Climate Action Day 62 – Reduce Waste and Recycle

Actions Around the Home

The Frog will explore The Climate Action Handbook: A Visual Guide to 100 Climate Solutions by Heidi Roop in the first 100 days of 2024

Each of us produce 5 pounds of waste everyday on average. Plastic waste is a big part of that with 36 million tons produced of which 75 percent went to the landfill. Because a large percentage of us don’t have access to a recycling stream, only about 10 percent of the plastic waste is recycled.

And let’s not forget that plastic recycling is a lie. Virgin plastic is so much easier to make stuff out of. The fossil-fuel industry would like to keep taking fossil carbon from underground and make it into plastic and sell it to consumers. They actively oppose plastic bans. It won’t stop anytime soon, even with the increasing accumulation of plastic pollution and the worsening health and climate impacts of microplastics.

Let’s leave the plastic for a moment. First reduce the amount of waste you generate. And at the same time, be thoughtful about what do with your food scraps and yard waste. Taken together, these two sources of organic material make up close to one-third of the waste you produce. You can have a big impact on the climate by keeping it out of the landfill and effectively composting it.

There is some good news in recycling, mostly what what we do with paper and cardboard waste which makes up about 23 percent of what we throw away. The industry and demand for recycled paper and cardboard materials is well-established, accounting for 67 percent of all the recycling in 2018. Recycling glass and aluminum seems to make sense to us as well and we are used to taking action to keep glass and aluminum containers circulating in the economy.

It really is the decisions that we have to make about plastic that are confusing. You might just give up and wishcycle. Think back to the last time you paused in front of a recycling bin with a container or product in your hand and wondered if it was actually recyclable. If you just went ahead you throw it in the bin anyway in hopes for the best, you were a wishcycler.

The next time that happens, take a moment and ask yourself what is the probability that you are making the next step in the supply chain more difficult. Let’s make the plastic recycling industry more attractive and slightly more profitable. If in doubt, i is probably better to throw that plastic container in the trash bin instead.

“New waste fee structures, redeemable deposits, advances in processing, reduction in packaging use, and improved industry regulation are all likely to help accelerate both residential and commercial recycling”

Heidi Roop

The good news is that you can take action with impact by reducing and reusing what you buy and educating yourself on how to be a more informed recycler. There is an app for that! If you are fortunate to have curbside pickup of your recyclables, think about (figuratively) following the truck and find out what happens to your waste next. It will be enlightening. Recycling centers are surprisingly sophisticated. With that understanding, you can become and advocate for broader access to and improved processes for recycling.

If you want take one, effective action keep single use plastic bags out of your recycling bin. They are ruining recycling.

Next Up: Climate Action in 2024 – Day 63: Calculate Your Carbon Footprint

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