noted Cynthia Battenberg, Recycling Director for BFI on the Peninsula.
The recent issue of Resource Recycling supported this claim noting that "scrap plastic prices have found their bottom point." Many factors have played a role in this, including the low price of virgin resin - caused in part by over capacity and weak demand.
Hidden Costs of Recycling
To make matters worse, there are many hidden costs in recycling plastic as Dianne Dryer, the Chapter Recycling coordinator, explained. "There's a lot of handling involved" in recycling plastic. "The collection, sorting and storage all add to the cost. And, the presence of so many types of plastic in the collection stream complicates things further - dissimilar plastics can contaminate the whole lot and when that happens they are usually all thrown in the dump."
Even the best case scenario is hardly a success story. Green Valley Disposal, which serves most of Santa Clara, accepts all the numbered plastics in their curbside recycling program. They then turn the plastic over to the San Jose based Jefferson-Smurfit corporation. However, the Recycling Coordinator at Green Valley had no information on the eventual fate of that plastic. Calls to Jefferson-Smurfit were not returned.
Mandy Rose of Hollister Waste Disposal was skeptical that all of this plastic was really recycled: "A lot of the #3-#7 plastic ends up on the sorting room floor."
Commenting on Hollister's voluntary recycling program she noted that only 100 of the roughly 2000 households they serve had opted to pay the extra $3 for twice monthly curbside recycling. "Plastic is not a success story," she summed. "The recycling symbol on the bottom of many plastic containers is misleading - it verges on green washing."
A local plastic recycler who wished to remain anonymous traced the slow progress of plastic recycling to the producers of virgin resin.
Though he admitted that the APC had made efforts to spur recycling, he pointed out that "the people who make up the APC are largely virgin resin suppliers." And he argued that "it boils down to one thing - virgin resin suppliers want to sell virgin plastic."
What can be done to increase the amount of plastic that is recycled?
Despite the limited choices that many curbside recycling program offer, there are some simple steps consumers can take to limit the amount of plastic that ends up in the dump. And, despite the weak market for recycled plastic, there are some innovative businesses that are finding that it pays to recycle. Next issue we will explore some possible answers to this vexing problem.