Recycling blues

I thought that recycling was going to be one more step toward the idyllic goal of sustainability. But now we seem to be faltering on that step.

As far as I know, most of the paper, cardboard and beverage containers we throw in the recycle bin every week is being used to either make new paper, cardboard and beverage containers, or something else that is useful. The last I heard, there was an issue with coloured glass, something to do with its colour making it less valuable on the recycling market, but the clear stuff was also being re-purposed.

Plastic, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be faring well in the recycling process. I had been throwing out every type of plastic that had one of those recycle triangles on it. I have gotten notices from the City that I'm throwing out some plastics that aren't allowed. So I took a look at their guide.

Any plastic with the triangle symbol 1 to 7. But then you look at the fine print - only if it's a container. Coffee cup lids? Nope. Foam takeout containers? No. Coffee pods? Not according to their list. Plastic wrappings that rip? No. The only kind of bag allowed are stretchy grocery bags, which can't be thrown loose. They have to be bundled and tied up in another bag (it's about the sorting machine). No plastic cutlery. No yogurt or toothpaste tubes.

It really is a conundrum. On the one hand we're being asked to minimize what we're sending to the landfill, but at the same time there are a lot of things that can't be recycled. I have also read that our city is having a lot of trouble finding buyers for our recyclable waste. We don't seem to have any local entrepreneurial companies able to turn our leftover plastic into other items.

So what's the solution? I for one have been hoping that governments, in light of the fact that it's getting harder to dispose of many types of plastics, especially ones that have been in contact with food, would ban oil based plastics for food containers and switch us to biodegradable and/or compostable containers. At least then they could get put in the compost bin.

Unfortunately, although some vendors have already switched to food containers that biodegrade, out composting facilities didn't think it was important to be ready for the longer degrading time these containers need. Currently, the food containers they are getting are being diverted to the landfill even though they are biodegradable.

A company in Germany, Kaffeeform, is making reusable cups partly out of coffee grounds. They're biodegradable too.