Recycling and the Technical Nutrient Cycle

Municipal solid waste recycling has been highly successful in Washington. Despite not reaching the legislative goal of a 50 percent recycling rate by 1995 (now amended to 2007), the recycling rate for "traditional” materials has climbed from 15 percent in 1986 to 35 percent in 2002, with a few years in between at even higher rates. Equally important has been the growth of recycling for other materials (not tracked by the annual state recycling survey), including asphalt, concrete, and other construction, demolition and land-clearing materials. When these and other materials are added to the traditionally tracked recycled materials, the "alternate" recycling rate for 2002 became 45 percent.

Recycling is a key foundation of the five initiatives proposed as starting points for beginning the transition to Beyond Waste (discussed in earlier sections of this document). Much remains to be done to create a recycling system for the long-term that supports the Beyond Waste vision of viewing wastes as resources and reusing them as much as possible. Many successful programs are already in place, such as recycling of cardboard, aluminum, metals, and some plastics. New systems that can recover a wider range of materials efficiently for reuse with a minimum of downcycling will also need to be established.

Interwoven throughout the five Beyond Waste initiatives are recommendations for increased recycling through state government purchasing, infrastructure, local planning, incentives and price signals, education, technical assistance, performance measures, and other actions. These efforts are essential to maintain the current recycling system and to move toward a comprehensive recycling system.

The five initiatives also include recommendations for improving recycling through developing products and materials that are more recyclable. For example, the electronics product stewardship recommendation (MRW4) proposes actions to redesign electronic products to eliminate hazardous components, lengthen life span, and ease disassembly and recycling. Additional examples are the recommendations on replacing mercury in products (MRW2) and on redesigning building materials to use recycled feedstocks and to reduce toxics (GB4). Design efforts are vital to increase recycling, as they can shift the emphasis from end-of-pipe recycling of wastes to looking for opportunities to increase entire life-cycles of products. This includes designing products for disassembly and for recycling, and also designing products to reduce toxics and other contaminants. Products made with composite materials can be difficult to recycle, for example. Products containing toxic materials can pose risks in handling and processing for recycling. Additionally, many recovered materials are recycled today via "downcycling," such as paper recycled into tissues, and plastic soda bottles recycled into park benches. This means that materials are only used one additional time before being disposed.

In addition to a closed-loop organics recycling system, a similar system for recycling technical materials (for example, plastics, glass, and metal) is crucial to success of the Beyond Waste Plan. Ultimately, products can be designed to enter organic or technical nutrient cycles. A technical cycle is a system where materials can remain in a closed-loop of manufacture, reuse, and recovery, maintaining their value through many product life cycles. This goal stems from work completed by William McDonough and Michael Braungart, some of which is discussed in their book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things (McDonough and Braungart, 2002).

While we continue to support the recycling system and divert as much as possible, we must also plan ahead for what will be needed to support and to encourage even greater recycling in Washington. Many of the actions proposed for green building, industries, moderate-risk wastes, and organics aim to increase recycling of traditional or technical materials. Efforts in each of these areas have proven to be cost-effective.

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