US cities see a great potential to increase the recycling rate of plastics in their jurisdiction. Image source: Shutterstock (#636849295)
Wasteful and ineffective plastics recycling is a big problem in the United States. As Waste Management, Waste Connections and Republic Services handle 45 percent of U.S. trash, recycling lacks behind and seems amateurish in comparison. Jack Buffington, author of The Recycling Myth, says that “recycling operations remain small, decentralized, inefficient and disconnected from the front-end industrial supply chain”.
Nowadays, municipalities pay more per ton for recycling than for tipping fees at most landfills, and cities are responding to the problem. “Nothing upsets me more than to hear people say they want to recycle but are unable to,” Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles said. “Now, we are going to expand that to businesses and apartments where we can recycle 70 percent of our trash instead of putting it in landfills.” With a goal of 90 percent recovery of solid waste by 2025, he has the same goal as Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City.
The challenge to drive recycling in the US seems to be bringing product and packaging designers to the same table as MRF owners, as only working together will lead to transformative change.
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