Rethinking the single stream recycling system...

The waste management class I have the pleasure of taking this year has opened my eyes to quite a few of the waste systems that I had, largely until now, taken for granted. In particular, the blue box system in Ontario.

In addition to its storied political history as a product of industry implemented as an alternative to a deposit-refund system (perhaps Tim or I will tell that story in a later post...), the stream systems of the blue box are worth a second look.

When I say stream systems, I'm talking about the way the recycling is divided up. Indeed, many jurisdictions are multi-stream, meaning that the onus falls on the home or business-owner to divide up their recycling into its respective bins before the truck shows up to take it away. However, several jurisdictions in Ontario have employed single stream systems, meaning that you can throw everything into one bin.

Someone of considerable reputation told me a few years ago that Peterborough had moved to a single stream system. As a result, I elected to no longer separate my recycling, thinking that somehow this single stream system was a better recycling system. Nevermind the fact that this certain someone was wrong and that the truck seemed to take it anyway, I, like many other Ontarians, was quite wrong in thinking that this new, single stream system was great.

But why? What's wrong with it? When a city decides to change its recycling system, it must be in a progressive direction, right?

That is certainly what I thought. I pictured a hyper-futuristic recycling facility with different machines that could separate everything very cleanly and efficiently. Wrong. In fact, single stream is considerably less efficient, especially when it comes to recycling recovery rates.

Recycling facilities are from perfect and it is difficult to separate the different materials. When you can't separate materials, they can't always be recycled. Herein lies the problem of a single stream system.

So why have a number of Ontario municipalities moved to such a system?

One answer is cost. Actual collection costs are significantly lower for a municipality when they only have one bin to toss in and there trucks can easily crush everything together, rather than carefully dividing each material up. Collection is also faster, meaning less gas used and less employee hours needed.

The other is a function of the world's economy. As oil prices spiked over the past few years, more manufacturers moved to recycled inputs in their products because processing virgin materials cost outrageously more. The market exploded for recycled materials, even if they were slightly contaminated with other recycled materials, and municipalities made a killing. Demand grew and municipalities moved to single stream so they could collect as much recycling material as possible to sell off.

But then the market crashed. Oil prices plummeted and virgin materials became much cheaper to use as inputs for manufactured goods. Additionally, industry now only wanted the cleanest recycled products, which only the municipalities employing multi-stream systems could supply. The single-stream system was left in the dust, so many places (including Toronto) were unable to sell and of their recycling and had to store it until the market recouped.

As the market recovers, single stream might become more viable again. But don't be fooled, it is not the perfect solution. It is much, much, less than that.