Behind the 8 Ball
“The manufacturing part of it is troubling. I don’t understand why they don’t make [plastic] products easier to recycle,” Michael Lipton, president of Arizona Pacific Plastics, told The Epoch Times.He explained that many manufacturers make polymer products containing multiple kinds of plastic. Some have other materials woven in that are metallic or contain products that make recycling a significant challenge. When packaging or a product contains mixes—especially non-plastic elements—there’s an excellent chance it'll end up in a landfill regardless of whatever feel-good message is on the packaging.
“So called eco-friendly toothpaste is an example. Toothpaste in a tube just isn’t recyclable,” Mr. Lipton said. “It’s ridiculous. That stuff has like six different films on it. There’s no way that’s being recycled,” he said. Also on the nonrecyclable list are disposable, single-use coffee pods, along with packaging around beef jerky, and dog food.
Mr. Lipton emphasized that it’s how a plastic product is made and what it’s made from that will determine where the item will ultimately end up. “Post-consumer recycled material is great, but if it’s made with multiple types of plastic, we’re already starting behind the eight ball here.”
Money is the deciding factor in many business decisions, and it’s just easier to say no to complicated items or just send them to the landfill.
“We’ve been doing things for 20 years that people act like is still so hard to do today. ” Mr Bandy said.
He said the process for breaking down plastics has gotten better over time, but some municipalities are “oversimplifying” the problem by scaling back the types of plastic they’re willing to take.
Nashville’s municipal program, he said, won’t take any post-consumer plastic that isn’t a “bottle or jug,” which is usually a type 1 or 2 plastic container.
And this is how recycling myths are born. All types of plastic can technically be recycled. It just costs more money. Mr. Bandy said this lie wove its way into the fabric of recycling culture and has been accepted as fact instead of “just telling the American people that it costs more.”
Mr. Lipton agrees, and said politicians tend to repeat the same misinformation.
This includes the notion that reusable shopping bags, which replaced single-use plastic bags in many stores and states, can’t be recycled.
Bag Ban Paradox
Mr. Lipton says banning single-use plastic bags in stores is another misguided effort based more on emotion than logic.“It will cost way more to recycle that [reusable] bag than it will to use a regular plastic bag. We create all these workarounds, but in the end, we just add to the problem,” he said.
A New Jersey case study highlighted the problem by looking at the effects of the state’s of a single-use plastic bag ban.
Mr. Bandy added that single-use plastic bags have been eligible for recycling for a long time. The only reason companies stopped is because consumers weren’t submitting them correctly. “We used to be able to take their plastic bags. Tied all together, they’re easy to sort. Random solo bags are problematic because they could jam or melt on equipment,” he said.
Mr. Lipton concurred. “That’s the funniest part. It was easier to recycle that flimsy little [grocery] bag.”
Moreover, many reusable shopping bags end up in the trash anyway, according to Mr. Lipton and Mr. Bandy.
“Part of it is education. But our officials think the same thing,” Mr. Lipton said while noting a lot of eco-activists are ”very uninformed” when it comes to the reality of plastic recycling.
Mr. Melton is an advocate for sustainable recycling programs, but admits one of the biggest hurdles is cost. “We still need to cover our costs and make a profit to be sustainable and reinvest in our companies. There are many companies in the market who are committed to buying recycled resins even when the price of virgin is below the cost of buying recycled,” he said.
Dollars and Sense
“There are some types of plastic that need many steps to recycle and the selling price is too low to spend the money on recycling. With virgin prices of polypropylene and polyethylene so low, it can be difficult to cost justify buying recycled resins,” Mr. Melton said.Mr. Bandy has also experienced cost challenges in his industry. He shared that when he first started out in recycling, he could make $25 per ton of plastic scrap brought in for processing. Now it actually costs him money. “Today, I bring in that same material, and I get charged $60 per ton. So I had to pass that on to my customers.”
But he hasn’t heard any complaints and believes the majority of Americans would pay a little extra to know their plastic trash is actually getting recycled.
Another reason it costs more to recycle plastic is the amount of “contamination” from other trash. Polymers covered in liquid, oil, or other debris aren’t necessarily deal killers for recycling, but there are higher costs associated with the extra sorting. For example, the loads Mr. Bandy brings in for processing must contain less than 5 percent contamination, otherwise he pays a penalty.
That’s why, as he put it, the state recycling programs have been “dumbed down.” It’s not that certain items can’t be sorted, cleaned, and recycled. It’s just easier and cheaper to say no and let those items go to landfills.
Mr. Lipton believes municipal waste management officials are the “worst offenders” in this arena. “According to them, they recycle everything. It’s the biggest scam of all.”
“Recycling, however you look at it, has a high moral value,” Mr. Bandy said.
Mr. Melton has also found this to be true with his clientele. “I can say that more of our customers are seeking out ways to reclaim their scrap and they understand the importance of recycling.”
This is how plastic got branded as the “villain,” according to Mr. Lipton.
Meanwhile, industry workhorses like Mr. Lipton, Mr. Bandy, and Mr. Melton continue to roll up their sleeves and get on with the herculean task of recycling America’s plastic.
“We recycled 19 million pounds of material last year that would’ve ended up in a landfill. I’m doing my part,” Mr. Lipton said.
Mr. Bandy says private businesses are up to the challenge of recycling what municipal waste management has turned away. “When government gets involved, it’s going to get mucked up in some way ... Business always does things better than government.”
Like his colleagues, Mr. Melton is optimistic. “The plastics recycling industry is growing every year, and we are getting smarter on ways to recycle with more cost-effective methods.”