How to recycle in a global economy

Waste management is an international issue, with the actions taken by one country bound to affect others. In order to effectively manage waste in a global economy, producers, consumers and other groups have a responsibility to not only recycle or re-use products, but also to make this process as efficient as possible. It’s all part of product stewardship - our responsibility to minimise the footprint of a product throughout its lifetime and beyond.

The Global Product Stewardship Council (GlobalPSC) is a non-profit organisation designed to do just that, providing an independent forum for product stewardship development for its international membership base comprising corporations, governments, organisations and individuals. The council hosted the forum ‘Recycling in a Global Economy’ in October, where a panel of speakers revealed their insights into this important issue.

The keynote speaker was Adam Minter, a scrap-dealer turned journalist turned author of the book Junkyard Planet. Minter’s talk focused on waste management in China, acknowledging that the Chinese generate a lot of waste - especially e-waste - but also revealing that the country has an intense recycling industry, particularly when it comes to obtaining copper. He said China has 43.1% of the world’s copper demand and, in 2011, 50% of the country’s copper came from scrap - much of which is sent there by other countries. One single facility in the Chinese town of Shijiao recycles copper from over 9,000,000 kg of US Christmas tree lights per year. This process has not always been easy - as Christmas tree lights are only about 25% copper - but the recyclers have invented a method by which they ‘pan’ for the copper in a water-based system, the pure copper simply running off at the end.

China doesn’t only recycle copper, and it doesn’t only recycle for itself. The country also receives plastic from companies like Dell, recycling it and then sending it back to the company so it can be integrated into computers sent all over the world. Justin O’Sullivan, executive director, sales operations, Dell Australia, said Dell has had recycling programs in place since 1999 and they have only increased over time as the industry has driven innovation. He also noted that the company’s approach to product stewardship begins way back at the design phase, stating that how you think about a product upfront affects how it can be recycled. These measures can be incredibly simple - for example, Dell uses fasteners instead of adhesives in its products so components can be better disassembled - yet also save the company a good deal of money.

Then there are the organisations which exist purely to recycle the products of others. Anna Minnes is the general manager of TerraCycle - a company which collects and recycles waste which was previously considered ‘unrecyclable’. Consumers can send their approved waste in to TerraCycle for free, and they will be rewarded with a small donation to the not-for-profit group of their choice. TerraCycle will take that waste and either re-use, recycle or upcycle it into new products. The company even practices what it preaches, with its offices full of furniture which was originally waste.

Meanwhile, UNSW’s Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT@UNSW) focuses on recycling e-waste to produce alloys, with the centre’s director, Scientia Professor Veena Sahajwalla, noting that pure elements don’t provide the benefits society needs. Sahajwalla is the inventor of green steel - a process by which elements are obtained from end-of-life products, eg, tyres, to power steel furnaces. She stated, “Coal is not the only element from which you can get carbon”, explaining that you can also break down products at the molecular level to obtain clean carbon and hydrogen. SMaRT@UNSW has recently made an agreement with GlobalPSC whereby the council will help target the centre’s research towards real-world applications, with direct impacts on recycling and product stewardship.

Any companies involved in recycling electronics can certify themselves with the R2 Standard through Sustainable Electronics Recycling International (SERI). As explained by the organisation’s executive director, John Lingelbach, the standard is concerned with environmental health and safety in the refurbishment of electronics. Although voluntary, Lingelbach says the standard influences the behaviour of recyclers aiming to be the best, which is especially useful given that there is not much in the way of regulation in the recycling industry. John Gertsakis, chief sustainability officer, Infoactiv Group, added that such enforcement is important to combat the safety issues involved with informal recycling, eg, when refrigerators are not properly de-gassed.

But while all these points provide direction to companies, they don’t necessarily help the consumers who buy the products in the first place. O’Sullivan stated that waste collection needs to be made convenient for consumers, claiming, “If it’s not easy, people won’t do it.” Incentivisation is also important, with Minter noting, “As China becomes more affluent, it recycles less”, simply because there is not the economic incentive to do so. He added that consumers should be better informed on how much of their product is recycled - perhaps seeing this information printed as a percentage on the packaging - so they know exactly what part they will be playing.

The elephant in the room, according to Gertsakis, is consumption. End users don’t necessarily need to consume less, but we do need to consume differently. Furthermore, it is important that any recycled or re-used products are targeted towards consumers’ needs, with Sahajwalla stating, “There’s no point solving an environmental problem if there isn’t a market for what you’re producing.” Ultimately, this is what lies at the heart of recycling in a global economy - using what you need and re-using what you can.