Recycling
Lessons from the Bin: An Opportunity for Haulers to be Heroes
Mitch Hedlund
Each time I visit with sustainability directors and green team leaders of corporations, small businesses, non-profit organizations and schools, I ask these simple questions about their recycling efforts:
How is your recycling program going?
What percentage of your overall sustainability responsibilities does recycling and waste represent?
How much time do you spend working on your recycling program?
Without exception, they tell me that the recycling in their buildings isn’t going nearly as well as they believe it should. They explain that their employees, customers or students aren’t using the bins properly and therefore there are high percentages of trash in the recycling bins and recyclables in the trash bins. They go on to say that more than 65 percent of their time is spent trying to improve or fix their recycling program even though recycling and waste only represents 8 to 10 percent of their overall sustainability responsibilities. And they remind me that they have struggled to know how to properly label their recycling bins.
Since the inception of recycling, most often an employee within an organization has had to try to figure out how to label the bins throughout their building. As a result there are now millions of inconsistent and often ineffective labels on recycling bins throughout society, causing tremendous confusion for the public approaching the bin as well as apathy and even skepticism toward recycling.
It isn’t just the public that’s confused; cleaning crews have to contend with different looking recycling labels on bins in every tenant space, on every floor, in every building. And if the cleaning crew doesn’t read English, the labels are even more confusing. This often results in recycling bins being emptied into trash carts.
Ultimately capture rates are low, costly contamination is high and environmental and economic progress is hindered; in fact, the most recent EPA data relating to U.S. recycling rates (Nov 2011), reiterates this lack of progress. Despite the fact that recycling is the most recognized environmental action by the public, and despite millions of dollars spent on recycling competitions and awareness campaigns, capture rates in the U.S. remain low and have been nearly unchanged for 15 yrs.
Familiar with the old antic “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”, it’s clear that more competitions, more awareness campaigns and more symposiums aren’t the answer. It’s time to view recycling from a practical lens to see what can be done to: 1) begin resolving the frustration sustainability directors are experiencing, 2) make the experience at the bin more consistent and instantly comprehensive for the general public and 3) help improve the economics for recyclers, processors and next-life manufacturers.
The Solution is Easy
In 2009, I was the keynote speaker at a SWANA conference and proposed the idea of national standardized labelswas proposed to help resolve the issue of confusion at the bin on behalf of the general public and to remove the burden on school, business and non-profit employees that are trying to ‘figure out’ how to label their bins. The response was very favorable and as a result, a group of approximately 40 professionals were gathered from the recycling, compost, e-cycle, next-life manufacturing industries, as well as Fortune 500 businesses, consumers, students, parents, school authorities and government agencies to provide input and feedback on the standardized elements (colors, terminology, images and layout) for the labels.
In 2010, the non-profit organization Recycle Across America™ was launched along with its Web site (www.recycleacrossamerica.org) to introduce the national standardized labels for recycling bins. Since the launch of Recycle Across America™ and without any solicitation or publicity, notable organizations have discovered the standardized labels, and have begun using and promoting them. Organizations such as NBCUniversal, Hallmark, AOL, Disney Motion Pictures, Johns Hopkins University, Macy’s, Procter & Gamble, SC Johnson, Arlington County (VA), University of Maryland, SanDisk, to name a few. Even Canadian organizations such as University of Alberta and communities such as the Town of Banff have begun using the standardized labels.
Additionally, companies have begun donating money to help pay for free standardized labels to be used in public schools. For instance in honor of 2012 Earth Day, Kiehl’s (a L’Oreal owned company) has donated $100,000 to Recycle Across America™ to provide 150,000 standardized labels to 1,000 public K-12 schools and they have engaged four socially-responsible celebrities who have agreed to donate their time to promote the use of the national standardized labels.
When a school district that has 15 buildings switched to consistent labels throughout all of their buildings, it resulted in capture rate increases of 47 percent with significant decreases in contamination. One can imagine what can happen to recycling rates when students and the general public begin seeing a consistent labeling system throughout society. The introduction of national standardized labels also provides a terrific platform for a national recycling communication campaign, which Recycle Across America is now preparing for.
Haulers Can Be the Heroes
Haulers have a tremendous opportunity to be heroes in this movement by taking the burden of trying to figure out how to label their bins off the shoulders of their accounts. Haulers can do this by simply making their accounts aware that there are national standardized labels available (there’s a standardized label to suit each hauler’s sorting requirements), or by giving or selling the standardized labels to their accounts.
In the end, the haulers, processors and manufacturers will have a higher quality and more marketable product with less cost in processing and they will have provided a valuable customer service to their accounts.
Coming Soon: A Subsequent Solution
A subsequent non-profit solution is currently in development to help increase the demand, the predictability and the profitability of the recycled commodities market. The subsequent solution is called A Buy Recycled Alliance: “ABRA-cadabra … look what your recycling has become!” This is a Web site and phone application that allows consumers to click on the image of a standardized label for a recyclable material to identify the new product or packaging that recyclable becomes in it’s next left, and it informs consumers which mainstream companies and brands are using the recyclable materials in their manufacturing.
For more information, e-mail [email protected].