News & Issues
News & Views Forum
Interested in zero-waste issues, such as recycling, producer responsibility, and composting? Share your ideas and let us know what you think!
“100 million tons of unlovable plastic: The container-bottom numbers game”
August 20, 2012
Eureka Recycling currently collects and recycles plastic bottles. Recently, some local recycling programs, including Minneapolis and Hennepin County, have started collecting more types of plastics. But, recycling isn’t just collection. Are all those plastics really being recycled? Or are they going into the trash somewhere else?
Susan Hubbard, Eureka Recycling’s former CSO, looks at these questions and more in this article for the Twin Cities Daily Planet.
Plastics
April 10, 2012
It can be frustrating, time-consuming, and overwhelming to deal with so many throwaway plastic products and packaging. It doesn’t seem like a good idea to toss them in the garbage (after all, burning or burying plastics has toxic effects on our environment and our health), but is recycling the right thing to do? What plastics can we really recycle? What happens to it once it is collected?
As a zero-waste organization, Eureka Recycling believes that all waste is completely preventable—and plastics are no exception. We believe recycling is part of the answer, but recycling alone cannot solve our problems with plastics.
Plastics are not only more complicated to recycle than other materials like paper, metal, and glass, they pose significant problems that recycling alone cannot fix.
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Plastics need to be redesigned, not just collected for recycling. Manufacturers flood our store shelves with thousands of different, unique kinds of plastics. Most have the same serious design flaw: they are made to be disposable, not recyclable or compostable.
Example of excessive diposable plastic packaging © Scrapthispack/Flickr - Plastics are toxic and release harmful toxins into our air, water, and bodies when they break down and degrade, which happens when plastics are used, disposed of, and yes, even recycled.
What about recycling more plastics?
A zero-waste approach to plastics includes effective strategies to eliminate this waste altogether, not just try to keep up with it by recycling it.
But recycling can play an important role. Eureka Recycling is in the process of making a decision about collecting more types of plastic for recycling.
Why not just collect it already?
Many other communities have decided to add some—or all—plastics to their recycling programs. While we are not aware of the criteria or decision-making process other communities have used to add plastics, our zero-waste criteria for adding materials to our recycling program is always the same.
Research markets: There are markets in the U.S. and abroad. We look at both since there are so many environmental issues in the recycling process and the U.S. has stricter measures in place to protect the environment than other countries. We look closely at markets because collecting plastics is not recycling. Where, and how, plastics are handled once they leave the curb makes a difference.- Modifying trucks and the facility: We need to make investments in our trucks and our facility to add more plastics, which means there will be costs for adding plastics. We need to figure out how to make these changes.
- Better strategies: We’re concerned (like others such as the Ecology Center in Berkeley, CA) that strategies like reduction and redesign will be undermined by making plastics super-convenient to recycle.
The only reasons Eureka Recycling recycles anything is to protect the environment and our health, while improving our quality of life. When we decide what plastics to add to our recycling program, you can be confident in knowing that we've considered not just the financial issues, but the social and environmental benefits as well.
- You can read more about these issues by downloading our "Recycling Plastics: Complications & Limitations" fact sheet. (PDF)
- More on our website: Toxicity and Human Health Impacts of Plastics
Susan Hubbard is Leaving Eureka Recycling
December 13, 2011
Susan Hubbard has been a passionate champion for our mission locally, nationally, and globally, and has been at the heart of our organization and the way we carry out our vision every day. She envisioned Eureka Recycling before it existed, arranged and led an amazing team of people to bring that vision to light for nearly 10 years as our CEO, protected us and our values as we weathered success and challenges, and recently as our Chief Strategy Officer created an inclusive process to set a course of success for the organization through our strategic plan.
In this, our tenth year, Susan is leaving Eureka Recycling to start a new consulting business, Nothing Left to Waste. But make no mistake: Susan will continue to devote her full energies to revealing a zero-waste world to everyone she meets.
Our leadership team is working closely with Susan to ensure a seamless transition beginning in early 2012. She will continue to work with Eureka Recycling, as it will be a primary client of hers during the transition.
Susan has made innumerable, invaluable contributions to us individually, to this organization, and to our community. If you have ever heard her speak, witnessed her work, or had the pleasure of working beside her, you know she is remarkable and that her commitment to this mission is inspiring.
We will deeply miss working with her day-to-day even though we know she has generously given us the feedback (sometimes unsolicited), support, tools, and inspiration we need to carry our mission forward. Her passion and vision will continue to bring about the benefits of zero waste through Eureka Recycling as she provides strategic consultation, as well as in ways beyond our organization we cannot yet imagine.
The Eureka Recycling Board and leadership team will formally recognize Susan’s tenure at Eureka in the coming months. If you would like to contribute to this important recognition or need to know how to contact Susan, please contact Dianna Kennedy at diannak@eurekarecycling.org or (612) 455-9111. We hope you will join us in congratulating her on this welcomed transition in her life!
How to Get Really, Really Good Stuff
Stuff: we all have it. We all need it (some of it, anyway). But what about the stuff we don’t want or need anymore? What do we do with it? Sometimes it looks like that stuff really should be able to be recycled but those pesky recyclers just won’t take it. Who should hold responsibility?
Right now, consumers and governments are given the responsibility of dealing with it—with no say in how products are made or designed. Your best efforts (and ours) to recycle and compost everything we can will not stop our trash cans from filling up.
However, there are ways to change the way these products are designed and manufactured, and you have the chance to influence the process!
We can get to zero waste without sacrificing the stuff we really want and need. Read more to find out how you can tell if the products and services you spend hard-earned money on are safe, non-toxic, healthy, and durable. (PDF, 459KB)
Pizza Box Recycling Featured on KSTP-TV
On September 1, 2011, Eureka Recycling added pizza boxes to our zero-waste recycling program.
Although recycling alone will not solve our problems with waste, an authentic recycling program is an important part of a zero-waste approach. We continually look at materials to add to the recycling program.
Collecting new materials is often the easiest part. It also requires working with producers and end-markets to make sure new materials can be and really are recycled.
“Make Dinner Not Waste” on KARE-11’s Simply Science
Watch this recent TV segment featuring Eureka Recycling’s latest work on preventing wasted food—an important part of a zero-waste strategy to get all compostable material out of the trash. By using cooking, shopping, and food storage tips, we can save time, money, and the environment!
What ideas do you have for preventing wasting food at home (like storage tips or recipes to use up leftovers)? Please share them with us!
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