Will it Get Recycled with Gage Mitchell of Modern Species

Written By Modern Species

It sounds confusing, but the word ‘recyclable’ doesn’t always mean that something can, in fact, be recycled. Hopefully, by the time you get to the end of this episode, you’ll have a greater understanding of the complexities of the recycling system as a whole. Through careful distillation of the procedural and consumer-based processes, you can begin to distinguish between greenwashing and truly recyclable products. Object, consumption, recovery, and market are all relevant to the conversation, along with contamination, consumer power, and demand. Join us to hear all this and more today! 

Key Points From This Episode:

  • Why the word ‘recyclable’ cannot be trusted as an indicator that something can be recycled.

  • How the three chasing arrows symbol only identifies that a material is plastic.

  • The four layers used to determine whether or not something is recyclable.

  • Considering the nature of an object along with its color. 

  • Why objects made from a combination of materials are harder to recycle.

  • The greenwashing that happens when objects are labeled recyclable, when only one component actually is.

  • What needs to be considered surrounding processing contaminants.

  • End-user education and communication. 

  • The recovery question which determines if something can effectively be recycled.

  • State-specific automation and recovery processes.

  • Considering the cost to recycle versus the cost of the product and the demand for it.

  • A reminder of your power as a consumer. 

  • The effect of contamination on the recycling process.

  • Why, if you don’t know if something is recyclable, it’s better to put it in the trash.

  • The influence of recycling on how a material behaves in comparison to virgin materials.

Tweetables:

“By default, plastic should be clear. Clear plastic, when recycled, makes more clear plastic, which means that you can use it for lots of different things. Colored plastic is less used, and therefore less valuable.” — Gage Mitchell [0:07:08]

“Some materials are just so cheap to produce or so expensive to recycle that it makes no sense to recycle it, because it’s just much more feasible to just use virgin material over and over again.” — Gage Mitchell [0:29:29]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Episode Slides

Modern Species 

Gage Mitchell on LinkedIn

Evolve CPG

Evolve CPG on YouTube

Evolve CPG email

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Modern Species

A sustainable brand design agency helping better-for-the-world brand launch, evolve, and grow to scale their impact.

https://modernspecies.com/
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