...Recycling rates, overall, are far higher today than they were in the 1970s. But many recycling rates have been flatlined for nearly a decade -- and not just during recent recession. It took until 1990 for recovery rates for recycling to get beyond 15 percent, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The volume of municipal waste is rising faster than the rate of recycling participation.
In 2009, nearly 34 percent of the municipal solid waste that was generated was recycled. However, curbside recycling is also nearly flat since 2002, and community composting is down over the same period.
Outside of cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles, recycling is largely an enigma. (In New York, for instance, the NYC Sanitation website tells you to recycle plastic “jugs,” rather than specifying which plastic numbers can be recycled.) The rules change often in New York City, and from town to town across the country. In many places, it is still cheaper to send it to the landfill than to recycle. According to a recent report by Siemens, only 14 of 27 U.S. and Canadian cities have comprehensive waste reduction strategies, compared to all European cities with similar income levels and demographics.
The New York Times did point to some successes, like the Green Restaurant Association, which has about 80 members in New York that can earn ratings for efforts like reducing energy consumption and composting food waste. The city is also looking into larger methods, like pay-as-you-throw, which has been deployed successfully in Seoul.
Recycling is not a failure in the U.S., but it is far from an example of environmental awakening. In most cities where recycling rates are high, there is a financial burden for those that don’t comply. That could be the best lesson of all from recycling to apply to other sustainability issues, including energy efficiency. It’s not a warm, fuzzy habit that the next generation will inherently embrace. Rather, it is solid policy and adequate infrastructure accompanied by enforcement that will bring sustainability practices out of niche areas and into the mainstream.
