The Recycling Partnership has just entered its second decade of building a better recycling system. While the system is not perfect, we have seen tremendous change and progress that demonstrates we are well on our way to creating the recycling system we all deserve and know is possible.
Earlier this week, CBS News released a report that failed to tell the complete story of change in action. Instead, they shared a sensationalized “investigation” about recycling, which only serves to further erode trust in a system we know is working and will continue to be strengthened.
Let this be a wakeup call to us all that we must tell our own story of progress, impact and the gaps that remain to be addressed. Unlike the portrayal in the CBS News story, it is not the responsibility of one company, one city, one materials recovery facility (MRF), one end market, or one policymaker to tackle this challenge on their own. There are also a multitude of reasons why items don’t make it to the recycling center, none of which were examined by CBS News to determine the root cause of the cups not making it to the recycling center.
We are all aware of and collectively working to address gaps that remain to create an effective recycling system across each of these five requirements:
- Design packaging for recyclability
- Ensure individuals have access to recycling
- Fully engage individuals in recycling
- Ensure material can be effectively sorted and processed
- Develop sustainable end markets for material that is generated domestically
Today, the recycling industry is woefully underfunded. Our estimate is that $17 billion in initial capital investment and $17 billion each year thereafter for ongoing maintenance and improvements is needed to ensure an effective recycling system. Thankfully, this gap is being closed through extended producer responsibility (EPR) policy in states such as Oregon, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, and California.
These EPR policies mandate producers across all substrates – including glass, aluminum, plastics, paper, and steel – pay for changes that are needed to ensure materials sold in the state can be and are being recycled. When this funding becomes available, these states and those that follow, will be leaders in addressing gaps that span the entire system.
The funding from these policies won’t come quickly enough though, which is why we have called for additional support to bridge the funding gap needed to sustain progress nationwide, including advancements in polypropylene recycling—the focus of the CBS News story.
While recyclable, polypropylene has historically struggled with inadequate dedicated sortation infrastructure, domestic market development and low market demand for the recycled content available. It is for this reason that The Recycling Partnership’s Polypropylene Recycling Coalition (Coalition) was established. Through the Coalition’s funding, The Partnership has invested more than $22 million since 2020 through 66 grants to communities, materials recovery facilities, and end markets. These efforts have expanded or improved access to polypropylene recycling for 48 million people across more than half of U.S. states, by enhancing collection, sortation, and processing capabilities.
If you watched the CBS News story you might be left with the feeling that no polypropylene packaging, including cups, is being recycled, but that simply is not true. While there is no denying that more progress is needed in recycling, the CBS News story unfortunately failed to include interviews with any of the processors and end markets we provided to the journalist. These interviews would have shown that polypropylene recycling is not only happening but also making measurable progress, with continued improvements on the horizon. Had CBS News examined the root causes of why the cups did not make it to a recycling center, they may have had a stronger and more meaningful call to action.
Together, let’s lift our stories of success, continue to insist on the change that we seek, and tell a fuller, more thoughtful, and accurate story of what the recycling system can do, is doing, and must be able to do.
Thank you for being part of our journey. Together, we’ve got this!