Recycle, Recycle, Recycle! How many times have you heard this familiar refrain? I’ve heard it since I was a kid and continue to see it being touted as the solution to our environmental problems in current elementary school textbooks. Reusing and recycling should’ve been the bare minimum 20 years ago, and we should’ve moved on to changing the things that make a more meaningful difference in tackling our climate issues.
If recycling were a meaningful solution to our environmental issues, we would all be so trained to recycle that we wouldn’t need the continuous propaganda and the uptake rate of recycling would be high enough to see greater positive change for our environment. Problem solved. But clearly, while recycling is a worthy thing to do and (at least in theory) removes waste items from our landfills, it isn’t addressing our real problem. Recycling propaganda is merely a smokescreen to distract us from those behaviors and hidden costs that we’d rather not acknowledge.
Recycling propaganda is merely a smokescreen to distract us from those behaviors and hidden costs that we’d rather not acknowledge.
If we really cared about saving the planet from our destructive behaviors, we would’ve created action plans to phase out single-use plastics, create more innovative packaging, and incentivize environmentally healthy standards to hold corporations accountable to. (Don’t even get me started on worker-friendly standards.)
But instead, it’s easier for both consumers and large corporations to think that recycling solves our problems: “we can produce and consume as much as we want, as long as we recycle it.” Increasing consumption is the underpinning of our constant desire for economic growth, and there’s a real economic advantage to telling people to consume more in our more-is-better, throw-away culture. The rich can just get richer at the cost of exploiting other people and nature. The reason things can be so cheap is that we don’t include all of the hidden costs in the price. When we ignore the true environmental and human costs, we’re perfectly happy to buy whatever is cheapest. This is an issue of transparency from the top down as well as blissful ignorance on the part of consumers.
I would argue that, for most consumers, price and convenience are usually what matters the most. Yes, there are plastic-free and bin stores that have popped up for the environmentally-conscious consumer, but they are often more expensive and require a special trip. Recently, my partner and I started shopping at our nearby plastic-free store, and it feels gratifying to support a local business and put at least some of our money where our mouth is. It takes slightly more effort to refill a container than to toss a pre-packaged bag into your cart, and it’s certainly not the cheapest option. But, for those who have the privilege of choice, time, and money, it’s worthwhile to take the harder but gratifying road. But, the issue remains that these types of stores are not a widespread solution, and we need a solution that can work at scale, one that doesn’t require the consumer to go out of their way to purchase responsibly.
we need a solution that can work at scale, one that doesn’t require the consumer to go out of their way to purchase responsibly
We can’t rely only on environmentally-friendly consumers to save our planet. It’s not fair to anyone.
Similarly, we can’t rely on recycling to save our planet. We must not let ourselves give into the propaganda and let ourselves off easy. It’s time we drop the We’re doing our part by recycling BS and demand better of ourselves, our governments, and our businesses. There’s not an easy solution to this systemic problem, but every problem does have a solution. I have seen efforts to increase supply-chain transparency, promote mindful consumption, and encourage plant-based diets. These are all part of a multi-pronged solution that I envision, but it can’t only happen on a personal level. While change typically starts at an individual level, it needs to grow until it rearranges the way we think about production and consumption. We need to fundamentally shift our consumerist, have-it-all mindset because the last 70 or so golden-age years we’ve experienced as a culture are not sustainable and never were. We’ve reached the point where it’s nearly impossible for our grandchildren to experience the “prosperity” that we have, and if we want them to have a chance at all, we must stop designing recycling posters and move on to promoting real change.
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