My name is Renee Koval-Huenuqueo. I am the Rise Above Plastics (RAP) Coordinator for the Gray’s Harbor Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. I was born, raised, educated, I worked, raised a family and retired here, in the Pacific Northwest. I’ve long been worried about the welfare of our planet, and I am happy to have found the Surfrider Foundation which provides a way I can participate in taking care of our environment.
During my journey to a plastic-free lifestyle, I found I was able to eliminate several sources of single-use plastic. Instead of buying shampoo and lotions in bottles, I found bar forms of these items. Wax paper, aluminum foil, glass containers and paper sandwich bags are good alternatives to plastic wrap for storing food and making lunches. I was able to avoid buying yogurt packed in tubs by making my own, and I started buying paper-wrapped meat from butchers instead of that wrapped in plastic off grocery store shelves. However, I was unable to reduce certain sources of single-use plastic that I commonly used such as bread bags, cracker box liners, and cauliflower wrapping. One day I noticed the plastic bag recycling boxes in a couple local stores, and looked more closely at them. I saw that they accepted all the plastic I was unable to cut back on. They even accepted bubble-wrap and clamshells, items I’d always believed were impossible to recycle. These boxes accepted so much, it made me wonder why I was working so hard to eliminate plastic at all.
I started to wonder if what these boxes collected actually went to recycling facilities. Who was in charge of collecting the contents of these boxes and where did it go? The boxes at Walmart had no such information, but the boxes at Safeway displayed a website. When I checked the website, I learned that Safeway was “proud to be a leader in protecting our environment by supplying these boxes to facilitate our recycling efforts.” But there was no information describing where Safeway was sending the waste, and what they were actually doing with it. The word “greenwashing” jumped to my mind; greenwashing meaning that companies make claims to take measures to protect our environment, but such claims are not followed by actions. These claims, however, do serve to make us, the public, feel more confident about buying items wrapped in single-use plastic. So, my inquiries as to what happened to the collections of these boxes led to a dead end.
However, the box I found inside of Wild Birds Unlimited (a shop specializing in needs for people who feed birds) in Olympia, was more promising. What this box collected was destined for NexTrex, a company that takes our used, clean plastic to make decking and outdoor furniture. I discovered that NexTrex has a partnership with Fred Meyer, and that the contents of the boxes in the Olympia store went to the Lacey’s Fred Meyer for sorting and baling. I called the manager there and learned that they were able to retrieve and bale about 80% of the plastic waste collected by these boxes.They had to discard what was dirty, and dirty included produce bags that had, for example, traces of broccoli. The biggest problem was that people often used the boxes for trash. The bales were then sent to the Fred Meyer in Puyallup, who transported them to a facility run by NexTrex. I ended my casual investigation there. But I later learned that several news reporters have made many more complete investigations than I did. These involved placing trackers on various pieces of plastic which were then placed in recycling receptacles to see if they actually reached the promised facilities. (Check out the video Tracking Trash)
Some of the trackers stopped functioning, but those that didn’t followed most of the plastic to landfills or to holding areas. Bales sent to holding areas just sat there, presumably waiting to be transported to an advanced recycling facility or loaded onto a barge bound for SE Asia. During this wait, the bales of plastic are exposed to sun, wind and rain, elements that encourage sloughing off micro-and nano- plastics which eventually collect in the water table. Only a fraction of the trackers followed plastic to recycling facilities, and, notably, most of those were destined for NexTrex. I concluded that although recycling efforts by Nex Trex appear legitimate, most of these used plastic collection boxes could possibly be examples of greenwashing.
I don’t recycle plastic anymore. There are a couple of reasons why. One reason is that I am not confident that putting plastic in a recycling bin will keep it out of a landfill or worse yet, our oceans. Even if it does arrive at a legitimate recycling facility, there is still the fact that each time plastic is processed for re-use toxins are released into our environment. Indeed the finished product itself carries this potential. But a more important reason why I don’t recycle plastic is this: Believing that recycling is a viable solution to our plastic pollution problem could make me less serious about my commitment to eliminate single-use plastic from my home.
Why go through all the trouble if I can simply toss my plastic waste into a bin that has “Recycle Here” printed on the front? The only way we can find a true solution to our plastic pollution problem is to stop producing so much of it. We need to demand that our government take serious action. Currently, in the Washington State legislature, Surfrider is one of the sponsors of SB5872 / HB1150, The Recycling Reform Act, a bill being written to hold producers of single-use plastic responsible for its disposal and ultimately its reduction. You can read about https://washington.surfrider.org/legislation. I’ll have more information about this bill and ask that you keep your eyes open to it.