Why Is It So Hard To Recycle?

When it comes to the topic of consumer-driven recycling, it is no secret that there is a large amount of responsibility placed on individuals to handle their own recycleables. In practice, however, we see a disconnect in how willing people generally are to participate in recycling programs, and how often we actually see that turn into tangible results.

Research has found that 94% of Americans support recycling and 74% say it should be a top priority. But only about 35% of people actually recycle. Why the disconnect? It often comes down to confusion and inconvenience. People don’t know how to recycle, what can be recycled or what to do with it. The top reason Americans say they don’t recycle regularly is a lack of convenient access.

In getting more specific about why this confusion and inconvenience exist, the biggest contributor to this gap in understanding revolves around a lack of consistent infrastructure in space.

The U.S. doesn’t have a federal recycling program and instead leaves it up to individual communities to make their own decisions and run their own programs. The result is a disjointed system with uneven access and unequal services, which is frustrating people and hurting the environment. 

In my own research visiting local recycling programs within Rumpke, I learned that Rumpke only services a specific part of the Midwest, meaning that their rules and regulations about recycling, only apply to a specific subset of those living in the United States.

In digging into the lack of convenient access, this lack of regulations also applies to the availability of those resources and infrastructure it takes to recycle certain items.

Although 94% of the U.S. population has some type of recycling program, the programs vary dramatically and are especially lacking for low-income and rural communities. Not all facilities can process every type of recycled material, which is part of the reason why some communities don’t offer certain types of recycling, like glass.

In learning about this problem space, we see 3 main stakeholders: Government, Business, and Individuals. These 3 stakeholders and their interrelationships, are not currently working together. Governmental policy currently doesn't support a recycling standard, which puts pressure on businesses, as the manufacturers of these products, to deal with the waste on their own. These businesses, in our economic context, then apply this pressure on individuals to deal with the waste. These individuals then struggle because of lack of infrastructure, which loops back to governmental policy. This loop currently benefits nobody, and creates this problem space for us to solve.

What’s the solution to the overwhelming recycling issue? Someone needs to step up. Consumers want clear communication and consistent guidelines about recycling. They want to know that their efforts are really paying off and making a difference in the world. 

Recycling has the potential to have a huge impact on the environment. Consumers are on board—now it’s time to get the government and businesses on board, too.

Review

In the context of circularity, understanding this cycle of interrelationships between stakeholders is crucial. This is because circularity, as a concept, is designed to create incentives for all of these stakeholders to benefit from participating in a system that they currently do not. We are already seeing some success in recycling initiatives through community efforts, like Rumpke, and circularity, by definition, is a means of making this community effort more effective. If we can apply circular business models to something such as the recycling industry, we can make real change.

Reference

Morgan, B. (2021, April 21). Why is it so hard to recycle? Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2021/04/21/why-is-it-so-hard-to-recycle/