United States | A study conducted on behalf of the US-based Container Recycling Institute (CRI) has highlighted a number of negative downstream impacts resulting from the mixing of materials in single-stream kerbside collection schemes.
‘Basically, the report confirms that you can’t unscramble an egg,’ explains CRI’s Executive Director Susan Collins. ‘Once the materials are mixed together in a single-stream recycling system, there will be cross-contamination of materials and significant glass breakage. Those cross-contamination and breakage issues then result in increased costs for the secondary processors.’
The research was conducted by Clarissa Morawski - Principal of CM Consulting, an expert in extended producer responsibility and author of numerous reports on beverage container recovery systems. In reviewing 60 previously-published studies, reports and articles in trade magazines, Ms Morawski discovered increased market sensitivity to quality issues as a result of the struggling economy. She says: ‘End markets are really starting to quantify their economic losses from poor quality of material, and from a qualitative perspective, they feel this problem is very serious indeed and could have an impact on any future investments of capital to increase capacity of secondary feedstock.’
Over the last decade, many US municipalities have shifted to single-stream recycling initiatives in which glass, metals, plastics and paper are collected in a single receptacle, making it easier for consumers and thereby boosting recovery rates while also reducing collection costs. The report attempts to quantify these costs but acknowledges the need for more comprehensive data.
Ms Collins adds: ‘Nor are costs calculated on an apples-to-apples basis because the tons that are handled through various recycling systems are not necessarily the same as the tons recycled. If you take the contaminants out of the equation, the cost per ton recycled increases. With such high contaminant levels, some of these recycling systems are merely shifting costs to the paper mills, aluminium manufacturers, glass beneficiation facilities and glass manufacturers, and plastics recyclers.’
The report is available to download from the CRI website at www.container-recycling.org
Acknowledgement
www.container-recycling.org
www.recyclinginternational.com
