Mail-back recycling doesn’t work nearly as well as we’d like to believe

Treehugger.com writer Katherine Martinko reported on the disadvantages of recycling programs that function by having people mail their collected item to the recycling company for processing.  These types of programs allow producers to continue manufacturing packaging that is difficult to recycle and only a fraction reaches a recycling facility.  A lawsuit filed against these recyclers claims that "mail-back recycling business model encourages companies to keep producing packaging made from hard-to-recycle materials and customers to keep buying those products because they're convinced it's fine for the environment. This diverts energy and attention away from packaging innovation that could make a truly positive difference."*  Shipping materials long distances has its own carbon footprint.  It would be better for sustainability efforts to "shift away from mail-back recycling schemes and more toward pressuring companies to design packaging that can be recycled in local facilities (not needing to be trucked thousands of miles across the country) and advocating for reusable, refillable, and zero waste solutions."*  While these materials are upcycled into new products, they are still ultimately made of plastic and will eventually have to be discarded.  Martinko points out that "mail-back recycling schemes do not address the plastic problem. Rather, they perpetuate it by postponing the inevitable discard that must happen, while emitting more greenhouse gases through transportation and creating a false sense of environmental complacency in consumers."*

*Katherine Martinko, July 29, 2021, "Mail-Back recycling schemes don't work nearly as well as you'd like to believe," www.treehugger.com

The original article can be found here.