Are Recycling Labels Telling the Right Story? (Commentary)
As a recycler, we field lots of questions from companies about how we can help them make their product or packaging recyclable. The recycling symbol continues to be a status symbol, or a perceived seal of approval, if you will, for a “sustainable” product. But “Is my product recyclable?” is not the only, or even most important question that a company should be asking about their product or packaging. They should be asking how they can invest in a circular system that ensures that their product IS viably recyclable. And that starts with using recycled content.
It is critical that we as recyclers reframe the discussion with manufacturers to go beyond a product’s recyclability and engage with them about their supply chains— including what their products and packaging are made from. We need to ask companies, “How much recycled content is in your packaging?” and “How much more can you add in your product lines so that you could actually help create a market demand for your recycled product?”
Research shows that increasing recycled content of a product lowers the negative environmental impacts. For example, a bottle made from 30% post-consumer recycled content has a lower environmental impact than a bottle made from 0% recycled content, including lower climate impact, less energy use, less air and water pollution. This translates into a direct call to action for companies: For the products and packaging you already use, increasing recycled content may be your best bet to lower the carbon footprint and the negative health and environmental impacts of your products.
What the recycled content label doesn’t say but should
While companies are eager to add the recycling label on their product, the use of labels that identify post-consumer recycled content are much less widespread. This is an important tool for telling the story about how the product is made and its contribution (or not) to a circular economy. When a consumer sees that a company uses 25% post-consumer recycled content, for example, they likely feel good knowing some recycled materials went into the product and sounds like a meaningful step to becoming more sustainable.
But maybe we’re telling the wrong story by only identifying that 25%. Let’s dig into what the label doesn’t say. A product made from 25% post-consumer recycled plastic is a product made from 75% fossil fuels. Retelling the story from this perspective emphasizes that 25% isn’t enough--we are still far from our goal of a circular economy. Customers feel dissatisfied and pressure companies to use more post-consumer recycled content that truly supports recycling programs and a circular system. Research shows that