Like a lot of other technologies, recycling looks less impressive than it actually is. Given the reduction in non-recycled garbage in the course of my life, the fact that New York is recycling all of its plastic, glass, and metal through a new purpose-built facility is a big deal. It just doesn’t really look like it, which is too bad.
In passing, I feel that I should mention that the way recycling is measured – a percentage recycling rate – is misleading. The EPA says that the national average is 34.5%, which implies that more than a third of our trash is recycled, but that’s not correct. That percentage is the ratio of the recycled amount to the unrecycled amount, meaning that just over one-quarter is recycled. To put it another way, if exactly half of our garbage was recycled, the ratio as defined would be 100%, which is more obviously wrong.
New York City is doing better than the national average – 44 percent versus 34.5 – but that’s really not good enough. Ultimately, we need to reduce our use of plastics at the source to reduce the total thrown away, although obviously recycling is the way to deal with whatever material is used.
The only direct connection between this topic and our work is that the plant was built with recycled steel, but honestly as residents of the city and a firm that tries to limit our garbage production, the indirect connection is enough.
Video of the plant in operation:
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