Photo Credit: iStockPhoto/somboon kaeoboonsong
A still from the movie Toy Story 3. Source: New York Post
Do you remember this scene from Toy Story 3?
Woody and the gang get trapped in a recycling facility, facing certain annihilation, with the conveyor belt steadily and firmly moving toward the incinerator. That’s a single-stream recycling facility you’re looking at — a place where plastic toys, newspapers, tin cans, tires, cardboard boxes, and glass bottles all meet their end.
The movie came out in 2010, less than a decade later when single-stream recycling became mainstream and gained momentum.
In today’s post, we cover everything about single-stream recycling. We’ll talk about its pros and cons, the materials it accepts, why it has become the #1 choice for most municipalities and businesses, and if it is the right choice for planet-focused environmentalism.
Let’s start.
Single-stream recycling, also called Commingled Recyclables, collects all your recyclable items — paper, tin, plastic, glass, etc. — into a single bin during disposal. A collection truck takes all these items into a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) where items are sorted and separated into different streams to be sold to manufacturers to make new products.
Single-stream recycling is popular for two reasons:
While single-stream recycling has only been around since the 1990s, it has quickly taken over other recycling systems as the most cost-efficient and popular waste management system.
Single-stream recycling keeps things simple.
You chuck all your recyclables into a single bin for the collection truck to come and haul them away.
Multi-stream recycling is more restrained. Sorting takes place at the source (“source separation”), whether at homes or businesses before it’s picked up by waste collection companies. Consumers take on the responsibility to separate their recyclable items and put them in designated separate bins.
Collection trucks for multi-stream recycling possess separate containers for each waste stream to prevent contamination, thus ensuring a higher quality of recyclable materials resulting in higher revenues.
Multi-stream recycling may be a touch more complicated than single-stream recycling but it minimizes contamination (and eliminates it in most cases), thus resulting in higher-grade recycled materials for manufacturers to use.
It uses a wide array of manual and automatic systems to sort through the jumbled-up waste, separating items by their types, and processing each stream individually.
A complex web of technologies, machinery, and equipment is used to process single-stream recycling. Some of these include:
In theory, these processes result in the most cost-effective and efficient waste management method. In reality, however, the processing cost of single-stream recycling outweighs the savings in collection costs. According to the Container Recycling Institute, a nonprofit research and advocacy group, “…single-stream costs about $3 more per ton than dual-stream.”
There are also other challenges to single-stream recycling where the demand for recycled materials is shrinking compared to the massive supply waste haulers are dealing with. Add to it rising contamination levels of single-stream recyclables and you’re dealing with a waste stream that is increasingly becoming unsustainable.
Depending on the scope of recycling items a waste management company accepts, and your local municipality, the specific list of accepted recyclables may vary from one recycler to the next. However, the following lists give you a starting point.
Wash and dry your plastic and glass bottles and containers before you send them for recycling. The clean lid of pizza boxes can be recycled, but the greasy bottom cannot. Do not throw any soiled or greasy items with the recyclables as it can contaminate the lot.
Make your single-stream recycling a success by keeping these contaminants away from your recycling bins.
Eliminating common contaminants from recyclables can help us support circular economy models. It ensures we only send the most high-quality materials back into circulation to be reused and repurposed as new goods.
Single-stream recycling seems like a simple solution to a complex problem. But does it work? Even though it has been adopted by eco-minded businesses and millions of households around the country, its naysayers are many and loud.
They cite several issues connected to single-stream recycling systems that negate the method’s effectiveness and may also worsen the original problem.
If you are wondering whether single-stream recycling is the right choice for your business or household, let the pros and cons table give you a fair picture of the matter.
Pros of Single-Stream Recycling |
Cons of Single-Stream Recycling |
| Makes it easy for consumers to participate in waste recycling programs | Contamination can increase in recycling facilities |
| Disposal and collection become efficient as a single truck can collect all recyclable items | MRFs can become expensive to run with several technologies, workers, and equipment to maintain |
| Recycling rates improve which helps businesses and cities meet their sustainability goals | Mixed streams can reduce the quality of individual items thus resulting in subpar recycled materials |
| Allows MRFs to recycle more materials with the same amount of resources | Fewer items may be recycled due to dirty recyclables or broken bottles, etc. |
| Collection costs for trash are reduced | Processing costs can rise due to the manual sorting of commingled materials |
| Low carbon impact on the planet as fewer workers, fewer trucks, and fewer trips for collection all result in environmental efficiency. | The convenience causes people to put non-recyclable items into the bin too hoping they will be recycled with the lot. The practice is known as ‘wish cycling’. |
Two solutions can help solve several issues related to single-stream recycling and both can be achieved through a single means: public education.
Through local community campaigns and awareness drives, recycling companies and climate activists can help educate the public about the dangers of contaminated recyclables.
Not only do these contaminations affect the amount of stuff that can be recycled, but they also affect the public confidence in recycling on the whole.
People can lose confidence in recycling as a solution when they see their stuff is ending up in landfills instead of being returned to the economy. Businesses also receive low-grade recycled materials that either can’t be used or produce subpar-quality products.
As you get ready for recycling day next time, think about cleaning up all the waste you’re going to throw into that blue bin, make sure you have put only the designated items in it, and help your local community reach its sustainability goals and make the earth a happier place in the process.
Kelly Sampson is a writer, blogger, and environmental enthusiast. She has strong opinions about climate change, the dogs vs. cats debate, and Oxford commas. She has lent Hummingbird International her engaging and spirited voice and turned our blog into a great place to find valuable information about e-waste, e-waste recycling, and the ITAD industry. Explore our blog to read more of her work.
