"Recycling symbol doesn't necessarily mean recyclable"

Friday, March 7, 2003

Dear Marti,

Why is it that all the plastics I buy have recycling symbols on them, but you don't take all of them? Doesn't the symbol mean it's recyclable?

Signed,

Peggy

Dear Peggy,

Just when you thought it was safe to trust your packaging labels. I understand your confusion. I've seen a recycling symbol on the plastic cape of an action figure doll, but I don't think we have a collection bin for those.yet. While it would stand to reason that a recycling symbol would indicate a product's recyclability, you can't always count on it.   You'll find the symbol appears on a variety of packaging and products-not just plastics-that are not accepted in our program or in any program in the U.S.

There is no regulation of the recycling symbol to ensure that it appears only on products accepted for recycling, so there is nothing illegal about a manufacturer putting the symbol on any item they please. (Though there's arguably something misleading about it. We call it "greenwashing.")

We've had many dedicated recyclers contact us insisting that a product they purchased has a recycling symbol on it, and therefore Eco-Cycle should take it.   If only it were true that placing that symbol on a product could magically render it recyclable. I'd head for the store right now with my recycling symbol stamp.

For a material to be recyclable, there has to be a demand for it on the market, and that's what determines what can and cannot be accepted. Technically, almost everything manufactured could be recyclable if there was a reliable end-buyer for the material. The existence of a recycling market is typically dependent upon a manufacturer buying their own product back for remanufacture. When an industry distributes a product and then uses virgin materials to manufacture new products, it creates a glut of material without a recycling market.

But here's the good news: Recycling advocate organizations like Eco-Cycle are working to solve these issues through a new system for managing discards called "Zero Waste." Zero Waste works with industry product designers to design products to be recycled, reused, or composted-rather than landfilled or incinerated-and to establish a universal coding system that you could count on to know you are buying a recoverable product. Look for future Ask Eco-Cycle columns on the Zero Waste movement.

On a related note: When you see a recycling symbol on a product to indicate that it is MADE from recycled content, you can trust that it was (though again, that doesn't necessarily mean that it is RECYCLABLE).   We strongly encourage you to buy products with recycled content to further stimulate the market for recycled materials.  

Dear Marti,

Which is better to use when you visit the salad bar at the grocery store, the plastic containers or the paper boxes? Can either of those two containers be recycled?

Signed,

Debra

Dear Debra,

Neither container is recyclable, but when you find yourself at a loss to recycle, go for reuse-it always trumps recycling. Though the paper salad bar box IS paperboard, similar to cereal boxes and shoe boxes, the market will not accept any paperboard material that comes in direct contact with food. Paperboard is a lower-grade material that may sit at the mills for a while waiting for a buyer. While it waits, the slightest food residue may begin to rot the paper, creating a serious contamination issue for the already low-value fiber. For this reason, please don't recycle your paper salad bar boxes or "to go" boxes like those used in Chinese restaurants, or any other paperboard box that would have any trace of food residue on it.  

The plastic container is not recyclable either, but it is reusable. I'm a salad bar frequenter myself, and instead of using one of the store's containers, I take my own.   I make sure to ask the deli to weigh it first (unless it's a reused plastic salad bar container from that same store). They give me the "tare weight" so the cashier can subtract that amount when weighing my salad. It takes me five extra seconds for a lower impact method of getting salad on the go.plus the cashiers are always so impressed.

E-mail your eco-questions to marti@ecocycle.org .