Is Recycling Unlimited? Find Out Which Materials Are

Recycling is a complex science. Ideally a resource is mined once and then made into a product, recycled, made into the product again. This should go on forever. But that isn’t always the case.

Aluminum, steel and glass can be recycled over and over again. Paper however, can only be recycled 4-6 times, each time with a loss of quality. Plastics also degrade each time it is recycled and can only be done 7-9 times. Silicone and textiles can be downcycled a finite number of times.

So why all the fuss to sort and recycle our household materials? Let’s take a look at which materials are recycled and which ones are downcycled.

Recycle is a Misnomer For Plastic

Plastic cannot be recycled indefinitely, each time it is broken down to make another product, the quality has degraded. Plastic might start off as a food container and then degrade into a carpet or fleece. This carpet can then be recycled into automotive parts or pellets. There are only 7-9 of these steps and then it will be landfill.

This process is known as downcycle not recycle. If plastics could actually be recycled, they would be able to be made into the same product over and over again indefinitely (like aluminum can). Our community curbside programs are for recycling and downcycling.

In some cases, plastic can be made into the same product again (at least once) but they aren’t because they are often contaminated by the food that they hold. The food can leach into the plastic (and vice versa) causing contamination.

Also, with some plastics, it is cheaper just to create a new plastic bottle rather than recycle the material from a previous one if contamination was not an issue.

According to CBS News, most water bottles are made of PET plastic which CAN be made into more bottles. However 7 out of 10 go to the landfill or get incinerated instead of being recycled. And the ones that do make it to the recycling facility end up downcycled into other lower grade products.

Paper Downcycling

Paper is another material that cannot be recycled indefinitely so it is actually downcycled. In the case of paper, the cost is much higher to create paper from virgin materials than to downcycle paper. Downcycling paper is a fairly easy process that has less pollution than the pulp industry which cuts down trees to make the pulp for paper.

Each time paper is recycled the long strands of virgin pulp get shortened which makes them less strong. Also, when the paper is washed to remove the ink, the strands are shortened. The brightness of the paper is diminished and it becomes more gray.

A piece of white writing paper might be made into another piece of white paper by combining some of the recycled material with virgin pulp. As the quality degrades it might be made into newsprint, facial tissues or milk cartons. Then those can be made into chipboard or paper towels.

A strand of virgin paper pulp can only be downcycled about 6 times.

Metals – Our Recycling Hero

Metals like steel and aluminum can be recycled indefinitely. Not downcycled but recycled. A closed loop.

These valuable materials are not easy to obtain from the earth. The mining of aluminum is an environmentally costly endeavor which in turn makes recycling a much better option.

There is a high price for recycling of empty beverage cans. One bale of aluminum cans will sell for $20,000 in Canada.

Many countries have implemented a law that enforces a deposit to be paid on beverage containers at the point of sale so that the consumers will return it to get their deposit back. Several countries have vending machines to collect beverage containers and give a refund. In Istanbul Turkey you can deposit an empty plastic bottle at the metro station to get you onto the train.

Glass Debate – Recycle or Make New

Glass CAN be recycled indefinitely. But it isn’t. The problem with glass is that it is heavy to transport, it is fragile and often contaminates the single stream recycling programs. The trade off between recycling this material (high contamination rates) and creating new glass is often debated.

Similar to metals, there are many great recycling programs that involve a deposit. When these beverage containers are returned they are not broken down to be recycled, they are actually cleaned and reused. This is a best case scenario.

For the glass that is not going to be recycled, it is crushed to decrease it’s volume at a landfill. When there is a market for it, crushed class is also used for some construction projects. When it is crushed small enough it is not sharp or dangerous.

Silicone

Silicone cannot be recycled indefinitely. Each time it is recycled it is degraded. It has the reputation to be more environmentally friendly than plastic because it is easily recycled – this is debatable.

Silicone is made out of natural compound rubber and silicon (the element). Silicone the product (not the element) is not biodegradable. Recycling is easy but you have to bring it to a silicone recycler. Silicone is not part of most municipal curbside pickup programs.

Silicone can be downcycled into an oil that can be used for different applications like sealants or lubricants.

Textiles

Textiles can be downcycled minimal times. Any clothing or shoes that are to worn out to be reused can be donated to a recycling program for textiles. Just like making donations to a resale/reuse company, make sure that the textiles donated for recycling are clean.

Textile recycling facilities often sort the fabric by type of material and colour. If enough material of the same colour can be recycled together the new fabric does not need to be dye’d which saves energy and pollants.

Some of the fabric can be shredded and will result in long fibres that can be spun into new yarn. Other fabrics with shorter fibres might be used in fillings or personal hygiene products.

Technology has been created to automate the sorting process. Textiles need to be manually sorted first to weed out the textiles that are not suitable for recovery and then fed through the new automatic sorting machines.

Textiles that are not able to be downcycled are either sent to a landfill or to an incinerator to make electricity.

The market for downcycled fabrics is growing as the textiles waste issues are publicized. Many large clothing companies (like Patagonia) are implementing partial downcycled materials into their new clothing lines.

Styrofoam Can Be Downcycled Once

Styrofoam can be downcycled once. Once it goes through a machine that squeezes it down to 1/50th of it’s original size, the product can be used for end of life items like a park bench or a picture frame.

Issues With Curbside Recycling Programs

There are many different types of curbside recycling programs aournd the world. The single stream recycling sounds ideal for the end user because they just put everything together in one box. This causes problems when glass breaks or other contaminants are added, it can ruin the entire load.

Other types of programs like recycle BC require the end users to separate products. Glass, plastics and metals, mixed paper and newspapers are the materials that get collected. What most end users don’t realize is that only product packaging can be recycled through this program. That is because it is the retailers that fund the curbside pickup program when they sell the items that have the packaging.

How Can I Consume Without the Packaging?

We know that the recycling movement is not perfect. In many cases it seems like we don’t have a choice but to purchase the products that will have packaging that needs to be recycled. And it is better than throwing it in the garbage.

Many people have started minimizing their packaging by following the zero waste movement. A zero waster only purchases products in their own containers which can be reused over and over again. This might not be feasible for everyone (allergies, location etc.) but making a switch will reflect in the industry that is producing the packaging in the first place. It is a step in the right direction.