A common rebuttal used when talking about plastic-free, low-waste, or zero-waste living is “but I recycle!”. While this is said, and done, with the best intentions, recycling is not and cannot be the answer.

In 2018, China stopped accepting a number of materials for recycling and increased the standard for products accepted. This crack down is commonly referred to as National Sword. Basically, China didn’t want the world’s trash anymore. This sent a shock-wave through the recycling industry and essentially stopped the recycling of plastics. In nearly every city except San Francisco, even if plastics are still accepted, it is most likely going to landfill. I know, bummer.

But let’s start at the beginning. What goes in which bin and where does recycling, compost, and trash go?

Commonly accepted recycling items are: paper, aluminum cans, aluminum foil, tin cans, glass jars, and glass beverage bottles. But each city is different, so check to see what is accepted in your city.

After the contents of your recycling bin are picked up, they are sent to a sorting facility called a Material Recovery Facility (MRF). If your city has a 3-bin system (recycling, compost, trash), oftentimes there is a separate truck for compost or a divider within the truck that separates the contents.

Recycling items are dumped in a large pile and then scooped onto the sorting line. The sorting line is a large conveyor belt where workers pull out and sort various recyclables into different bins. This is a highly manual process and a good reason why you never want to put sharp objects like broken glass in your recycling.

After the materials have been sorted, the items are bailed, and shipped to their prospective buyers. As with plastic, if there is no market for that recycled item, then it doesn’t get recycled and ends up in the landfill. Since virgin plastic is so cheap, thanks to fracking, there is no market for recycled plastic material.

So, while your city might still accept certain plastics in their recycling program, the reality is that the plastic you put in the recycling bin is most likely ending up in the landfill.

Another reason plastic is not preferable is that they cannot be fully recycled. Plastic is “down cycled” meaning a plastic milk jug cannot become a plastic milk jug again. When it is melted down it loses some of its properties and strength and it has to be formed into something “cheaper”. Oftentimes, a milk jug ends up as a cheap plastic toy or fake grass. On the other hand, glass can be continually recycled without losing its quality–i.e. a glass bottle can become another glass bottle.

But this doesn’t mean we should be endlessly consuming glass and think that recycling lets us off the hook. As I recently learned from Kathryn of Going Zero Waste, glass put in the recycling bin is sometimes used to cover for landfills and because of their manufacturing process, windows and Pyrex cannot be recycled. So, even when you put recyclable items (or items you think should be recyclable like Pyrex) into the recycling bin, they still can end up in the landfill.

If you’re lucky enough to live in an area with a curbside composting program, kudos to your city! Items you can put in your compost bin include: food, paper towels, paper egg cartons, paper plates (without a lining…if it looks shiny don’t compost it), any vegetable or plant scraps, and wooden stir sticks. If you can, line your compost bin with newspaper instead of green compost liner bags. These bags can gum up machines at the compost facility and in the end, you don’t want plastic in the compost used to grow your food.

After your organics leave the curb, the contents go to a composting facility where workers sort out plastic and other non-compostable items. Many facilities will also sort out “compostable plastics” because they do not break down fast enough and can damage their machines.

Note: If you have the purchasing power at your restaurant or office, please DO NOT provide compostable plastic utensils. They can still end up in the ocean and cause the same problems because compostable plastics do not degrade in the ocean.

Back to the compost facility, after sorting, the organics are shredded which facilitates the breakdown process. The shredded materials are laid out in piles which get turned over every few days to increase aeration. The key to breakdown of organics is circulation of air and heat.

After around 45 days the organic contents have fully decomposed and the compost is ready to be sold to farms where it can return nutrients to the soil and plants being grown.

Oftentimes items that you put in the recycling or compost bin end up in the landfill. This happens for a few reasons. 1) the item is not recyclable 2) the item does not breakdown fast enough 3) there is no market for the recycled item.

Given the amount of plastic being used and the lack of a market for recycled plastic material, recycling cannot be the answer. The best option is to reduce the consumption of plastics by finding better alternatives. This involves refusing single-use plastics, reducing multi-use plastics, reusing and repairing durable plastics we already have and then lastly sending them to landfill.

What about compostable or biodegradable plastics?

As previously mentioned, the alternative to plastics shouldn’t be “compostable” or “biodegradable” plastic. These are what I like to call green washing products. If you think about it, “eco-friendly plastic” is an oxymoron…it just doesn’t make sense. They’re made to make people feel better about using products but oftentimes they do the same damage and they cost more. Compostable plastics are nearly always picked out of compost piles and throw in the trash. Also, biodegradable does not always mean compostable. I know, it’s confusing but the best option is if it looks and feels like plastic, just avoid it.

Are there plastic items you put in the recycling or compost bin that you now think are ending up in the landfill? Do you think you can find non-plastic alternatives for them? If you need help, tell me in the comments!

Looking for tips to get your started with plastic-free living? Start here.