Reduce, Reuse, RECONSIDER: It's Time to Throw Out Old Habits

     PART TWO: What’s Efficient & What’s Not

        People who do not commonly recycle most likely still recycle paper. It’s the gleaming green alternative to the unappealing gray cylinder in almost every classroom of Royal Oak High School. But the reasoning behind these accepted impulses may be misconstrued, as is the command, “SAVE TREES” when it’s partnered with “RECYCLE,” as shown in the image to the left. Recycling does not save trees, a fact that is opposite of popular belief. It just doesn’t. Recycling saves landfill space, and is broken down through a pulping and de-inking process (The Paper Recycling Process) but these capabilities of reuse are not indefinite. Not only do some paper products require new, or “virgin,” paper, but the fibers that are reusable eventually lose their strength, quality, and are not always available (unless you’re open to recycling your used toilet paper!)(Recycling Facts)(De-Inking).

Although recycling paper reduces waste, new trees will always need to be harvested for an abundance of uses, and they are grown to be! Managed timberlands, or tree farms, are harvested and maintained for the production of paper and other wood products. These managed forests ensure that more trees are planted each year than are cut down, and create a strong industry for our country. While they do not interfere with government-protected wilderness parks, they are responsible for the existence of many forests throughout our nation. The trees in these woods have a lifetime of 10-20 years in which they can create oxygen for our ever-growing country and provide habitats in a controlled ecosystem, which are not strongly disrupted from cutting down trees, as about 5 trees on average replace every tree cut down(All About Paper). Paper use is not only necessary but encouraged by sustainable tree farm industries all over the place, such as Greenwood Resources (Sustainable Tree Farming).

As the whole discussion over the relation between recycling paper and saving trees is dissolved, we are now to ask, what then happens when we recycle paper? Besides the obvious waste determents, what is gained from this process? Is the recycling of paper, or any other product (aluminum, plastic, glass), truly efficient in its environmentally friendly aims? Let’s see.

MATERIAL	NEWSPRINT
PRODUCTS	Newspaper
RECYCLING RATE	12,360,000 tons Discarded/year 25% is recycled
ENERGY SAVED BY RECYCLING	45%
CARBON EMISSIONS PREVENTED	2.5 tons CO2/ton newsprint
PRICE PER TON	$90-$140

Recycling statistics about Paper (Hutchinson, Alex)

 According to the graph above, recycling paper only takes a little more than half the energy required to make new paper from scratch, and although this study from 2008 claims only a fourth of our consumed paper is recycled, the number has risen to 66.8% by 2012 (Sukalich, Kathryn). Paper can also be recycled up to seven times, and a grading system at recycling centers determines the level that each piece of paper is at (Sukalich, Kathryn). While seven isn’t as great as infinity, it’s better than paper not being able to be recycled at all. Hopefully more efficient techniques in the pulping and de-inking process will become as the recycling rate for paper continues to increase each year.

As discussed in “Part One” of my research series, aluminum recycling is the most efficient and productive of any recyclable material, with having 96% energy saved in each recycled can rather than recreated from bauxite ore (Hutchinson, Alex). This correlates for the deposit for aluminum cans across the country to ensure that both the consumer and reproducer benefit from bringing cans back to the store after using them.

However, the energy savings from glass bottles and jars aren't quite as high. Although glass can be indefinitely recycled, only 21% of energy is saved through recycling glass, and there is a plentitude of the raw materials (sand) needed for the creation of the virgin product available(Hutchinson, Alex)(Kazmeyer, Milton). Most resources recommend the simple reuse process that can take place right at home; Use old pop bottles for plant vases, collect coins in an old jelly jar, store keepsakes in an old glass container!

Lastly, there’s plastic. Focusing mainly on the plastic bottles available from our local grocery store, the recycling of these products saves about 80-90% of the energy it would take to create from raw materials (Hutchinson, Alex)(Recycling the Hard Stuff). These numbers may vary based off the locations of recycling factories in relation to the cities bringing their recyclables out to the curb. “’Plastics News,’ a trade magazine, lists the recent price of PET virgin bottle resin pellets between 83 and 85 cents a pound, compared to only 58 to 66 cents a pound for PET recycled pellets (Intagliata, Christopher),” proving the less amount of energy used for the latter, as the price is determined by the amount of consumed energy. While these plastic bottle producers can save billions of dollars through simply using less plastic in their creation of the bottles, these plastic bottles were a somewhat easily recycled object, avoiding the larger, more complex plastic commodities. However, new separation technologies and “flotation” techniques are making a much broader stream of plastics recyclable(Recycling the Hard Stuff). The only thing needed to create a monetary benefit from these new procedures is a mass input. Studies on these modernized procedures by the Environmental Protection Agency estimate prohibitive initial capital costs, but with a payback period of one to three years. The success of these innovations could make room for many more advances in the field of recycling to come!

Oh the times are a’changin’, and hopefully not too slowly! The recycling process for our nation seems to be okay for the general category of materials, but that doesn’t mean to say that we don’t have a long way to go. We always will. In seeing how “up to par” the United States truly is in terms of recycling efficiency, coming soon will be the comparisons of our reusing strategies versus those of other nations around the world, such as Japan and Germany! Stay tuned to see if these percentages are deserving of all the praise we credit to them.

WORKS CITED

"All About Paper- Earth Answers." Www.tappi.org. TAPPI, 2001. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.http://www.tappi.org/paperu/all_about_paper/earth_answers/earthanswers_growtree.pdf.

"De-inking." Paper Online. PaperOnline, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. http://www.paperonline.org/environment/paper-recycling/de-inking.

Hutchinson, Alex. "Recycling By the Numbers: The Truth About Recycling." Popular Mechanics. Popular Mechanics, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/recycling/4291576.

Intagliata, Christopher. "Does Recycling Plastic Cost More Than Making It?" LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 03 Nov. 2012. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. http://www.livescience.com/32231-does-recycling-plastic-cost-more-than-making-it.html.

Kazmeyer, Milton. "How Much Energy Does Recycling Save?" Home Guides. SF Gate: Home Guides, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. http://homeguides.sfgate.com/much-energy-recycling-save-79720.html.

"The Paper Recycling Process." Paper Online. PaperOnline, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. http://www.paperonline.org/environment/paper-recycling/the-paper-recycling-process.

"Recycling Facts." Does Recycling Save Trees? NC Forestry, n.d. Web. 4 May 2014. <http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ncforestry.org%2FWEBPAGES%2FPRODUCTS%2FRecycling%2520FAQs.htm>.

Recycling the Hard Stuff." Www.epa.gov. United States Environmental Protection Agency, July 2002. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/ghg/f02023.pdf.

Sukalich, Kathryn. "Everything You Need to Know About Paper Recycling." Earth911: More Ideas, Less Waste. Earth911, 19 Mar. 2013. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. http://earth911.com/news/2013/03/19/paper-recycling-details-basics/.

"Sustainable Tree Farming." A Resource That Lasts Forever. Greenwood Resources, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. http://www.greenwoodresources.com/tree-farm-capabilities/sustainable-tree-farming.