Recycling: the myths, the confusion, and the reality

You can stop hovering over recycling bins, debating what can and can’t be recycled. 

Eco-Cycle, a community based nonprofit that runs the Boulder County recycling center, will host a conversation with the community Thursday evening at the Limelight Aspen, debunking the confusion and myths around recycling in “Recycling’s Role in a Circular Economy.” Doors open at 5 p.m. for drinks; the conversation begins at 6 p.m. The event is free for the public as part of Aspen One’s climate and justice dialogue program, Aspen U.

“If we’re going to successfully address climate change, we need to address our consumption and how we make and use and dispose of all of our stuff and our food,” Eco-Cycle Executive Director and former Boulder Mayor Suzanne Jones told The Aspen Times on Tuesday.

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Jones will host the Thursday conversation, hoping to clarify common misconceptions about the recycling industry. 

While many individuals believe plastic constitutes the bulk of recyclables, only 10% of the materials processed in the Boulder recycling centers are plastics, she said. 

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“And yet, all the headlines about that 10% have people doubting recycling altogether,” Jones said. “And it’s the plastic industry and the larger fossil fuel industry that are deliberately misleading people into doubting the whole system.”

For example, California sued Exxon because they were misleading the public about plastic recyclability, she said. 

Ninety percent of the materials processed by the Boulder recycling centers are traditional materials, or materials in high demand that have been recycled for decades, she said. These include paper, cardboard, glass, aluminum, tin cans, and more.

“They have strong end markets, and it’s really important for us to recycle those materials to achieve circular economies and our sustainability goals,” Jones said. 

Like any market, recyclable products require an “end market” or a buyer of the product. Traditional materials have plenty of buyers because they are more easily recycled than plastics, Jones said. 

Not all plastics can be easily recycled. 

On the bottom of plastic containers exists “chasing arrows,” the three arrows chasing each other in a triangle. Inside that symbol is a resin number, which indicates the plastic container’s material makeup. 

Jones said resin numbers 1, 2, and 5 indicate plastics with good end markets that can more easily be recycled. 

Objects with resin numbers 3, 6, and 7 are more difficult to recycle because some of them contain toxic materials and have less of an end market.

“If there’s not an end market for something, it’s not going to get recycled,” Jones said. 

Objects with resin No. 4 cannot be recycled through single stream, curbside recycling bins, where cardboard, paper, plastic, and metal are all thrown in the same bin, but must be cleaned, dried, and collected separately, such as by Eco-Cycles “Hard-to-Recycle-Materials” center, Jones said. 

The biggest problem in the recycling industry is the disconnect between the consumer, who originally purchases the plastic product, and the recycle center, who sells the product to the end market, due to a lack of access and a lack of education, said Scott Saunders, general manager of KW Plastics, a business (or end market) that buys, melts, and sells plastic goods.

Saunders said his company buys harder plastics, like those in detergent containers, shampoo bottles, and milk bottles, which are easier to recycle than softer plastics.

Plastics with resin numbers 3 and 6 are particularly difficult to recycle because there is a low percentage of usable material in the objects, Saunders said. Objects with resin No. 7 are difficult to recycle because the object is composed of multiple plastic materials, making it harder to manage. 

Projects should be void of food when recycled, Jones said. 

“Food in your recycling bin. That’s not good. It contaminates things,” she said. 

For the city of Aspen, if there is more than 20% contamination in a recycling bin, either from food or non-recyclable materials, the entire bin will be discarded into the landfill to avoid further contamination of a recycling load, said Jimena Baldino, waste diversion and recycling specialist for the city of Aspen.

Contrary to the myth that Aspen does not recycle, Baldino said the city recycles at a rate of 32%, meaning 32% of Aspen’s waste stream is diverted away from landfills through recycling and composting.

The state recycling rate is only 15.5%, less than half of the national recycling rate, which, like Aspen, is 32%, according to Jones.

Eco-Cycle has helped push Colorado legislation to improve the recycling climate in the state.

They recently helped pass a state ban on single-use disposable bags in major retail stores and grocery chains as well as polystyrene foam containers, Jones said. 

They also helped pass legislation, which will go into effect in 2026, requiring all consumer brands to pay into a fund for every unit of packaging they sell. The fund will provide free recycling for Coloradans.

“It turns the system upside down, instead of being a consumer,” Jones said. “Instead of you having to pay for it, the brands that made the packaging, they are going to pay to get it all recycled.”

But she said recycling should only come as a last resort. “Reducing” and “reusing” should come first.

“If we want to live sustainably on this planet, we first need to reduce the amount of natural products we’re using, we need to design products to be reusable, and thirdly — then, and only then — should we lean on recycling,” she said.

Skyler Stark-Ragsdale can be reached at 970-429-9152 or email him at sstark-ragsdale@aspentimes.com.