Recycling: A Solution, Not an End Goal

“By recycling, you are helping to protect the environment” — that was the message of a recent recycling campaign. Yet, in the face of ever-increasing amounts of waste, recycling alone is not enough.

Recycling: originally a way to give waste a second life

Recycling, in its most basic form, dates back to the 16th century, when ragpickers travelled through city streets collecting materials that could be reused. Old rags discarded by households were, for example, turned into paper.

In the 19th century, ragpickers became key players in the Industrial Revolution. Industrialisation led to ever-growing demand for raw materials, and shortages began to emerge. One way of addressing this problem was to reuse materials that had already served a purpose: this marked the emergence of the concept of circularity.

Up until the 1950s, plastic packaging was often reused because the plastic itself was relatively durable. However, during the 1960s, the rise of mass consumption encouraged manufacturers to reduce packaging production costs, inevitably lowering the quality of the plastics used. Plastic waste then began to accumulate in landfills and incinerators across Western countries. This marked the end of widespread reuse and the beginning of the vicious cycle we still face today.

Packaging and single-use products are now part of our everyday lives: vending machines, coffee machines and fast-food restaurants are perfect examples. Yet these consumption habits are actually quite recent. The small plastic bottle we are all familiar with today only became widespread in the 1990s. Coca-Cola, for example, only replaced its glass bottle with a plastic version around that time.

This change in consumption patterns made recycling increasingly complex, and sometimes even impossible. There is simply too much waste and too much plastic to process effectively on such a scale.

Recycling in the face of overconsumption

Recycling is less a problem of waste sorting than a problem of consumption. The many campaigns promoting selective waste sorting encourage better waste management, but they do not address the issue at its source.

Although French people appear to have widely adopted recycling habits, plastic waste remains a major problem.

According to a BVA survey conducted in March 2019, 93% of French people regularly recycle cardboard and paper, while 91% recycle plastic, with similar figures for glass. Nevertheless, of the 1.1 million tonnes of plastic produced every year, only 29% is actually recycled.

French people and recycling / Source: BVA

Recycling has also become a convenient justification for manufacturers to continue producing more. Consumers who believe packaging will be recycled may continue consuming without considering the fact that reality is often much more complicated.

Recycling has become a marketing argument, and consumers, reassured by recycling logos and recyclable packaging claims, may continue consuming at the same rate. Studies have shown that the positive feeling consumers experience when they know their waste will be sorted can offset the negative perception associated with generating waste in the first place.

The environmental impact of recycling itself must also be taken into account. Recycling requires energy and, in many cases, additional raw materials.

There are generally two ways to look at recycling: either the waste material is difficult to recycle efficiently, in which case additional raw materials must be added, or a higher-quality recycling process is used, which often requires significantly more energy.

A solution that may not solve the real problem?

Promoting recycling alone does not necessarily encourage us to ask the right questions. Today, we often ask how we should manage our waste, when the real question should be how we can reduce it.

“The best waste is the waste we do not produce” is a slogan frequently used by environmental organisations, and it highlights the real issue at stake.

It is also important to remember that, in many cases, recycling only delays the moment when a material becomes waste. Very few materials can be recycled indefinitely, and unfortunately, plastic is not one of them. Each recycling cycle can reduce the quality of the material, which will eventually have to be discarded or incinerated.

We do not want to dismiss recycling, which remains one of the most effective solutions currently available for reducing the environmental impact of waste. However, focusing exclusively on recycling can also limit innovation in alternative solutions.

Allocating significant resources to recycling can mean fewer resources are available for organisations trying to approach the problem differently and develop new alternatives.

Many alternatives already exist, but they still receive relatively limited support from public authorities. Yet French consumers appear highly receptive to these solutions. According to an IFOP survey, 88% of French people support deposit-return systems allowing bottles and packaging to be reused. The same proportion supports the introduction of company quotas for the reuse of bottles and packaging.

When it comes to an outright ban on single-use plastic products and packaging, 85% of French people say they are in favour.

Waste management has always been a challenge for humanity, but it has become even more significant today because excessive consumption generates enormous quantities of waste.

Recycling is a way of reducing the environmental impact of waste, but it should not be considered an end goal in itself. To truly address the waste problem, we need to tackle it at the source by reducing our consumption.

Single-use products, which are a relatively recent phenomenon when placed in historical perspective, need to be reconsidered. They are not essential, as societies lived without them for a very long time.

Reuse should therefore take priority.

That is why, at Auum, we aim to make reuse easier by making cleaning more accessible and simpler.

Find out more about our cleaning solution on our website.