Complete the Circle - Recycle and Buy Recycled Products

With the growing popularity of curbside recycling programs in many urban and suburban areas, many people choose to recycle at least some of their recycleable waste. If you are not familiar with recycling at all or don't know the proper procedure for sorting your recyclables, check out this site. If you are already recycling, do you buy recycled too? Buying recycled is more important that many people realize because many people don't give much thought to what happens to the waste after it goes out for collection. You know, of course, that the truck comes by and picks it up just as with the weekly trash collection. You also probably know that it goes to a recycling center to be pushed through machines, chopped, sorted, processed and prepared for sale to companies looking for recycled fiber, metal, plastic and glass. But the most important step, the one that turns the recycled waste into usable new products is so far removed from the consumer it really has little apparent impact on their lives.

As with any other product, the waste you recycle is sold to consumers with motivation to purchase the product. Basic supply and demand dictates that the more of us that recycle, the lower the price of the processed product made of that recycled material, so every person that sets out a tub of bottles and cans or a box of paper is actually helping to make recycled products more accessible to everyone, but the other side of economics is there needs to be someone wanting to purchase that product in order to complete the cycle and keep the recycling centers in business. Unless we opened up a plant, most people would have no interest in the product produced directly from the recycling center. The bits of glass, plastic, metal and paper are useless until they are taken by yet another company and put through yet another process to become again something useful which in all hopes will be recycled again and so on. The other company in question may wish to manufacture toilet paper, paper towels, stationary, bottles or the many other products that went into the recycling bin in the first place. In reality, they are in a way collecting a product you have used up, taking the used product, freshening it up and then, the very important but often neglected part, selling it back to you.

While at first this may frustrate some people, after all, most states have done away with the can and bottle deposit, though when you could get paid to recycle, you also had to cart your own recycling to the recycling center, when you really think about it what difference does it make that you may be buying back something you gave away in a different form. You would buy it again if you tossed it in the landfill anyway. The only real difference between buying post-recycled products and buying virgin products is whether or not your recycling that you set outside each week will go to good use. Obviously it is more financially sound for the consumer to reuse as many products as possible, and that is how the overflow plastic bags from the store become my lunch pails and I ended up with cloth tissues, feminine products and towels and use glass or ceramic plates, but there are some things that just can't be reused, like toilet paper, paper towels and used paper. It is important to look for a high percentage of post-consumer recycled product (what we put out in our bins or take to a recycling center) because the other, often unlisted type of recycled product is pre-consumer, meaning it is industry waste reused by the same company. For example, this may be a product that was damaged or the end or corner of a roll that was cut off. While it is important for manufacturers to waste as little as possible, pre-consumer recycling is not anymore used than a remnant of fabric purchased at a fabric store. If a percentage of post-consumer recycled material is not listed on the package or advertising, it is probably that the company is using little if any post-consumer product. If there is no percent at all the company could be using as little as 1% recycled product, likely all pre-consumer scraps from the factory.

The primary motivator for a company to purchase recycled material is to sell more of their product to consumers. This is why you often see adverts or product labeling indicating "X% Recycled Y, Z% post-consumer" - it tells the consumer that the company is environmentally friendly and attracts environmentally conscious consumers. Virgin products are in general easier and less costly to manufacture (though with changes in the market and recycling methods, this is not always true) and sometimes even cut the supplier out entirely depending on the size of the company and their other holdings. I'm not saying there isn't a single company out there that is environmentally conscious in their own right, but even they need to make a profit or they will go out of business. Ultimately, this would force the recycling centers out of business since there is no demand for their product, and we would be right back where we started, dumping 100% of our inorganic garbage in a landfill. This is why the actions of the individual residential consumer are of critical importance. If you recycle, but buy virgin products, it leaves the circle incomplete and risks the purpose and future of recycling.

Even if you are already convinced that you should buy recycled, how can you do it without breaking the bank? Recycled products are certainly a little more expensive and can be a little more work to find, but again I would suggest buying in bulk and looking for sales and savings deals. Of all the recyclable materials, paper products are the easiest to find as a consumer and are replacements for products you use regularly around the home. I always preferred Scott toilet paper, so I switched to Seventh Generation 1000 sheet rolls. I also buy their paper towels by the case here (I generally use washable rags, but their are certain messes - think dog related - where you just can't do that). You can also get a case combo for 48 rolls of toilet paper and 30 rolls of paper towels here if you finish your cases at about the same time, but since I use very few paper towels, that doesn't work well for me. Buying by the case makes the expense managable since I only have to buy once or twice a year depending on the product, and I can plan it for a time when I'll have the extra money and again it's one less thing to worry about. Any kind of stationary comes in a recycled format, and with modern processes you often can't even tell the difference between recycled and virgin in look or texture (unless you want to) and many cleaning products. Recycled plastic can be made into plastic lumber (as for patio furniture or fences), clothing fibers for clothing, plastic toys, bottles, and much more. Your recycled glass often ends up as part of a roadway, however many home improvement projects may now contain recycled glass (such as tile or countertops). Cans are generally made into cans again which end up back on the store shelves, though some is used in construction as well. Some recycled glass and metal becomes part of home decoration like recycled sculpture, fixtures like towel racks and toilet paper holders, bird feeders and more. If you do not have a lot of disposable income to spend on home improvement or expensive decoration, it is unlikely that you will be in the market for products made out recycled glass, but if your area does not use it for road construction it would be a good thing to write your local officials about.

Recycling items like batteries, waste oil and electronics is arguably the most important recycling of all. Though these items are not generally collected curbside, many of them are illegal to dump because they are toxic and dangerous to humans and all other life. If you work on your own car, ask your parts store or local Jiffy Lube, Valvoline Instant Oil Change, Pep Boys or other automotive facility if they will accept your waste. You will be surprised at how many will. Then when you take your car for the end of job test drive, test drive it over to a legal recycling point for your waste. As for electronics like cell phones, computers, printers, printer cartridges, and the like, check online for local charities or ask a local repair shop if they would like your item. If it is still in working condition, sell it or give it away. You could even get a tax writeoff if you itemize deductions (I don't so it doesn't help me a whole lot).

I should note in conclusion, that while you can get items like paper plates, plastic trash bags, disposable silverware, etc in recycled, it is better to use compostable, sustainable products like sugarcane and corn place settings and bidegradable, compostable plastic trash bags. Recycling consumes a lot of energy from the trucks that pick the material up to the recycling plant itself to the shipment of the processed material. By using biodegradable, sustainable products, the use of environment damaging products can be avoided altogether and the recycled material can be redirected to those items that cannot be manufactured in a lower impact way. Synthetic fibers can be bad in a number of ways. While it is great to shop recycled for products like shoes that need the added durability of plastic and don't spend a lot of time against your skin, you should strongly consider skipping the synthetic clothing in general and instead using renewable resources like organic cotton that are better for your skin, health and the environment. Buying a reusable water bottle and purchasing larger containers of drinks or making your own from fresh ingredients (like squeezed lemonade or orange juice) is a great way to avoid some waste aluminum and plastic and is better for you anyway. Bulk buy products often (but not always) come with less packaging, again preventing waste.