Recycling - Is WMI in Subtle Opposition?

    "According to one financial analyst, WMI's profit margin is ten times higher for landfill disposal than for recycling." So reports the GrassRoots Recycling Network (GRRN) in "Wasting and Recycling in the United States 2000." This profit fact means that one can expect Waste Management (WMI) to do everything in its power to keep the recycling system from growing to the point of damaging their landfill business.

   Whether or not it is due to WMI's anti-recycling efforts, it is a fact that wasting is on the rise and is outpacing the rise in recycling. Wasting, the terminating the useful life of materials into landfills and incinerators, has increased since 1997 in absolute tons and in a per capita basis. Since 1994 recycling has increased only slightly after rapid increases in the late 80s and early 90s. Even 75% of no. 1 plastic (PET) was wasted in 1998, versus 60% in 1995. Aluminum can wasting climbed from a low of 36% in 1992 to 44% in 1998.

   GRRN calls for a new paradigm for managing resource sustainably of zero waste. Their Agenda for Action proposes an interconnected, four-part government strategy to 1) level the playing field so recycling can compete with heavily subsidized wasting industries; 2) make manufacturers responsible for their product and packaging waste; 3) develop holistic resource management systems; and 4) build the reuse and recycling infrastructure.

   Myths about recycling are ramped/ (myths and reality) They show the unfair subsidies for landfills. We have been lulled into believing that recycling has solved the solid waste crisis and that landfills are safe and the taxpayers responsibility. Whereas landfills are heavily subsidized, recycling is expected to rely on the marketplace without any public sector subsidy or intervention. Ten additional myths and facts are presented by Environmental Defense.

   The most aggressive state recycling plan has been adopted by California. It established a 50% recycling level but has yet failed to reach its goal. More far reaching have been the directions toward recycling by the European Union which may greatly impact American industry in the future.