(Escrito en English)
In recent years, the word “recycling” is often in our everyday life. There are blue, yellow and green recycling bins and we recycle all kind of products: paper and cardboard, glass, plastic, batteries, used oil, … Most of these products, follow a path that begins in our homes and goes to recycling plants, after passing through the recycling bins. In these plants, it begins a process to separate the usable material and other waste and it is carried out a waste treatment. There are even waste treatment plants, for example in COGERSA (Consortium for Solid Waste Management of Asturias), in Spain, that uses Methane (CH4) generated in this process for their own use so they can be self-sufficient.
It is a simple method and it seems to be a win-win situation. Well, we are going to do an analysis to see what conclusions we can draw.
The 'recyclers' have to make the separation of products in an unselfish way, i.e., the only compensation they receive is the satisfaction that they have done the right thing. I mean when, for example, they go to the shop to buy a package of recycled sheets, they have to pay the same money that pays a person who has not recycled.
On the other hand, the City Councils. They have to pay recycling companies a fee in return for waste collection service. Part of that fee is passed on to the citizens in taxes.
The waste management company is the last link in the recycling chain. It gets raw material from the 'recyclers' and not only it does not have to pay for these raw materials but also charges for collect them. Nowadays, there are companies working with raw materials which costs could be considered 0 euros (I am talking about renewable energy companies, for example) but I think this is more unusual. Have you ever wondered whether these companies should pay for this raw material?.
Returning to the title of the post: 'Recycling, why?' I think you can get an idea about which is my reasoning. As we said before, recycling is a chain so if one link fails the chain breaks. What would happen if one day the 'recyclers' consider it is not worth recycling because their utility does not increase when they do it?. Apart from ethical issues, is there any reason so this will not happen someday?. Perhaps this is related to the changes in environmental policy on the issue of recycling since some years ago. Therefore, in some cases, what began as an unselfish way to collaborate with Environmental protection has turned into “something else”. I am referring to the case of, for example, the city of Madrid. This City Council, establishes penalties for citizens, or residents’ associations if they do not identify the offender, which could be 750 euros. Even it could make appropriate inquires to find out the ‘offender’.
So, I wonder, have we started to do something voluntary which could become compulsory?. Probably. Surely, we will end up with a system similar to that of Belgium. There, it is compulsory to participate in the separate waste collection system. All waste must be into bags (yellow, blue, green, purple or white) depending on the product they have to recycle. Also, these special bags must be purchased at supermarkets. They are deposited in the street, in containers, every week or twice a week. From the economic point of view, it may be a fair system, because it penalizes people who generate more waste.
If what we want in Spain is a system who works, why do not propose measures to give a ‘bonus to recyclers’. I mean, it could be carried some kind of control over the amount of waste recycled by every person and give them discounts. Such discounts would be proportional to their recycling. Would this be so ridiculous?.
In recent years, the word “recycling” is often in our everyday life. There are blue, yellow and green recycling bins and we recycle all kind of products: paper and cardboard, glass, plastic, batteries, used oil, … Most of these products, follow a path that begins in our homes and goes to recycling plants, after passing through the recycling bins. In these plants, it begins a process to separate the usable material and other waste and it is carried out a waste treatment. There are even waste treatment plants, for example in COGERSA (Consortium for Solid Waste Management of Asturias), in Spain, that uses Methane (CH4) generated in this process for their own use so they can be self-sufficient.
It is a simple method and it seems to be a win-win situation. Well, we are going to do an analysis to see what conclusions we can draw.
The 'recyclers' have to make the separation of products in an unselfish way, i.e., the only compensation they receive is the satisfaction that they have done the right thing. I mean when, for example, they go to the shop to buy a package of recycled sheets, they have to pay the same money that pays a person who has not recycled.
On the other hand, the City Councils. They have to pay recycling companies a fee in return for waste collection service. Part of that fee is passed on to the citizens in taxes.
The waste management company is the last link in the recycling chain. It gets raw material from the 'recyclers' and not only it does not have to pay for these raw materials but also charges for collect them. Nowadays, there are companies working with raw materials which costs could be considered 0 euros (I am talking about renewable energy companies, for example) but I think this is more unusual. Have you ever wondered whether these companies should pay for this raw material?.
Returning to the title of the post: 'Recycling, why?' I think you can get an idea about which is my reasoning. As we said before, recycling is a chain so if one link fails the chain breaks. What would happen if one day the 'recyclers' consider it is not worth recycling because their utility does not increase when they do it?. Apart from ethical issues, is there any reason so this will not happen someday?. Perhaps this is related to the changes in environmental policy on the issue of recycling since some years ago. Therefore, in some cases, what began as an unselfish way to collaborate with Environmental protection has turned into “something else”. I am referring to the case of, for example, the city of Madrid. This City Council, establishes penalties for citizens, or residents’ associations if they do not identify the offender, which could be 750 euros. Even it could make appropriate inquires to find out the ‘offender’.
So, I wonder, have we started to do something voluntary which could become compulsory?. Probably. Surely, we will end up with a system similar to that of Belgium. There, it is compulsory to participate in the separate waste collection system. All waste must be into bags (yellow, blue, green, purple or white) depending on the product they have to recycle. Also, these special bags must be purchased at supermarkets. They are deposited in the street, in containers, every week or twice a week. From the economic point of view, it may be a fair system, because it penalizes people who generate more waste.
If what we want in Spain is a system who works, why do not propose measures to give a ‘bonus to recyclers’. I mean, it could be carried some kind of control over the amount of waste recycled by every person and give them discounts. Such discounts would be proportional to their recycling. Would this be so ridiculous?.
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