Growth of recycling flat, except for old furniture

By Michael Bielawski

A 2023 report on Vermont recycling indicates that it’s business as usual since 2018 for our waste-management trends, for better and worse.

The Department of Environmental Conservation report report states, “It has been five years since Vermont performed a statewide waste composition study. This 2023 study update found that current waste stream composition is very similar to the 2018 results, for both municipal solid waste (MSW) – generally considered household and business trash – and construction and demolition (C&D) wastes.”

It continues, “Proportions of the waste stream that are residential versus “ICI” (industrial, commercial, and institutional) are also similar: in 2018, the split was 44 percent Residential, 38 percent ICI, and 16 percent C&D vs. 2023 findings of 43.6 percent Residential, 37.7 percent ICI, and 18.7 percent C&D.”

A deeper breakdown reveals that trends have not deviated much in five years except for old furniture and bulky items has roughly doubled from 5% in 2018 to 10% today.

Some findings include the recovery rates for various materials. The recovery rate is the percentage of the material recycled versus sent to a landfill.

It states, “While the percentage of mandated recyclables in MSW [management of solid waste, i.e. waste disposal] decreased only slightly from 12.2% in 2018 to 11.3% in 2023, the state continues to maintain an effective recovery rate for mandated recyclables of approximately 72.1%. This is comparable to the 72% recyclables recovery rate reported in 2018.”

Despite a state mandate to compost household food scraps, just about half of Vermonters are still throwing out foods and other organics. The report states, “The 2023 Waste Composition Study made a first estimate of Vermont’s Food Waste Recovery Rate of 50.7 to 56.8 percent. The Project Team is not aware of other states that have attempted to estimate their food waste recovery rate.”

Is recycling working?

Studies over recent years have called into question whether recycling is as efficient as claimed by its advocates.

NPR reported in October of 2022, plastics present a number of challenges. It states, “The vast majority of plastic that people use, and in many cases put into blue recycling bins, is headed to landfills, or worse, according to a report from Greenpeace on the state of plastic recycling in the U.S.”

Most Americans are still not recycling most glass. A report by Environment+Energy Leader states, “Despite being 100% recyclable and able to be recycled endlessly without losing quality, only about 33% of glass containers are recycled in the United States, with over 9 million tons of glass ending up in landfills yearly.”

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, over the past two decades the cost of glass has nearly doubled. 

A PBS report from back in March furthered the notion that recycling is not producing tangible results for the economy. “A new report by the Center for Climate Integrity and environmentalist group says newly uncovered statements from oil and plastics executives underscore the industry’s decades long secret skepticism about the viability and efficacy of recycling,” it states.

The 5-year check-up

Vermont law requires the state to assess its every five years its progress in implementing Vermont Materials Management Plan, last updated in 2019. 

The reports states, “Gaining a better understanding of the solid waste generated and currently disposed in Vermont will provide information that can be used to improve material-specific waste diversion programs and to assess the efficacy of current laws, actions, and programs.” Since 2018, “Vermont’s Universal Recycling law fully banned food scraps from disposal in the trash and the Single-Use Products law banned the use and sale of expanded polystyrene food and beverage containers and regulated the use of plastic carry-out bags, straws, and stirrers.”

The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle