Part of a household economy is managing how things get out of the home. This is particularly true for the tangible things we buy – food, clothes, toys, books, etc. Where will it all go?
A home economy begins with buying and how to make purchases that are fiscally, ethically, and theologically responsible. Money goes out and goods come in.
The second part of household economy is what to do with the stuff that comes in. Where is it stored? How is it used? Who cleans and maintains the things we keep?
It’s the last part — how does the stuff go out — that I finally began researching. This seemed like an easy place to make some changes that would help me manage money and things in a more God-honoring way. Turns out it’s both easier and more complicated than I thought. I focused primarily on recycling those things we buy and throw out regularly. At multiple times doing this research, I have been frustrated and confused. Why is it so hard to figure out what can and cannot be recycled? Why is it so much work to waste less?
Here was my starting place:
Because earth was created by God, belongs to God, and reflects God’s glory, it’s important to reduce the amount of and harm caused by the things we dispose. Being a good steward of resources means intentional, thoughtful disposal of things that are no longer needed or useful. So…
- What can be recycled in our curbside bin? What, if any, preparation is needed for items going in the bin?
- Paper goods: why can’t I recycle coffee/tea paper cups but I can recycle soup and juice boxes? Why can’t greasy pizza boxes be recycled? Can I recycle glittery greeting cards? What about stickers because, oh God, the stickers.
- Is recycling tin cans still a thing?
- What about the clothes we need to get rid of but can’t donate? I’m looking at you hole-y socks and old underwear.
- What’s the latest on recycling plastic?
- What should I do with our food waste?
Thankfully, my city updated their recycling info and graphics!
I printed it, laminated it, and taped it to our recycle bin. Step 1 in being a better recycler complete. Yes, cardboard needs to be broken down before going in the bin. Yes, tin cans are recyclable. Yes, you can recycle juice and soup boxes, but not coffee and tea paper cups. No, you can’t recycle plastic bags in the curbside bin. However, it didn’t quite answer all my questions.
The city website linked to earth911.com. This site answered a lot of why questions. It has everything broken into categories and sub-categories.
Why can I recycle cardboard but not pizza boxes? Food contamination. Food contaminates the recycling process for paper products because it involves adding water and making a slurry. Since the oils don’t mix with water, the resulting film ruins the slurry. Good to know. Also, be sure to remove the lid from tin cans, insert it in the can, rinse it, and pinch the top closed so birds or cats won’t get stuck trying to get scraps out of it.
I kinda love this site. The info is easy to access but not all of it is applicable. It says to flatten cardboard boxes and not worry about removing packing tape. Cardboard is recycled by being separated from other paper products, baled, and sent to a mill where water and chemicals break down the fibers and remove the ink and tape. However, it says to remove packing peanuts and plastics, but my curbside program collects plastics too (though not packing peanuts) so maybe I don’t have to remove them? I’ll have to ask. Glass bottles and jars are perfect for recycling; they are the quickest recycled-packaging process. Labels or any non-liquids, like a lime wedge, don’t need to be removed but, don’t break the glass since there is “no market for recycling broken glass.” But, according to this terrible company video about recycling, glass is broken into tiny pieces called cullet as part of the recycling process. I discovered elsewhere the concern over broken glass is that it contaminates the other recycling streams – like metals, plastics, paper.
I learned there are programs available for recycling old clothes that aren’t suitable for donation. Clothes in great/good condition can be resold at consignment or donated. We like to donate either to our MOPS (Moms of Preschoolers) group or our local Buy Nothing Group (talked more about that here). Otherwise clothes can be recycled through USagain bins and there’s one of those less than a mile from home.
Cartons, like the ones that hold juice and soup, are now recyclable in 48% of households even though they have layers of plastic and/or aluminum inside to prevent the liquids from soaking the paper of the carton. So, why not coffee paper cups? I asked my local waste management company. Turns out the answer is an economic issue: there’s no market for recycling one-time use coffee/tea/soda cups.
Overall, plastic is ridiculous. There are more than 7 types of plastic. Some are recyclable, some are not. This website explains the types of plastic and why it’s a complicated matter. https://learn.eartheasy.com/articles/plastics-by-the-numbers/ Using earth911’s recycling locator, it appears we can recycle quite a bit of our plastics curbside (even toys). However, plastic bags have to be taken to a nearby grocery store as do bread bags and dry-cleaning bags, and the plastic around paper towels and newspapers. It’s only a little extra work to periodically take the bag of bags collecting under our sink to the store. Right now we reuse those bags to collect our food waste and throw it in the trash, but now I’m wondering if there’s a better way. Because, honestly, there’s no way to read all this stuff and not come across ideas like Zero Waste and Composting. I’ll jump down that rabbit hole soon.
Not surprisingly, when it comes to recycling a couple things remain true.
1) The best thing to do for the environment is consume less. When purchasing/consuming, 2) it’s always better to reuse. Buy secondhand. Buy products using recycled materials.
Single-use products are by far the least likely to be recyclable and most likely to go to landfills and stay there forever. It’s gotten easier to remember to bring bags when shopping and reusable bottles for water or coffee. Would it be weird to bring reusable to-go containers when we eat out? I feel like that would be weird. But, see, I hate styrofoam. 3) Recycling curbside in our area is thankfully fairly easy and covers most items. Sadly, this is not true for many towns. The few things that we regularly need to recycle, but can’t do curbside, are plastic bags and clothes, and it’s really not that much more work to make a quick trip to the USagain bin and Vons.
Recycling seems like the obvious right thing to do, but there are downsides. Concerns about the safety and health for those working at the recycling centers when dealing with the waste and the chemicals needed to treat it as well as what happens to the waste by-products created in the recycling process. Recycling centers are industrial plants and impact the air quality and soil composition at its location. Also, when it comes to recycling plastic, much of it is actually “downcycled.” This means that a plastic bottle can’t be recycled to be a new plastic bottle, but becomes clothing fibers or park benches – things that can’t be recycled again. A bigger issue mentioned here is that household recycling is merely a tiny drop compared to the bucket of waste created in the industrial production of items.
The real reasons why recycling is difficult and not the final solution are the financial and political costs. Many cities can’t afford to offer curbside recycling or only offer very limited options, like aluminum cans and glass. Recycling companies need a buyer for the recycled products before they’re willing to front the costs. And there’s the politics. As the piece from Scientific American above mentioned, plastic companies simultaneously encourage plastic recycling to push the issue onto the consumer, but then lobby aggressively to prevent incentivizing consumers to use less plastic. So while those cities with plastic bag bans or fees for using them have seen dramatic reductions in their plastic waste, in response, some states, in the name of personal freedom, are banning cities from making those kinds of laws. The site Waste Dive stays on top of all the changes in the politics of recycling and production. For an emotional roller coaster, read here. Thus, in addition to doing my part in our home, it sounds like supporting legislation that incentivizes companies and cities and citizens to be less wasteful and recycle will have a bigger impact.
Happily, now I understand how I can do my small part in our home. I don’t care that it’s small and probably won’t change the world. It’s the right thing to do. Now, though, I’m curious about going further with the ideas of zero-waste and composting. Just how crunchy am I going to become?