Written by Mitch Hedlund, an Ashoka Fellow and the founder of Recycle Across America.
Statistics tell us that people want to do “the right thing” environmentally, but let’s be honest…doing the right thing is often confusing or too much work.
Take recycling for instance. I’m waiting in an airport to catch my flight, and a familiar feeling of frustration comes over me as I approach the airport’s recycling bin to toss in my newspaper and iced tea bottle.
Can I throw both the newspaper and the bottle in this bin? I look inside hoping the contents will be my guide, but that just makes me more confused. I see an aluminum can, a half-eaten slice of pizza, and a dirty diaper resting neatly on a newspaper soiled in coffee. The adjacent trash can is filled with a similar mixture. Frustrated and unable to decide what to do, I wonder—how viable can the recycling industry be when inconsistent and ineffective labeling cause continuous confusion…or worse, apathy?
A Society-Wide Problem
For the most part, society is on board with the notion of recycling. In fact, many think of recycling as the most mainstream green action and assume it’s well underway. But despite the publicity about the “greening of America” in the past decade, recycling levels have barely improved in 15 years. According to the most recent national recycling data (EPA 2011), less than 35 percent of households and less than 10 percent of businesses recycle in the U.S. Often what is captured is so highly contaminated with non-recyclables that it ends up going to the landfill anyway.
That day at the airport I realized that America’s poor recycling rates are a direct result of the public’s actions at the bin. With millions of inconsistent and ineffective labels on public area recycling bins, waste and recyclables are erroneously disposed of every day, hindering the efficacy of recycling and next-life manufacturing.
Think small, execute big
To demystify the recycling process, I launched Recycle Across America in 2010. The solution was simple—a society-wide
standardized labeling system for recycling bins. It has been adopted rapidly and virally, and is starting to be used by some of the most notable organizations in the U.S.: NBC Universal, AOL, Walt Disney Company, Caterpillar, Hallmark, SanDisk, Johnson Controls, Procter & Gamble, Johns Hopkins University. Small businesses, counties, cities, schools and households are also jumping on board.
Hundreds in savings
Studies show that when school districts implemented consistent labeling on recycling bins throughout their buildings, the districts’ recycling capture levels increased more than 47 percent. The amount of recycling contamination also decreased significantly. As a result, the school districts saved considerable amounts of money in taxes related to landfill waste. Note: in many communities, recycling services and recycling dumpsters are non-taxable, whereas landfill hauling and landfill dumpsters can sometimes have a tax rate exceeding 75 percent.
Simplicity is the key to unlocking innovation
Although government and industry are often considered to be at the helm, the ship rarely moves until the engine of society is engaged and empowered to take action. Simple solutions can remove the confusion that stifles progress in society.
If recycling rates in the U.S. reach 75% it will be the equivalent of removing 50 million cars from the roads each year in the U.S. and it will generate 1.5 million new jobs (Tellus 2011). I can't think of another proposition immediately within society's reach that can have that kind of environmental and economic impact.
Simple society-wide solutions have the ability to expedite global progress.
