recycling is not zero-waste

sorry, but these make me laugh.  :)  (images via)

first of all, i have to say that i am incredibly grateful for recycling.  i think that it is an amazing process and positive for the environment in many ways.  the need for paper has greatly decreased in this age of computers and cell phones, but we still need it.  the fact that we can buy recycled paper is great, because we need trees recycling CO2 into O2.  i'm grateful for glass recycling and for plastic recycling too... to some extent.  

what i'm not so grateful for is the idea that can come from recycling... the idea that there is nothing wrong with buying packaging that gets recycled anyway.  because not all of what goes into the bin is recycled. because new plastic has to be added all the time to old plastic in order to make new bottles and bags, etc. because lots of energy goes into cleaning, breaking down and remolding plastic and glass.  because plastic hits a point (quickly) where it can't be recycled any more.

i wrote last week about my zero-waste check in and listed the products i still buy in packaging along with their recycling status.  i want to make it clear that i don't count that as "good waste".  it is still waste.

is this what recycling looks like?  :(  (images via)

i've written about how my toothpaste tubes haunt me (since i have yet to put my trust in diy methods).  toms of maine strives to be natural and good for the environment.  they've written about their toothpaste tubes on their website (something that most companies probably do not devote website space to).  their tubes are apparently recyclable.  i recently found this explanation of how to clean your toothpaste tubes to ready them for conventional recycling... um, not currently doing that... so i'm not sure that they are getting recycled. toms has a deal with terracylce to recycle the tubes.  i requested that my whole foods get a box so that we can encourage our community to recycle them together.  we'll see if they go ahead with it (it does cost quite a bit to "purchase" a box).  i've got to say that all of this work to recycle one piece of packaging makes me feel a bit frustrated, because this is only one item!

and then... i have this struggle even with the idea of terracylce.  it is undoubtedly a good thing... to recycle hard to recycle things.  but every kid is not walking around with a backpack made out of lunchables lids.  i mean honestly this just makes me laugh.  first, these are not cute (in my opinion)... second, that's only one week's worth of lunchables (so each kid would need like 30 of these bags to account for one year's worth of lunches)... and third, what does that become when it breaks or is discarded?   there is plastic webbing added to each pile of garbage for crying out loud!

some of the plastic gets cleaned and made into little pellets that are then made into recycled plastic park benches and picnic tables.  but these are still enormous hunks of plastic that will someday be discarded... and never decompose (i think compostable wood park benches and picnic tables are the better option!).  

recycling is not zero-waste.  

love,
jane