America's economy is based on endless consumption. We each produce an average of 4.6 pounds of trash per day. If your family is of "average" size, you will produce 5,272 pounds of trash each year. We recycle 31.4 percent of our waste, while countries like Switzerland recycle 52 percent. According to the National Recycling Coalition, the energy saved by the number of cans, bottles (glass and PET plastic), newspaper and corrugated cardboard we recycled last year was equivalent to 11 percent of the coal-produced energy in the United States.
So why doesn't America recycle more? What are other countries doing that America isn't? In the spirit of America Recycles Day, which was Saturday, let's find out.
In Switzerland, one of the world's recycling leaders, recycling has taken on a life of its own. Like in America, grocery stores have places where people can recycle their glass bottles. Batteries are also collected at grocery stores. Unlike in America, however, plastic bottles are recycled at an incredible 80 percent! The world's recycling leader also designates areas where people can drop off aluminum or tin cans. Paper recyclables are collected once per month for no charge. Still, the Swiss's recycling infrastructure isn't so radically different from America's, so why do they recycle 20 percent more of their waste? America, the land of the free, allows her citizens to throw away trash for free. In Switzerland, each trash bag must be marked with a sticker at the cost of about one euro per sticker. As a result, the Swiss think twice about throwing a soda bottle or tin can into the trash instead of into the recycling bin.
Germany is also a growing "green" country. If you think Tufts has a detailed system for waste deposition (green bins for plastics/glass/metals, blue for paper and grey for trash), compare it with Germany's method. Citizens are given yellow bins for used packaging, blue bins for paper and cardboard, individual bins for clear, brown and green glass, bio-bins for food and plant waste, and an ominous "black bin" for the remainder of household waste. If this seems confusing or more work than it's worth, don't move to Germany. Failure to take other waste, like chemicals, to proper centers is an administrative offense, and with 90 percent of Germans willing to sort their trash, you'll stick out like a sore thumb.
But recycling isn't just about separating your waste. The mantra of recycling is "reduce, reuse, recycle," and poorer countries creatively reuse almost anything. In a BBC article entitled "Recycling Around the World," the reporter not only investigated different recycling systems but also looked at ways people reuse goods. Orange peel is collected and made into cheap perfume. Tin cans take on a new life as cups, and paper is reused to wrap food like bread and fruit. Metals and plastics are reshaped into toys and other novel crafts to be sold for profit. The poor populations are forced to collect what we would consider useless trash and reuse it for items integral in daily life. Imagine how much less waste we would consume if people reused bottles and cups instead of buying new ones each time they bought a drink?
To be fair, education makes a big difference in recycling habits. In countries where recycling is promoted, people grow up knowing what can and can't be recycled. It becomes part of daily life to separate glass from plastic and to drive the bottles to a collection center. In a country where speed drives our lives, it can seem like a hassle to spend time finding out what and where you can recycle. Given the grand scheme of things, is it worth it to spend an extra ten minutes at the store turning in old bottles? The answer should be yes. In a country where freedom of speech often turns into the freedom to complain, take the first step toward improving the quality of life for yourself and your fellow citizens.
At Tufts, it's easy to become an informed citizen. Take a moment to read the signs on the bins outside your dorm and find out what you can put in each bin. Beginning next semester, Tufts will be participating in RecycleMania, a ten-week competition between schools to see who can recycle the most. Last year, Tufts finished 21st out of 88 schools, with a 33 percent recycling rate. The winner, Kalamazoo College, recycled almost 60 percent of its waste! An easy way to raise our percent is to use less (reuse!) and recycle more.
The Tufts Recycles! Web site, http://www.tufts.edu/tuftsrecycles, has ways to help improve your recycling short of charging for trash and obsessive waste sorting. The National Recycling Coalition also has a Web site that allows you to see the impact of recycling different materials. Go to http://www.nrc-recycle.org/whyitsimportant.aspx and click on the "Conversionator" at the bottom of the page to see what you save by recycling everyday items. Then put down your plastic bag, pick up your canvas one and help green our campus!
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