Navigating the Future of Recycling

Four years ago Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that New York would be setting a goal of sending zero waste to landfills by the year 2030. At the time there were many skeptics, however the date felt far enough away that it was possible.

Now, in the Fall of 2019, three of the major steps toward that goal have been stalled. In one instance, the Department of Sanitation, which had seen success with their dual-stream recycling program, was supposed to implement a conversion to single-stream. While the amount of recyclables collected were impressive, they are still looking to boost their capture rate.

As industry trends are changing it seems that the ambitious goal of “zero waste” is becoming increasingly complex. China issued an abrupt ban on the importation of most foreign recyclables. This hit the recycling industry hard, as the United States has exported 40% of its plastic, glass, metal, and paper to China since the 1980’s. Current prices for big items are down significantly and many of the old processes for getting rid of recyclables are not available or cost effective at this point.

In cities such as Philadelphia, an industry that had been earning a profit by selling recyclable waste is now paying as much as $40 a ton to have it hauled away. Due to this new expense, the city has begun to burn almost half of its recyclables. Los Angeles has closed multiple recycling centers and began to incinerate upwards of 20,000 tons of plastic since last year. The majority of materials that aren’t burned end up in landfills which only increase the levels of methane gas being released into the environment. The exact opposite of what the outcome of recycling is supposed to look like.

However, New York has been able to navigate the impact of the Chinese ban much better than other places. This is due, in part, to the fact that the city has created a goal and built an infrastructure of local recycling. While it’s far from perfect, having it in place has helped the city to deal with the hurdles it faces while trying to do right for its citizens and the environment.

New York has a much larger volume than most other cities. In the past 30 years there have been 13 million tons of recyclable material collected. In the beginning of the city’s history of recycling New York had short-term contracts and had to deal with the ups and downs of the market and the capability of its venders. When the city developed the Solid Waste Management Plan it made a long-term contract for recyclables. That long-term contract has been a major help to stabilize the industry during times like this one.

In 2013 New York created a 20 year agreement with Sims Municipal Recycling. The city pays $75 per ton for the sorting of its trash, compared to the average cost of $100 per ton just to send recyclables to a landfill. Although, the cost of recycling is much greater for many cities due to the Chinese ban, New York has found a more cost-effective solution. It’s been able to reduce its carbon footprint and even receive a rebate.

With China’s ban came awareness of how dependent the global recycling industry is to exploitative practices in the developing world. New York has been shielded from the fate of places like Philadelphia, in large part, because of the long term contract with Sims and the fact that there was a strong initiative taken to make a change. As the city continues to navigate the future of recycling, let's hope that the impact of the investment in a domestic recycling industry continues to make a change.