Tag: Recycling

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To rinse or not to rinse

It is important to properly prepare packaging for recycling in order to optimize the quality of recycled materials, but it can sometimes be confusing.  How exactly do we know when it’s necessary to rinse our packaging and when it is more valuable to conserve water?
Determining whether rinsing packaging is necessary depends on a few factors, including how much residue is left, what was in the container, and whether the closure even allows you to easily rinse the inside of the container?
screen-shot-2017-01-24-at-12-26-13-pmHere are a few guidelines:

  • If you are making sure that every container is empty before recycling it, you’ve gone most of the way towards being an excellent recycler. Packaging that is still full or partially full is at high risk of being landfilled even if you place it in your recycling bin. You should compost any remaining crumbs or unused food products before recycling.
  • Any package containing a lot of thick and sticky residue, like a jar of peanut butter or a tub of icing, should be rinsed.
  • Any package containing soap (dishwasher detergent, shampoo, laundry detergent, hand soap, etc.) should not be rinsed. In fact, some plastic recyclers rely on residual soap to clean the plastics during reprocessing. After all, it is important to reduce, reuse, and recycle!
  • Rinsing does not need to be perfect. Don’t worry about getting every single spot of residue off, because that uses a lot of water. Just splash that salsa jar with a little water, replace the lid, and it’s ready to go.
  • If the cap or lid isn’t easily removed for you to get inside it and rinse, don’t worry; just make sure the package is thoroughly empty before recycling.

Look for the How2Recycle label that explains when a container should be rinsed or not. When in doubt, use your best judgment: a high quality, low contaminant recycling stream is important, but so is water conservation.
 

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It’s Not Easy Being Green

Seattle says non-compostable plastic bags cannot be colored green or brown any longer in an aim to reduce confusion

On Monday, October 3rd Seattle’s passed a new measure prohibiting non-compostable bags to be tinted green or brown. This is a groundbreaking development in the quest to clarify end-of-use options for packaging and create harmonization of compostable labeling practices.
how2compost_rgbNon-compostable plastic bags that are tinted green, mostly used in produce and carry-out bags, are often used in an attempt to connect the green color with a green message. Unfortunately, these items, as Seattle has found, pollute the local compost. When plastic bags are put in compost, they not only produce unsightly litter at the compost facility, they can also produce macro and micro fragments when they begin to break down that contaminate the finished compost.
Polyethylene bags are accepted at many retail locations for recycling, and recovery of these valuable materials remains important. However, not only does a green tint make the bags more likely to be mistaken for compostable, but also misleading language, terms such as “biodegradable,” or “degradable” and “decomposable” further confuse the messaging. Seattle’s forward-thinking new ordinance  will eliminate these practices that contribute to the problem of contaminated compost that increases costs and lowers the value of finished compost.
The How2Recycle label website helps clarify the differences between compostable and recyclable. Recently, GreenBlue launched the How2Compost label, an on-package label that verifies  that packaging is certified compostable. The label design  includes the BPI logo and a link to a website with additional information.. Compostable bags can use the How2Compost Label and be tinted green or brown, while non-compostable bags can use the How2Recycle “Store Drop-Off” label and ideally be clear or another color not easily confused with compostables. Seattle’s new law will move the country in the right direction!

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Let’s Celebrate: America Recycles Day

America Recycles Day
It’s that special time of year again. To me, America Recycles Day represents our annual celebration of progress collectively achieved by the recycling community, and also an important call-to-action to both the recycling community and the general public reminding us that a lot of work remains before we can pop the champagne and declare victory on the recycling front.
How2RecycleLogo(R)SmallThe SPC has worked with our members and our partners in the recycling community to generate a wealth of knowledge and action to enhance recycling. This past year we spearheaded an unprecedented collaboration of industry and NGO stakeholders to kick-off a huge study on consumer access to recycling programs. We continue to  keep  our ears on the ground  and ask  the right questions to understand the nuances of packaging design choices and their impacts on the recycling process. We’ve helped a number of companies understand the recyclability of their packaging and the opportunities for improvement. And our How2Recycle Label Program  has created a link between that industry knowledge and consumer actions by appearing on hundreds of packages in stores across America. We can feel good about the SPC’s collective action to advance recycling, and it’s good to have a day where we recognize that.
Still, America Recycles Day makes me pause and wonder why we don’t have celebratory holidays for all the other sustainable packaging initiatives. Where is the “America Responsible Fiber Sourcing Day”? Or “America Packaging With Less Cumulative Energy Consumption Day”? Or the sure-to-be-popular “Phthalate Elimination Day”? Just because we don’t celebrate the other aspects of sustainable packaging doesn’t make them any less important. While we may work on recycling every day, there are a host of issues that deserve our attention and a host of other victories that deserve celebration. So please accept the SPC’s wishes for a happy America Recycles Day, and don’t forget that the party for America Makes Packaging More Sustainable Day never ends.

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Conversation about current challenges in the recycling industry

I’m not usually a talk radio person, but a talk radio show has very much caught my attention recently. Last week, The Diane Rehm Show on National Public Radio explored New Challenges to Recycling in the United States. The guests engaged in a conceptual yet pragmatic discussion about how previous policy decisions in recycling are now starting to cause problems, and how different communities could approach these issues going forward. The conversation included some interesting details about the connection between the price of commodities and recycling, such as how the price of oil impacts whether companies choose to manufacture products out of recycled materials.
Another part of the discussion explored how a recent increase in size of curbside recycling bins has resulted in a greater volume of materials being sent to recycling facilities. Unfortunately, an unintended consequence of that increased volume has been an increase in what waste management professionals deem “aspirational recycling,” or consumers indiscriminately throwing miscellaneous materials into their recycling bin, in hopes everything will somehow get recycled.
The problem with that kind of sorting behavior, according to the guests of the show, is that some of those items can cause interruptions and mechanical snags in the recycling process. An example provided was a rubber hose: if its presence wasn’t detected on conveyor belts shortly after reaching the recycling facility, it likely would later become entangled in one of the machines, requiring a temporary shutdown of recycling operations.
The show also looked into how consumers feel and behave around these issues. One call-in listener provided unique anecdotes about her pleasant experience in Sweden, where she sorted her recyclables into sixteen different bins.
As a new Project Associate for GreenBlue working primarily on the How2Recycle program, this show particularly interested me as someone who is eager to interpret the most recent and controversial issues in recycling. These often confusing topics can be difficult for even a well-intentioned recycler and environmentalist like myself to wrap my head around. For example, why do American localities have such vastly different recycling and composting systems?
Consider the following example: I recently relocated to Virginia from Oregon. As a resident of Portland, I had curbside composting in addition to recycling (with glass in a separate bin; or, I could return glass to the grocery store to receive a deposit refund). But as a resident of Albemarle County in the greater Charlottesville, Virginia area, I now don’t have access to a curbside recycling program, even though my not-too-distant neighbors closer to downtown Charlottesville do have curbside recycling—and the instructions for sorting there are different than in Portland.
It’s mind-boggling how different communities seem to recycle in such conflicting ways; the guests of Diane Rehm skillfully explain how and why. What’s fascinating is that those differences between communities, in turn, uncover a great deal about the complexities of culture and economics in the United States. The podcast is not only a solid listen for recycling professionals who want to hear about the contours of current tensions within the industry, but also anyone who is broadly curious about the future of recycling.

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Recover More Sustainability Tools Sustainable Packaging Coalition Uncategorized

Target & How2Recycle

Target’s Kim Carswell explains why the retail giant decided to join the How2Recycle program

Kim Carswell, Senior Manager of Packaging for Target

At Target, our guests are the center of everything we do.  We have a strong connection to our guests, and we continue to seek ways to be relevant to them.  Adding the How2Recycle label to our owned brand packaging is a way to heighten this relevancy.
Why did you decide to use the label?
Two reasons: our guests and our company strategies.
We know that how our guests manage their packaging when they are done with it is a key way for them to live sustainably. Adding the H2R label to our packaging will help them dispose of it the right way.  Using the label also increases the transparency between Target and our guests, which is important to us.
The label aligns with our three sustainability strategies:

  1.  Provide our guests with ways to live more sustainably
  2.  Offer a great assortment of sustainable products
  3.  Reduce waste

How did you go about it?
We were very intent to attach this work to other brand redesigns already in the works.. We are looking at a long term schedule that will allow the work to grow organically. We are keen not to create packaging waste when we change our packaging designs. We plan to flow through the changes so that old inventories can be depleted. Another key goal is to embed the addition of the label into current processes as much as we can to set ourselves up for a robust and sustainable approach.
What Target products currently use the label?

We have the How2Recycle label on our food brands including Market Pantry, Archer Farms, and Simply Balanced.  It is also on a wide array of our up&up products and select Spritz party supplies items.
And finally…
Here are 10 things we learned along the way and want to share with you. Success for Target, the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and all the other How2Recycle label users is for more and more companies to sign on, so we are delighted to share what we learned.

  1.  Tie H2R to company strategies
  2.  Take internal partners and engage them
  3.  Find and tap into internal leaders
  4.  Share the story
  5.  Attach this work to planned brand designs
  6.  Go to where people are
  7.  Keep a close connection with the SPC
  8.  Be flexible
  9.  Keep sharing the story
  10.  Recognize and celebrate the people and work

 

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Eliminate Toxicity GreenBlue Member Spotlight Uncategorized

In The Loop — GreenBlue heads West

In the loop 5-18-15 This week, GreenBlue is heading across the U.S. to meet with sustainability leaders in Berkeley, California and Spokane, Washington.
Nina is an invited speaker at the Washington State Recycling Association (WSRA) 35th Annual Conference and Trade Show in Spokane.She will be speaking at this afternoon’s “Designing for Zero Waste, Starting the Conversation” breakout session with Dylan de Thomas of Resource Recycling and Matt Stern of Waste Management.  This session takes a close look at the dramatically changing types and volumes of packaging materials and products entering the waste stream and the financial implications of these materials on our recycling systems. Together, manufacturers, MRF operators, and municipalities will look upstream and discuss how products and packaging can be designed to be sorted at the MRF and recycled to improved value both for recyclers and producers.
WSRA_Conference15_logo_FINAL
James will be participating in The Collaborative Network’s Cancer Free Economy meeting in Berkeley, California. He will be speaking about how material health fits within a theoretical cancer-free economic system. GreenBlue has two projects that fit within the material health sector: Material IQ and CleanGredients. Both projects aim to make ingredients and materials more transparent within the supply chain, and ultimately promote safer chemicals and materials.
If you are in the Berkeley or Spokane area let us know! We love to meet members who live across the country!

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Is Trash No Longer a “Weighty” Issue?

Traditionally, we have always used weight (in tons) to measure the amount of trash we generate and the amount of recycling and organic matter that’s collected for recovery. For example, both the U.S. EPA’s annual Municipal Solid Waste Facts and Figures report and Eurostat’s waste statistics for for European countries both report based on weight. Over time, this has allowed us to compare how we are doing on recycling from year to year in a meaningful way. However, the changing waste stream has made these types of comparisons over time less meaningful. At SUSTPACK 2015, one session focused on “Strategic Views of Recyclability and Recovery” and several of the speakers mentioned this changing waste stream issue.
There are actually two related issues: one is the lightweighting of traditional packaging such as bottles and cans made of glass, metal, and plastic. Second, even these light weight traditional packaging formats are being replaced by flexible films and pouches. While the weight of packaging has gone down, the quantity of collected packaging has actually increased, according to Susan Robinson of Waste Management, leading to higher costs for a company like Waste Management to process and sort the same ton of material. Gerald Rebitzer of Amcor Flexibles presented a provocative scenario that purposely questioned the sustainability of traditional recycling at all costs. His presentation put forth two extreme and hypothetical scenarios — one where all packaging is made of rigid materials (glass, metal, plastic) and is recycled at 100%, and one where all packaging is made of only flexible films and none of it is recycled. Which is more sustainable? In the end, Gerald commented that we need a hybrid of the scenarios, but the point of the comparison was to show that traditional material recycling is not always the most sustainable option. In fact, material reduction, the first “R” in the reduce/reuse/recycle mantra, remains the most effective sustainability action we can take.
Both Susan and Gerald suggested that weight, the traditional metric we use to measure waste generation and materials collected for recycling, is no longer relevant. This is because of the changing waste stream, but also because so many other life cycle assessment metrics could potentially provide a more relevant picture of sustainability for packaging recovery. They both suggested carbon footprint as a new metric, but Gerald also put forward additional life cycle metrics, such as water use.
I don’t like to abandon our tried and true weight metric completely for the sake of comparison over time, but I do think it’s time to start adding new metrics to our discussions about packaging recycling and recovery in the future. Should we start reporting our recycling, not in tons, but in carbon dioxide equivalents?

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Water Use as a Result of Recycling: Is it Worth It?

As children we are all taught a few of the fundamental ways to act environmentally friendly, including turning off the lights when you leave a room, turning off the faucet immediately after use, shutting doors and windows when the air conditioner is running, and recycling as much as possible. But what do we do when one of these sustainable acts negates the other?
People recognize recycling as a simple way to protect the environment. Unfortunately, depending on the material being recycled, the act of recycling can expend a large amount of water. For example, appropriately recycling plastics often means using a lot of water to ensure the package is decontaminated before putting it in the bin. On the How2Recycle Label, we provide instructions such as “Rinse Before Recycling,” “Rinse Tray,” and “Rinse and Replace Cap” to remind consumers to remove contamination before recycling the package.
In regions such as the Western United States, people might opt to conserve water and throw away a package rather than waste a resource that is currently insufficient in the area. Recycling to conserve materials versus not recycling to conserve water… it’s quite the apples to oranges comparison. I’m hoping a few at-home experiments, will give us a better feel for how much water it takes to recycle different plastic packages.
I used a couple items from my lunch today for the experiment:
1) A spaghetti frozen meal packaged in a polypropylene tray. A meal that left quite a bit of food residue on the package after consumption. It took me about 3 cups (.7 liters) of water to clean this item enough to recycle it appropriately.
Spaghetti_recycling
2) Yogurt in a polypropylene tub (don’t worry, I didn’t eat the whole tub…). Due to the product’s soft texture the yogurt did not stick to the sides of the tub much, and I was able to clean the package out for recycling with about 1.5 cups (.35 liters) of water.
yogurt_recycling
Using the anecdotal evidence from my at-home lunch experiment, preparing truly recyclable packages to be recycled doesn’t have to be wasteful at all. In fact, you know all of the water you used to wash your big frying pan? Don’t let it immediately go down the drain. Instead, reuse the water to rinse out your packages. Remember, packages don’t need to be sparkling clean, they simply need to be clean enough to avoid contaminating the recycling stream.
 

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Funding for Material Recovery Services: A Critical Piece for Packaging Sustainability

Shifting from a mindset of waste management to sustainable materials management will require many industry actors to re-calibrate their definition of success from quick, one-time victories to extended time frames. Considerable differences exist across the vast United States with regards to handling of solid waste, policy incentives, infrastructure, access to services, and fees and penalties. This is a complex system with many gaps and will require collaborative and cooperative efforts to develop consistent services across a diverse population. Nobody is obliged to own the whole system but everyone along the path is obliged to participate fully for the system to work well.
While talking about material sustainability in the context of packaging, the conversation ultimately rest where the perceived focus sits – at the end of its useful life. In the discussions at SPC Advance in Minneapolis, Minnesota, we devoted significant effort on composting of food waste and food service packaging, on recycling infrastructure and access to collection and sorting services, on energy recovery, on labeling for recovery, and honest and meaningful marketing claims. All these conversations are ongoing themes within the packaging community and significant progress is anticipated in the coming years in the form of design for recovery, material innovations, impact measurements and data sharing, and collaborative efforts to raise awareness.
Conspicuously absent in this rich dialogue is the critical and desperate need to enhance the recovery infrastructure – access to compost facilities for organics (including some forms of packaging), balancing the portfolio of end of life treatments to include energy recovery, anaerobic digestion and pyrolysis for instance. This heady topic inevitably comes to a dead stop when ownership and responsibility enters the discussion. Almost instantly the conversations come to a crawl and the critical pieces of funding, policy advocacy, and ownership of traditional externalities associated with the management of the annual packaging waste generated are omitted.
There is a critical need at this juncture to expand the concept of design in a grand way to include mechanisms that answer the ongoing challenge of inconsistent, and at times, outdated material management solutions. It is illogical to innovate at the material and package/product side, and expect that rapid rate of development to be matched at the material collection and reclamation side because the two ends operate independently and under very different market and policy drivers. Designing a well-rounded material recovery technology portfolio hinges on a critical need for funding and policy instruments that support innovations in material manufacturing and end of life collection. Such efforts must put the focus on material development and material stewardship with an eye for the big picture and long term viability through improved material management options.
Industry with its e-NGO and government agency partners have to come together and develop a working plan to support sustainable materials management. Those who benefit directly must rise to the occasion and secure the seed funding to cover a reasonable fraction of the costs of leveling the recovery playing field. One such example is represented by the Closed Loop Fund, a collaborative approach to make funds available via loans for the development of recovery services.
This is a laudable kick-start program and likely much more will be needed to accommodate deficiencies among population centers across the United States. A material consumption system where recovery is entirely externalized to municipalities is inherently unsustainable. With packaging inextricably tied to efficient and effective recovery, maintenance of this status quo system limits the overall progress for material sustainability in all material categories across all population centers across the country. And, product and package sustainability claims remain tenuous at best since the system is far from being sustainable.
Learn more about material recycling at How2Recycle.info | U.S. EPA’s Solid Waste Site |

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Sustainable Materials Management: Externalized Packaging Material Stewardship

“How can packaging become sustainable when end of life treatment is externalized to municipalities?” This was a tweet I sent out during a session on solid waste handling at the recent Sustainable Packaging Coalition spring conference in Seattle, Washington. Industry, local governments, environmental organizations, educators and citizens invest a great deal of effort and money to improve recycling rates and access to recycling services across the United States. My own organization, GreenBlue, is dedicated to sustainable materials management (SMM), which focuses on using materials wisely, eliminating toxicity, and recovering more value from the material waste stream. Yet, the solutions to comprehensive sustainable material management remain elusive, here and globally.

MRF Tipping Floor

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