DRIVEN TO RECYCLE BETTER

DRIVEN TO RECYCLE BETTER

Recycling works when we work together

Recycling is everyone’s responsibility; but misinformation and wide-ranging opinions have caused confusion at the bin, and confidence to falter.

It’s not because people don’t care about the environment. Data collected by the Recycling Partnership and SWNS in 2020 reveals that about 85 percent of people in the U.S. believe in recycling, but the path to doing so effectively and efficiently has its challenges.

The modern economy was designed in a linear fashion. Raw materials are extracted from the environment, items are produced and consumed, and eventually sent to disposal at the end of its useful life. The advent of recycling changed that dynamic and ultimately, the goal is to shift to a circular economy, in which materials never make it into the waste stream, they are reused, maintained, refurbished, recycled, remanufactured and composted, cutting back the need to extract more materials. And, while recycling plays a major role in that effort, the need for producers and manufacturers to design for circularity also plays a significant role. For that to happen, recycling needs to be done in a manner that provides material to producers that is high in quality, readily available, and at a cost that is in line with that of its raw materials counterpart. The key, then, for recycling to play its part in a circular economy is to be both environmentally and economically sustainable.

Which is what Casella has been delivering since it opened its first recycling facility in 1977.

Households and businesses play a significant role in this vision, and they need to be confident that if they do things correctly, their material will be recycled once it arrives at one of Casella’s seven recycling facilities, where they are sorted, processed, and sent back out to be made into new products. One of the most persistent challenges that households and businesses face, however, has been the misinformation and myths that continue to undermine that confidence.

Bob Cappadona, vice president of Casella Resource Solutions, flatly debunks the most common recycling myth: Recycling itself is a myth, and your recyclables are getting trashed or only a small portion is being diverted from the waste stream. “If it is recyclable, and it gets to our facility, it gets turned into new products. People see national statistics like high contamination rates, and low percentages of plastics being recycled and they automatically assume this pertains to their day to day materials. Those alarming plastics statistics come from the entire history of plastic that has been produced, and from materials that should never be included in your household recycling such as plastic bags.”

According to Cappadona, of the material delivered to the facilities that he oversees, the average contamination rate is 15 percent. “And those are items that do not belong in the bin. These would include plastic bags, scrap metals, food waste, tanglers like ribbon, ropes, and hoses. The remainder 85 percent is extracted, processed, and sold to market. People tend to think that percentage means that we are only able to extract 85 percent of the recyclable material, but that just simply isn’t the case.”

Casella understands that one of its roles in the circular economy is also to serve as an authoritative voice in education and has developed a robust series of tools to assist the public in learning more through its trademarked Recycle Betterä learning hub.

The series illustrates the best ways to ensure your recyclable material is put to a higher and better use through videos, posters, blog posts, and more.

“Simple things like how to sort your recyclables for pickup, what belongs in your recycling bin and what doesn’t, goes a long way to building confidence in these programs,” according to Cappadona. “And, it is always evolving as society changes. For example, 10 years ago lithium ion batteries weren’t a part of our daily lives. Today, they are in everything and they end up in our recycling facilities and cause major issues with fires. By calling attention to this, and giving people the correct place to bring those batteries, we can ensure that the rest of their material is recycled and those resources are given new life. Other examples of problematic materials include plastic bags, clothing and textiles, cords and ropes, and other items that are technically recyclable, but do not belong with your household recycling.

For example, that shirt that’s missing a couple buttons or which is gently used can be donated to places like Salvation Army and Goodwill, rather than placed in a recycling bin or thrown away.

“It’s critical that people understand the role they play in the entire recycling ecosystem,” Cappadona said. “It starts with the decisions that are made when we purchase new items and goes all the way to the curb when we put our bins out for collection. If we all do our part, then our systems can take over and move us closer to a truly circular economy.”

In 2022, Casella worked with its customers to capture 1.457 million tons of recyclables and organics from the disposal stream. This includes over 900,000 tons of household, commercial, and industrial recycling; 400,000 tons of food waste, municipal biosolids, and other organics; and 100,000 tons of other recycling such as construction debris, mattresses, tires, and electronic waste.

WHERE DOES IT ALL GO?

• Cardboard is sold to paper mills, where it’s mixed with hot water to create fibers that are rolled. Manufacturers buy these rolls to make things like pizza boxes and other food boxes, as well as corrugated cardboard packaging.

• Plastic containers – including detergent bottles and milk jugs -- are made into pellets, which manufacturers buy to make shampoo bottles, makeup tubes, other personal care items and even certain automobile parts.

• Plastic soda and water bottles are washed and extruded to help create things like clam-shell packaging, carpeting and other textiles, and more water bottles.

• Plastic tublike containers, like those that contain yogurt, contain polypropylene that can be turned into pellets. The pellets can become paint cans and other packaging, as well as plumbing and automotive parts.

• Glass items, meanwhile, are broken down and sorted by size, then melted into new products made of glass, or even materials for road and construction jobs.

• Tin and aluminum cans are smelted into large sheets, rolled and later made into new cans, automotive parts and more.

• Mixed-paper materials go through a pulping machine, then mixed with water to make fibers to create toilet paper and paper towels.

EVERYTHING HAS ITS CHALLENGES

“New Hampshire is one of the few states that does not have a single-stream processing facility, so all of their material is exported to a facility in a neighboring state,” said Cappadona. “We receive over 30,000 tons per year from the State of New Hampshire at our Massachusetts facilities in Boston and Auburn. So, one of the biggest challenges right now for New Hampshire is the cost to export these materials.”

As more people become better educated about recycling, Casella remains committed to doing everything they can to reach a circular economy, including new recycling infrastructure and programs to assist the residents and businesses in New Hampshire along their own sustainability journey.

“We’re excited about New Hampshire’s future, and how we can help move more material out of the waste stream, into new products, and help the State contribute to a circular economy.”