Historically, the recycling symbol has told us if recyclers accept a certain material. The Federal Trade Commission’s Green Guides1 (which are guides, not laws, mind you) say a package shouldn’t sport the word “recyclable” or the chasing arrows symbol unless 60% of consumers in the U.S. can access a blue bin that accepts it.
This seems reasonable, right? At least on the surface. But it’s not so simple because the types of waste accepted by recyclers vary from location to location. Whether or not your municipal recycling service accepts a type of waste depends on whether or not they can profit from recycling it.
Most only accept aluminum cans, paper/cardboard, glass, and plastics #1 and #2. If your recycler accepts plastics number #1 through #7, they are probably only sorting out and recycling the #1, #2, and potentially #5 plastics, and disposing of the rest. You can be especially confident they’re not recycling #7 plastics, as it’s the “other” category (basically a catchall for plastics that don’t fit in categories 1 through 6).
Even if your local recycling company accepts a certain type of waste, they won’t always recycle it after collection. This doesn’t mean they’re evil or intentionally misleading: Ultimately, they’re not legally required to recycle anything they collect.
Even in countries renowned for their recycling systems, things aren’t as straightforward as they seem. Germany is often lauded for its 65% recycling rate, the best in the world. But more than 60% of German “recycling”‘ is actually incinerated—25 million tons of waste in 2019—and a portion of the remaining percent is exported to other, often poorer, countries.
That’s why we’ve been seeing headlines like, “A whopping 91 percent of plastic isn’t recycled” and “Recycling in the U.S. is broken.” Now, these articles exaggerate the reality, but there’s a kernel of truth to them.
