The fact that consumer curbside recycling has been a colossal failure in the U.S. has been well documented at this point. It is not a secret. Furthermore, it is easy to look at the failures of curbside recycling and conclude that, as a whole, recycling doesn’t work. But such conclusions are not true. Recycling does work when it’s done correctly. The success stories are out there if you are willing to look for them.
Unfortunately, the concept of recycling has taken on political overtones. So much so that far too few people can actually look at recycling from an unbiased perspective. There is nothing political about the concept itself. And in fact, before the industrial revolution, recycling was the norm. It was the norm until mass manufacturing gave us access to cheap consumer goods.
Recycling Industrial Plastics
One of the most obvious success stories in recycling is that of recycled industrial plastics. Take Seraphim Plastics based in Tennessee. They are just one of many companies around the country that obtain industrial plastic waste and transform it into a marketable product known as regrind. Manufacturers purchase regrind as feedstock for their processes.
Seraphim and its competitors literally keep tons of industrial plastic out of landfills every year. Not only that, but they also make good money doing so. From my perspective, this makes what they do a legitimate success story.
Recycling PET Bottles
Another well-known success story is that of PET bottles being endlessly recycled. It turns out that PET is the most widely recycled plastic in the world. It has a relatively low melting point, making it versatile for manufacturing everything from beverage bottles to food containers. Its low melting point also contributes to its endless recycling capabilities. Tons of PET are reformed into new bottles and food containers every year.
Turning Plastics Into Fabrics
Yet another way recyclers are turning plastic waste into usable products found in the fashion industry. Well-known companies like Patagonia and Everlane make use of fabrics made from recycled plastic. Plastic waste is cleaned, shredded, and spun to create threads which then become fabrics. The fabrics go on to become jackets, shirts, pants, sneakers, etc.
If you have purchased new clothing within the last five or six years, the chances are pretty good that something in your closet contains at least some amount of plastic. Recycled plastics have become a staple of the fashion industry thanks to innovative fabrics made from them.
Converting Food Into Energy
Stepping away from plastics, there are other ways to practice viable recycling. Consider food waste. According to the USDA, American consumers waste 30-40% of their food every year. That amounts to hundreds of billions of pounds of food being sent to landfills.
On a more positive note, creative organizations around the country have figured out how to convert food waste into energy through anaerobic digestion. Noblehurst Farms, in upstate New York, has been doing so since 2014. They combine cow manure with food waste from local businesses and their own cheese making process to generate the electricity that runs their operations.
A Right Way to Do It
The reality of recycling is that there is a right way to do it. That way may differ from one material to the next, but there is a way to recycle nearly everything we produce. Recycling is not always convenient. It is not always easy. But it is possible. There are plenty of success stories proving the point just by doing what they do every day. You can discover the success stories yourself if you are just willing to look.
