I like to recycle. As someone who hates to waste things, the idea of reusing materials is appealing. Recycling is good for the environment and the recycling industry has created jobs, so it is good for the economy too. But recycling can be challenging. You really have to want to recycle, as it takes more than a little effort to do so.

You Really Have to Want to Recycle

Recycling isn’t easy. How and where you recycle depends on the item, and there are rules that vary with the location. Where I live there are different ways to recycle depending on the item.

• Batteries: They collect those at the local library.
• Electronics and appliances. Our local BestBuy will take them.
• Florescent bulbs and rechargeable batteries: Our local Lowes will take those.
• Paper: Curbside pick-up. Our garbage company picks up recyclables once/week.
• Glass: I have to drive to the next county to the glass recycling center.
• Metal: Curbside pick-up is cans only. Other metal can be taken to a recycling center. A few months ago I had several items to recycle including fluorescent light fixtures (replaced with LED), an obsolete desktop computer, and a broken appliance. I had to take the computer and appliance apart to separate circuit boards, copper wire, steel, and plastic (which they didn’t take). When I got to the center it was a whole production. I was instructed to drive over a scale to weigh my car. Then I drove back to the steel collection area where I unloaded all the ferrous metal. Then back over the scale for another weighing so they could determine the weight of the metal. Then into the warehouse where they weighed the circuit boards and wire. The nice thing is that they pay you for the metal—I made about $6.00.
• Motor Oil: Local garage that does oil changes. If you own a lawnmower, you have to change the oil, and what to do with old oil?
• Paper: Curbside pickup. I recycle anything paper, including boxes (and who didn’t have tons of boxes during COVID), but I have to cut them up to fit in the garbage pail, and for a large box, it takes some time.
• Plastic: Curbside pickup. But there are rules. No plastic bags and they want you to rinse out plastic containers.
• Plastic bags: They take those at the local Lowes.

Not Everything Is Easy to Recycle

Some things are easy to recycle. Metal can be melted down and turned into new products, and more and more paper items proudly display a notice that at least some of their content comes from recycled fibers. But not everything is designed with recycling in mind. A case in point is electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

Three years ago I purchased an EV-hybrid Chrysler Pacifica van that runs 30+ miles on battery power before switching to hybrid mode. I needed a van to haul stuff, and the idea of an EV was appealing. Unless I am on a long trip, I fill the tank 2-3 times/year. But the car has hundreds of pounds of battery strapped under the car. Eventually those batteries will end their life cycle and need to be replaced. What will happen to the old ones? In the future as we transition from internal combustion to EV, we will need to think about how to dispose of worn out batteries..

A recent article by Ian Morse in Science Magazine explains the problem. EV batteries are designed to be tough, not recycled. There are several ways to dissemble them to remove recyclable materials, but they either require a great deal of energy (that sort of defeats the environmental purpose) or use extremely toxic chemicals. Morse makes the point that manufacturers need to redesign batteries with recycling in mind so that valuable materials can be more easily extracted.

The idea of recycling certainly isn’t new but with growing environmental awareness, we have seen a growth in recycling by industry and individuals. To be most effective, recycling should be easy and seamless. You throw out your garbage and the recyclables are extracted. Furthermore, products should be designed to make it as easy to recycle them as possible. Eventually, this will likely be the case, but until then you really have to want to recycle.