Why Recycle
This week in waste.. the connection between Waste Stream Management and Global Warming
When thinking about what to call this blog, the word Convolution seemed applicable for several reasons. Understanding the impacts of the waste stream can be complex and understanding the role of waste in sustainability can at times be a twisting or difficult road to follow, both definitions of the word Convolution. In mathematics, a convolution is a function derived from two given functions by integration which expresses how the shape of one is modified by the other.
Our waste stream impacts us in many ways. From a real estate perspective, with a growing global population, there is simply less land to use for landfill. We have likely all seen the barges piled with trash seeking ports to transfer the waste. Waste that once disposed of in a landfill may take decades or even centuries to decay. But our waste stream impacts us in less obvious ways as well.
Energy is used to create the products we ultimately dispose of. In the case of the paper industry, the 5th largest industrial energy user in the world, a significant amount of energy is required to process pulp and paper. Using recycled paper uses 65% less energy then paper sourced from raw materials. Less energy used equals fewer greenhouse gas emissions.
Staying on the theme of paper, recycling one ton of paper saves 17 mature trees from being harvested, leaving each tree in place to capture and process carbon dioxide. Another heavily used resource in paper production is water, in fact the production of recycled paper uses 80% less water then paper produced from raw materials. Once used, that water requires treatment, a process that releases both methane and nitrous oxide, both greenhouse gasses.
In one waste stream alone, paper, we can see the importance of recycling and the greenhouse gasses reduced through more responsible life cycle management.
The same exercise can be applied to plastics, especially when you consider the fossil fuel origin of most plastics. In fact, the emissions from producing and incinerating plastics is believed to amount to over 56 gigatons of carbon - nearly 50 times the annual emissions of all the coal power plants in the US between now and 2050.
Glass? Yep, you guessed it, the primary emission from the production of glass is carbon dioxide. The emissions from the amount of fuel used in smelting glass that originates from raw materials is nearly double the impact as as smelting recycled glass. The same is true of metals.
In each case, recycling versus making new products from raw materials significantly reduces the greenhouse gasses associated with the materials in question. Add in the significance of methane gasses associated with decaying waste at landfills, the third largest source of human-related methane emissions in the US, and you start to see why diverting waste from the landfill to a recycling process is an important step in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
As discussed in previous posts, this only works if the recycled product is free from contamination so as to allow its reuse in another product. This patchwork stream of recycling has taken significant hits amid the Covid Pandemic. Commercial streams, which tend to have less contamination, have significantly decreased while residential streams, which tend to have higher levels of contamination, have increased. Strategies to reduce contamination in the residential stream therefore remain very important for the industry.
One interesting trend of the pandemic has been the increased reliance on e-commerce by residential users. While a challenge for multi-family community managers, the increase in deliveries through corrugated boxes has improved the market for container paperboard. Time will tell if this trend is short term or long term, but it seems reasonable to assume that as more consumers become comfortable with e-commerce, the resulting delivery box is likely an increasing factor that needs to be considered when building a waste management strategy. In fact the EPA recently released a video on the importance of card board recycling during a health crisis, it can be seen at the following link:
The why recycle seems to be pretty clear, it is an important strategy in a global strategy to combat climate change and remains a prospective source to help meet future resource needs. Recycling is one of the easiest, and most visible actions that we can take in this fight. Yet despite consistently identifying it as important, residents in multi-family dwellings are far less likely to recycle then those who live in single family homes.
With a growing percentage of US households shifting to apartments and condominiums, the question of why are apartment dwellers less apt to cleanly divert materials is a question of growing significance. We know they understand it’s importance. Poll after poll, survey after survey, identifies recycling as important to home owners and apartment dwellers alike. Consistently recycling is graded as important for coast to coast, community to community.
We hear education, they just need to be taught how to recycle. We print posters and develop engagement programs to teach recognition of cardboard boxes, newspapers, metal beverage containers, plastic bottles, glass containers, junk mail, etc. Those living in apartments work in the same organizations of those living in single family homes, they frequent the same recreational areas, they aren’t living in a vacuum. While engagement is important, as is education, at least the way we are currently approaching it doesn’t seem to be moving the needle significantly.
Access to recycling may begin to answer the question. Without the opportunity to recycle, often residents who would like to recycle simply aren’t provided the chance to recycle. When they are, logistically, it may be difficult to access the containers. This is especially true in garden style apartments, where often waste and recycling containers are centralized and are not easily accessible for the majority of residents.
Service providers and local government leaders in Washington and California established the four “C’s” of importance for recycling infrastructure: Convenience, Clarity, Capacity, and Color. Personally, I advocate amending that list to a fifth C: consistency. Consistent service, signage, and service. Recycling needs to match what is commonly encountered outside of the multi-family community.
Engagement of the community management and maintenance teams are also important. From resources to educate, tools to increase access, to engagement strategies, including the property management team in an easy-to-use manner is critical for a property to increase it’s diversion rate. Communication is key.
What do you see in your communities? Are their tools that you have used to engage and educate residents of multi-family properties? How have you increased access to recycling? What have you done to include the entire community in the fight to reduce the impact of your waste stream?