Recycling is Just the Start

Recycling is just an illusion; it’s a story we’ve been told to make us feel better about buying plastic water bottles and aluminum pop cans. It’s a story that’s been shoved down our throats since preschool, and yet, it doesn’t live up to the promises it makes. And the problem is that no one is asking what recycling truly is, if its supporting the health of the Earth, or even what happens to those bottles and cans once they disappear from our bins.

I am here to break the status quo; I am here to stand up and ask the hard questions; I am here to tell you that recycling isn’t the magical solution that’s been sold to us. Recycling is energy intensive... and that doesn’t sound sustainable to me.

I’m sure we’ve all seen those shopping bags that read, “I used to be a water bottle,” and that’s beautiful, isn’t it? At first glance, it almost makes me tear up, to think of all those bottles being made into something useful, instead of sitting in a landfill or swirling in the ocean. It tugs on my hippy-heart-strings, and I used to buy into the beauty of recycled products like that. But now I recognize this as just a shallow solution that cannot lead to sustainability.

Let’s say that ten plastic bottles are used to make this recycled shopping bag... that means that those ten bottles were created in a factory somewhere, likely using fresh, new plastic. Then, those bottles are filled with water that a massive company has claimed ownership over. Let me say that again... companies claim they own water. And this water is often harvested and stolen from Indigenous communities that were forced into tiny corners of the world, called reservations.

The bottles are then packaged, with more plastic to hold them together. Then they go through innumerable transportation steps to arrive where they’re going to be sold. And remember to take into account the fuel, vehicles and people used to transport the product. Those bottles then sit on a shelf, waiting to be purchased.

Finally, they end up in the trunk of your car. It seems like a great idea –to keep a case of water bottles in the back for when you really need it. But what you don’t realize is that the plastic is slowly melting in the heat; so you’re drinking plastic and countless other chemicals in the water that was stolen, commodified, packaged and shipped across the world.

And now you’re done with those ten bottles, so you put them in the recycle bin. You bring the bin to the curb at the end of the week, and a man comes along and dumps it in a big truck. The truck drives away and your recycle bin is ready for more plastic.

What we don’t see is what happens once our plastic is out of sight. It’s taken to another facility where large percentages of what we think is being recycled is actually thrown into the landfill with the rest of our garbage. The objects that are deemed recyclable aren’t done their journey, though. It’s time for the plastic to be melted down and used to make a shopping bag.

That shopping bag is then packaged and commodified, shipped and transported, and eventually purchased by you, so that you can buy more plastic, all the while thinking that your recycle bin is going to save the world.

Don’t get me wrong... recycling isn’t what’s destroying the world; I’m able to recognize the benefits that it offers. What I am saying, though, is that it’s not really a solution. It’s a way for us to continue living our consumer lives and still be able to sleep at night, lulled by the notion that we’re contributing to a sustainable world.

Recycling is just the start.

Recycling is the first baby-step in the list of things we need to do to really make a difference, change the world, and stop and reverse our destruction. I don’t have time for baby-steps, though. It’s time to grow up and recognize the power that I have.

I have the power to protect the Earth, or destroy the environment She’s created for us; and until everyone recognizes that we all harness that same power... we’ll just be taking baby-steps to our own demise.

So what am I doing to ensure that we’re not waddling toward our doom? I’m not making small adjustments to my everyday life, and I’m not concerned with the specifics of my carbon footprint. You see, I’ve already changed my everyday life with all this in mind, and I am constantly working towards a life that doesn’t require adjustments. I’m not going to spend my time on Earth under the illusion that tossing a pop can in the blue bin is going to rid the ocean of garbage; and I’m not going to wait for others to agree with me.

I am going to live a life that nourishes the Earth, protects the Waters, honours the Fires and respects the Winds. And that is the life I work towards every day.

• Part 2 –Reducing is the Transition
• Part 3 –Reusing is the Goal