What goes into garbage cans is just the tip of a mountain of resources we waste every day, according to a new study released by the GrassRoots Recycling Network (GRRN). Eco-Cycle, a founding member of GRRN, joined the network in releasing Wasting and Recycling in the United States 2000 to demonstrate that, while Americans are setting new recycling records, product and packaging waste is increasing at the same time.

By practicing the 3 R’s - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - Americans kept 28 percent of municipal refuse out of landfills and incinerators in 1997, nearly triple the recycling rate of 1980. Benefits of diversion include: reduced pollution, conserved energy, reduced habitat destruction and sustainable jobs.

While recycling increased strongly in the early and mid-1990’s, wasting has also increased. This waste amounts to a lot more than just the trash in the garbage cans: For every garbage can placed at the curb, the equivalent of 71 garbage cans worth of waste is created in mining, logging, agriculture, oil and gas exploration, and the industrial processes used to convert raw materials into finished products and packaging.

Recycling Works
One of the key findings of the GRRN report is that the benefits of recycling are far greater than previously thought and go far beyond keeping materials from landfill disposal or incineration.
Key benefits of recycling identified in the report include:

• Reducing greenhouse gases. Reaching a 35 percent recycling rate and reducing wasting to 1990 levels would eliminate 11.4 million metric tons of carbon equivalent (MTCE). This is equivalent to taking nearly 7 million cars off the road.
• Reducing reliance on virgin resources, which protects habitats and eliminates pollution. For example, producing aluminum from bauxite is highly energy intensive and generates a ton of caustic waste for every ton of bauxite mined. Recovering the more than 45 billion aluminum cans wasted in 1998 in the U.S. would conserve enough energy to supply the electricity needed by the city of Atlanta for two years.
• Creating sustainable jobs and businesses. A survey by ten northeastern states found that industries manufacturing with recycled materials employ 103,413 people in the region. North Carolina recycling industries employ over 8,700 people. California is expected to create 45,000 recycling jobs when it reaches its 50 percent waste reduction and recycling goal.

Federal Subsidies and Corporate Practices Undermine Recycling

The report identifies several factors adversely affecting recycling and waste reduction, including:

• Corporations backing away from commitments to use recycled materials in products and packaging.
• Subsidies for virgin resource extraction and waste disposal which put recycling at a competitive disadvantage, including $2.6 billion annually in federal taxpayer subsidies and billions more spent by local governments supporting landfills and incinerators.
• Products and packaging are made with little regard for recycling and waste prevention.

Records Being Set

The report indicates that many businesses and communities are setting records in recycling and waste reduction. Hundreds of communities across the country are cutting their waste in half. Even more impressive are results being achieved by businesses like Fetzer Vineyards, which has cut its waste by more than 90 percent.

GRRN lays out a new approach based upon eliminating rather than managing waste, a concept called Zero Waste (see additional stories on pages 4-5). Innovative Zero Waste strategies are already being pursued by cutting edge businesses and communities in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and the United States.

The message of Wasting and Recycling in the United States 2000 is that we have only scratched the surface of recycling’s potential in the United States. Much work needs to be done, however, to eliminate the policies and programs that work to defeat recycling and waste diversion, and to provide the infrastructure necessary to support our recycling habits.

(Wasting and Recycling in the United States 2000 was researched and written by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, and uses data from the U.S. EPA and other published sources. Copies of the report are available from Eco-Cycle for $7. Excerpts of the report can be found on the GrassRoots Recycling Network website, www.grrn.org. Thanks to GRRN for the information provided in this article.)