{"id":18877,"date":"2015-09-11T12:41:04","date_gmt":"2015-09-11T16:41:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=18877"},"modified":"2015-09-11T12:41:04","modified_gmt":"2015-09-11T16:41:04","slug":"the-waste-biz-a-comprehensive-look-at-recycling-industry-woes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-waste-biz-a-comprehensive-look-at-recycling-industry-woes\/","title":{"rendered":"The Waste Biz: A Comprehensive Look At Recycling Industry Woes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/recyclable-waste.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"438\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-18878\" src=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/recyclable-waste.jpg\" alt=\"what's up with the recycling industry?\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/recyclable-waste.jpg 640w, https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/recyclable-waste-300x205.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>So, what&#8217;s going on with the recycling industry? We&#8217;ve made <a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/2015\/06\/the-waste-biz-how-to-fix-the-recycling-business\/\">a number of mentions<\/a> of the challenges faced by recyclers these days, but really haven&#8217;t provided a solid overview. <em>Fortune<\/em> has, though: <a href=\"http:\/\/fortune.com\/2015\/09\/03\/waste-management-recycling-business\/\">Claire Groden&#8217;s article<\/a> from last Friday focuses specifically on Waste Management, but the challenges described certainly aren&#8217;t unique to that company. Among the problems recyclers face:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Low oil prices:<\/strong> While many of us are celebrating each time we fill up our tank, the <a href=\"http:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/2015\/05\/23\/what-are-clean-energy-energy-efficiency-doing-to-oil-prices\/\">low price of oil<\/a> is hurting plastics recycling. In short, it&#8217;s cheaper to make virgin plastic than to recycle.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Chinese economic doldrums:<\/strong> Yep, recycling, like other industries, operates on the global market, and the softening economy in China is part of the problem. The Chinese used to be a major customer for bales of recycled materials, but their weakening economy means they&#8217;re not buying nearly as much.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The increase of plastics:<\/strong> Plastic recycling isn&#8217;t as lucrative to begin with because it requires more sorting and the processing. Lighter weight plastics mean that more space is needed to store and ship the same weight.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Single stream:<\/strong>\u00a0The ability to toss all of our recyclables into one bin has increased overall rates of recycling&#8230; but it&#8217;s also led to more contamination of materials. Furthermore, \u00a0many of us toss items into our bins that may not be recyclable. Contamination slows down the recycling process, so money&#8217;s being spent to clean up the stream of materials rather than process it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The industry claims that it can&#8217;t do all the lifting on this: governments, businesses, and families need to do their part to keep the recycling industry healthy. I know frequent commenter Lawernce Kenemore claims that &#8220;Big Waste&#8221; relies mostly on government contracts for revenue in this space, so they&#8217;re only concerned about the viability of the system when it cuts into profits, but I&#8217;m interested in hearing other ideas for keeping the recycling industry running well. Share your thoughts with us.<\/p>\n<p>More news from the waste business:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Glass recycling returns to New Orleans:<\/strong> Ten years after Hurricane Katrina, residents of the French Quarter and the Central Business District will have <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nola.com\/politics\/index.ssf\/2015\/09\/glass_recycling_returns_to_fre.html\">glass pick-up service<\/a>. Provided by\u00a0Empire Janitorial Sales &amp; Services of Metairie, the service may also demonstrate the viability of keeping glass as a separate recycling stream. (via <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wastedive.com\/news\/recycling-returns-to-new-orleans-10-years-after-katrina\/405481\/\">Waste Dive<\/a><\/em>)<\/p>\n<p><strong>H&amp;M Celebrates Fashion Recycling Week:<\/strong> The fast fashion company has made solid strides in textile recycling; last week, it launched <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eventmagazine.co.uk\/pictures-h-m-celebrates-first-ever-fashion-recycling-week\/brands\/article\/1363078\">Fashion Recycling Week<\/a> in partnership with the London College of Fashion.<\/p>\n<p>Photo credit: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/pic-130844135\/stock-photo-recycling-garbage-and-reusable-waste-management-as-old-paper-glass-metal-and-plastic-household.html?src=q7WX2kHoFq8FFKYXvgI-Fw-1-31\">Shutterstock<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A detailed overview of the current challenges faced by the recycling industry, plus good news for green-minded New Orleans residents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":18878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[8040,273,8523,8524,8522,8518,6506,8525,1844,39,7795,2782],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What&#039;s Wrong With The Recycling Industry?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A detailed overview of the current challenges faced by the recycling industry, plus good news for green-minded New Orleans residents.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/the-waste-biz-a-comprehensive-look-at-recycling-industry-woes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" 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