The Truth about Recycling

Why bother with recycling? All those cans and bottles end up in the landfill anyway, right?

This is a common misconception! Your local recycling program is either making money from the sale of your recyclables or generating a cost savings by diverting recyclable materials from the landfill, keeping overall disposal costs low. Recycling also reduces pollution and saves natural resources.

In the late 1980’s there was a strong push for community recycling programs under the auspice that there wouldn’t be enough landfill space for all of our garbage. While our society has embraced disposable and convenience products in the last 20 years, that has turned out to not be true. Recycling has likely played a part in that, but is only effective when it makes economic sense. Making something into a new product is often less expensive than making that product from virgin materials, but sometimes it is not.

The aluminum can industry is a great example of successful, closed loop recycling. According to the Alcoa Recycling Company, recycled aluminum is identical to smelted aluminum, requiring 95 percent less energy to make it. Aluminum can also be recycled over and over again without losing quality. A typical beverage can is about 40 percent recycled aluminum. The Can Manufacturers Institute says recycling aluminum cans generates 95 percent fewer emissions and creates 97 percent less water pollution than refining new metal from aluminum ore.

Wondering about the recyclability of other items? Many things are recyclable, but the reality is that it’s just not economical to recycle some things. Polystyrene, i.e. Styrofoam®, can theoretically be melted down into plastic soup to be molded into new products, but because of its inherently light weight, it costs too much to haul it to a distant recycling center. Most plastic products are made from natural gas and as long as it is cheaper to make new clamshell take-out containers from natural gas rather than recycled polystyrene, that material will continue to go into the landfill. A savvy consumer who wishes to reduce and reuse (as well as recycle), might take his or her own containers out to eat and forgo the need for a take-out box altogether.

The Rappahannock Regional Solid Waste Management Board’s recycling philosophy places higher emphasis on the diversion of recyclables, rather than the revenue generated from their sale. Our single-stream (no sorting required) program allows us to recycle a greater volume of items, removing them from the waste stream and ultimately extending the life of our landfill. In other words, we don’t necessarily generate as much money per ton as we would if we sorted recyclables, but we recycle many more tons and experience a significant cost savings of not landfilling that material.

Contact your local public works or solid waste office to find out about recycling opportunities in your community.