Confusing rules over recycling leaves many people confused

Can you recycle a pizza box? It sounds like a simple question, but it's not.

In most cities that recycle trash, the answer is yes ... as long as that pizza box is empty, grease-free or broken down. One city suggests tearing away contaminated parts and a few cities don't want the pizza box at all.

But it's not just pizza boxes. As efforts expand to get Americans to reduce the amount of trash sent to landfills, recycling has become more confusing than ever. In some places, as costs rise and recycling markets collapse, it's become economically unsustainable.

In the 1990s, a star-studded PSA featuring Ozzy Osbourne, Bette Midler, Stevie Wonder and a cartoon yak told us through song, "when it's empty take it back." The ad was intended to promote the "reduce, reuse and recycle" campaign and educate the public on the benefits of recycling to "keep America beautiful."

But over the last few decades, the recycling industry has changed dramatically. Shifting rules and regulations have left people discouraged and scratching their heads at what to put in the blue bins they drag out to the curb once a week. It leads to big problems for the environment, recycling facilities and municipalities. Some cities have given up, citing higher costs and lower payouts.

Recycling brings lots of benefits: It reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators, conserves natural resources, prevents pollution and, over time can reduce greenhouse gases by limiting mining and processing of new materials.

But there's a big barrier: A 2019 survey revealed that 62 percent of Americans worry that a lack of knowledge is causing them to recycle incorrectly, often "over-recycling." This disconnect between municipalities and the public causes more issues than just an aluminum can in a bin meant for plastics or a pizza box that doesn't belong.

The fact of the matter is recycling is a business, and as needs and markets change, so does the industry. Cities sell their recyclable materials to buyers who can reuse the product and that market is not what it used to be. Surprise and El Mirage have cut back or paused their residential recycling programs because of market pressures.

"The people that own the MRF's (materials recovery facility) have different contractual obligations for the businesses that buy their products," said Dawn Ratcliffe, recycling coordinator for Tempe. "So they buy recyclables and turn it into different items. So it's ultimately about finding these markets for recyclables."

Contractual obligations vary from one city to the next. Ratcliffe says the city-specific approach is a main reason behind the confusion the public experiences and leads to improper recycling, referred to as contamination.

Contamination causes operational issues at recycling facilities and can ruin entire recycling streams, slowing production and costing the municipality time and money.

"Throwing dirty things in the recycle bin, or whatever they contaminate, they create dirty recycle material which is unusable. And it is very costly to actually recycle," said Timothy James, research professor at Arizona State University's economics department, talking about the main challenges to make recycling economically viable. "If it's not very well sorted, it makes it more difficult for it to be financially feasible to run a recycling facility."

In Phoenix, plastic bags cannot go into single stream recycling with other products. Instead, the city offers drop-off locations at local grocery stores. When a plastic bag is improperly recycled in Phoenix, the soft plastic will likely get caught in sorting machines and cause disruptions to equipment. At the North Gateway Transfer Station and Materials Recovery Facility in Phoenix, operations stop multiple times a day so workers can cut out soft plastic clogging the machine.

Recycling bins contaminated with materials that cannot be recycled can cause major problems in the sorting process. According to experts, Americans now "over-recycle." And while this may seem harmless, the practice jeopardizes the success of recycling efforts. Over-recycling adds garbage, food waste and hazardous materials into the recycling stream.

"If you don't know if it's recyclable or compostable, it is far better to throw it away than to put it in the wrong place," said Trevor Ledbetter, director of the office of sustainability at the University of Arizona. "One rotten apple can ruin the entire bunch."

If there are too many contaminants in a bin, loads of recycling can be rejected. Plastic is one of the most widely accepted and known recyclable materials, but a common mistake occurs when discarding it with liquid or food items remaining.

"You throw a full Starbucks cup into a recycling bin filled with paper," Ledbetter said, "everything gets ruined."

Can I recycle that?Here are guidelines from cities across metro Phoenix

The rules of recycling are not as black and white as many Americans might think. Rules change from city to city and, over time, cities can stop accepting materials they once took due to contractual obligations with the buyer of recyclables. In Maricopa County what can and cannot go into the blue bin changes basically in any direction you go.

In most cities a pizza box can be recycled since it is made of cardboard. But if there is residue or grease left on the box, it is considered contaminated and cannot go into to the bin.

Paper and cardboard carry many stipulations. In Phoenix, cereal boxes can be recycled, but the plastic liner must be removed, carboard boxes need to be broken down, and newspaper, junk mail, and paper bags can all be recycled as well. Shredded paper can make its way into the bin only if it is bagged.

In nearby Tempe, Chandler, and Gilbert, shredded paper cannot be recycled at all. Gilbert will also not accept metallic, waxed or tissue paper.

Glass and plastic bottles can usually be recycled, but once again cannot contain residue or food scraps. In Phoenix, the city asks residents to leave caps on plastic bottles like soda or iced tea. But when it comes to glass bottles, the city asks people to remove lids and only recycle the container.

In Scottsdale glass bottles and jars can be recycled, but only if they are clear, green or amber.

The hunt is on:Can Arizona cities recycle their costly recycling programs?

Metal seems to have the most straightforward and consistent rules among cities in Arizona. Most will accept aluminum cans and foil, if they are properly cleaned. In Chandler, the city will accept empty aerosol cans like shaving cream or deodorant, but will not accept cans with hazardous materials, pesticides or paint. Still, in Mesa, according to the city's acceptable items list, the only metal allowed is clean and dry cans.

While it is beneficial to avoid contaminating recycling streams, improperly discarding of recyclable material may have even greater consequences. When plastic is not recycled, it is landfilled, incinerated or left as litter. The EPA estimates that in 2018, about 16% of U.S. plastic waste was incinerated. A relatively small amount was littered, meaning the rest made its way to landfills.

Over time, that plastic will break down into tiny particles, known as microplastics, which contaminates the air, water, soil and food. In a paper published in Environment International, researchers found plastic in the blood of 17 of 22 of study participants participants, or roughly 77%. The study found that an overall human health risk assessment for plastic particle pollution is currently not possible due to lack of data on both toxicological hazard and human exposure.

The best way to maneuver the changing nature of recycling is through education, said Ratcliffe in Tempe. The city does messaging with its monthly newsletter, sustainable emails, fliers, social media and community outreach. The city also conducts contamination checks to prevent over-recycling in the future.

"If we find something that doesn't belong in the bin and there's a large enough quantity, we'll leave these little education fliers or doorhangers for them," said Ratcliffe. "We’ve done over 15,000 contamination checks since the summer of 2018."

Jill Burris is the project manager for recycling and waste management at the University of Arizona. She says custodial staff is educated on contamination to sort through bins before they are sent off. Their latest quarterly audits show the university's contamination rate at 15%.

"Tucson typically has a contamination rate that is double that," said Ledbetter. "So contamination rates tend to be lower than the surrounding community."

Ledbetter and Burris say the level of education, outreach and signage have helped keep contamination rates low at the university.

"It's a little bit simpler to deal with a university waste system than it is to deal with a municipal waste system," he said. "It's easier to pair that with more robust education to lower those contamination rates."

But education and outreach need to be community-based since recycling rules vary from city to city. And the main driver of the inconsistences seems to be due to contractual obligations and profits.

"I think the biggest challenge is that each city has different requirements because it's based on their contract," said Ratcliffe. "So Mesa takes different items then we do, Phoenix takes different items than Tempe does, and that's where some of the confusion comes from."

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High operational and transportation cost remain a driving factor behind what can and cannot be recycled. For example, Phoenix used to profit from the sale of paper, but now it costs more to recycle paper products than to landfill them.

Market changes, caused by a 2018 China ban on 24 types of recyclables as part of its "national sword" policy, have played a big role in the industry in the United States. A 2020 study based on recycling in Arizona, found that profits for every municipality surveyed had sunk dramatically. In just two years, Sierra Vista's annual revenue from recyling decreased by $32,000, a 75% drop from previous years.

Rising costs and plunging commodity prices have forced some cities to stop recycling. Surprise continues to pick up recyclables in curbside bins, but is diverting that material to the landfill "until cost-effective solutions are identified." El Mirage has "paused" residential recycling and has told residents they don't need to sort trash.

Inconsistencies can even occur within the same city. In Tucson, if you find yourself on the UA campus, your glass iced tea bottle will be accepted in the blue bin. Off campus, you would not be able to recycle the same item.

"So for us glass is considered recyclable," said Ledbetter. "Waste Management picks it up, drops it off at the MRF, and it's seen in our quarterly audits as a recyclable product."

Both the city and the university use the same MRF, but due to different contractual agreements, glass is considered contamination when received from the city.

"On the city of Tucson side, they have a different agreement because they took glass out of recycling," he said. "Any glass that ends up at the MRF brought by the city of Tucson is considered trash. So in their quarterly audits, glass is seen as contamination."

Contractual obligations will likely continue to rule the recycling industry for the foreseeable future, since there is no federal or state laws in place. Experts say the best way to do your part is checking your city's local acceptable items list to see what is considered a recyclable item.

Jake Frederico covers environment issues for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send tips or questions to [email protected].

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