Economic and ethical perspectives on urban waste recycling programs

Economical and Ethical Issues in Recycling

Economic Issues

There is a general agreement that the U.S. should be undertaking more recycling, with only 34.3% of current waste recycled. The rate is increasing, and while there have been legislative moves, it may be argued that the ethical awareness and economic factors have had a greater impact. The research proposal argues that the dualistic approach to recycling seen in the anthropocentric model can be used to show how and why the take up has been restrained, as there is a need for economic motivations to support the practice. These are now occurring, but there is still room for improvement. By undertaking quantitative research with businesses and consumers the paper proposes the gathering of information that can be statistically analysed to identify the most efficient policy approaches to improve recycling.

Introduction

The level of waste generated in increasing; it is estimated that in the U.S. approximately 254.1 million tonnes of waste were generated in 2013 (Statista, 2016b). It is estimated that this equates to 4.3 pounds of waste every day for each person (Duke University, 2016). The impact of this waste is tremendous, in 2008 it waste estimated that methane generated from municipal landfill sites accounted for 22% of the countries methane emissions (Duke University, 2016). However, while it is a problem, it has not gone unrecognised; there has been increasing emphasis placed on a on the value and importance of recycling (Gandy, 2014). The increased awareness and change has been supported by increasing levels of legislation and regulation mandating waste reduction and recycling measures (Ackerman, 2013). However, while these measures are having an impact, it has been the ethical and economic issues which have the greatest impact. In recent years the level of recycling has increased; in 1960 only 6.4% of municipal waste was recycled, this rose to 16% in 1990, 28.5% in 2000 and 34.3% in 2013 (Statista, 2016a). A key aspect of recycling is the way in which consumers sort and provide waste in a manner which may be recycled, and the recycling facilities and services which are commercially available (Sarmaniotis & Tilikidou, 2000).

This paper looks at the issues which are impacting on the practice of recycling, looking at the ethical and economic impacts, to assess which are most likely to have an influence on the way recycling takes place, which may also indicate the areas of policy and practice which may be targeted if recycling measures are to be encouraged further. The main aims of this research will include;

• Defining what is meant by recycling

• Assessing the influence that ethical consideration have on recycling from both the consumer perspective and the recycling industry perspective.

• Assessing the influence that economic consideration have on recycling from both the consumer perspective and the recycling industry perspective.

The scope and scale of the research will be limited by both time and budget constraints, with the research focusing only on the U.S. due these limitations.

This proposal presents a literature review, looking at the relevant issues associated with the study, and then a methodology which may be used to assess the ethical and economic issues.

3. Literature Review

3.1 Defining Recycling

The concept of recycling may appear simple; waste products are recovered and then reused in some way, which may require processing (Gandy, 2014). The Environmental Protection Act defines, as well as reclamation and reuse as a "method, technique or process designed to remove any contaminant from waste so as to render such waste reusable, or any process by which materials that would otherwise be disposed of or discarded are collected, separated or processed and returned to the economic mainstream in the form of raw materials or products" (EPA, 2013, p. 1). The Solid Waste Management Act defines recycling as "The process by which solid waste is collected, separated and processed for reuse as either a raw material or a product which itself is subject to recycling." Notability, this latter definition clearly excludes the use of waste as a combustible fuel.

Recycling may also be divided into primary, secondary, and tertiary recycling (Recycling Consortium, 2016). Occurs where the object being recycled does not change in any way, this is often seen where something is use of second-hand, referred to as second-hand use (Recycling Consortium, 2016). Secondary recycling with some type of modification to the product, without the presence of any chemical processes, for example cutting up an egg box to use it as a seed tray (Recycling Consortium, 2016). Tertiary recycling is where the products being recycling need to be reprocessed either through heat or a chemical process, such as melting down metals, plastic, or glass, processing waste paper, or grinding rubber (Recycling Consortium, 2016). As the first two often take place prior to the products before becoming municipal waste and potentially going to landfill, the main thrust of this paper will be on tertiary recycling.

3.2 Ethical Issues

There have been many arguments which support recycling, with the major of societal actors supporting the concept as beneficial. There are different ethical approaches which may be adopted, with two schools of thought being the anthropocentric and the ecocentric approaches which relate directly to the use of resources and how they may be gathered and reused with reference to the environmental impacts (Purser, Park, & Montuori, 1995).

The most common approach found in the commercial environment is the anthropocentric approach; this is a dualistic view of nature, which is defined by Eckersley, (1992) as 'the belief that there is a clear and morally relevant dividing line between humankind and the rest of nature, that humankind is the only principal source of value or meaning in the world' (p.51). This can be argued as a self-centred approach, where the there is a desire to rationalise the actions of mankind and justify weaker responses to phenomena that are known to be harming the environment (Eckersley, 1992). This this dualist approach it may be argued there is a greater level of alignment to the economic consideration, as it is prioritising human needs. Indeed, in the approach towards environmental issues put forward in the Brundtland report (United Nations, 1987).

The alternate approach has a much narrower concept of what is ethical and adopted a far more proactive attitude to what is needed and is correct. This approach may be defined as pro-active perception of environmentalism, "emancipating ecosystems from the effects of human mismanagement, overuse, and exploitation" (Purser et al., 1995, p. 1067). This approach would necessitate the need for people to reduce the waste that was created in the first place and maximise the amount of recycling that is undertaken in order to reduce harm, unless there would be negative environmental impacts from recycling. This approach is more likely to be found in activist bodies, such as Greenpeace, rather than commercial organisation. In this context, the economic issues are not a concern, as they are secondary to the role interest of the environment.

3.3 Economic Issues

Whatever ethical stance is adopted, the reality is that unless recycling is made economically viable, it will simply not occur, especially at the tertiary level where there is the requirement for processing to allow the goods to be recycled and reused, with commercial bodies usually motivated by the need to create value for shareholders/owners (Elliott & Elliott, 2013).

The economic perspective has been aided by government policies which have increased costs associated with failing to recycle. For example, in New Jersey it costs and average of $80 per ton to dispose of materials going to landfill (Wastewise, 2015). With different matials and commericla organization creating high levels of waste, it is possible to see how great savings may be made by recycling rather than dumping, this is seen with a case study from Lockheed Martin in 2011, where a total of $145,562.57 was saved though recycling. This is shown in table 1 below.

Table 1; Saving from Recycling at Lockheed Martin

Recycled Material

Quantity recycled in tons

Costs saved

Asphalt

$60,204.65

Comingled bottles and cans

24.19

$1,783.77

Concrete

$59,149.97

Electronic scrap

14.05

$1,235.12

Metal

94.44

$8,300.33

Mixed wood and pallets

89,07

$4,054.11

Paper and cardboard

$10,834.62

(Wastewise, 2015)

It is argued it is often cheaper to make products out of recycled materials, especially when it comes to items where there is a high level of processing in the initial creation (Gandy, 2014). A major saving is the lower level of energy used in the making of the new items, even accounting for the tertiary processing (Ackerman, 2013). This is for paper and metals, and may explain why these make up some of the greatest amounts of recycling, as seen in figure 1 below

Table 2; Materials recycled from municipal solid waste

(Duke University, 2016)

This may also explain why, as costs of energy have been increasing, there has been an increased level of recycling, as seen in figure 3 below.

(EPA, 2013)

However, there appears to be a mismatch between the commercial interest and the consumers, as while there are significant costs for land fill for businesses, there is not the same deterrent for consumers. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the differences.

4 Methodology

The research methodology will adopt a positivist paradigm as this will provide for a robust methodology that can be used to develop and test hypotheses and will be repeatable (Cresswell, 2013). The research will utilise a questionnaire that can be distributed to both consumers and businesses, to assess their attitudes toward recycling, and identify factor which impact on those attitudes and may have a direct influence on practices. The design will be questionnaires with closed questions to allow for coding and statistical analysis, which the sample will answer themselves. This use of quantitative research will help to identify the general trends and patterns, in a cost-effective manner, with an approach that can be used on a board sample (Bryman & Bell, 2011), especially if a distribution tool, such as the online Survey Monkey site is used. The results can be analysed using a statistical package, such as the Excel statistical tools, in order to provide reliable answers.

References

Ackerman, F. (2013). Why Do We Recycle?: Markets, Values, and Public Policy. Washington DC: Island Press.

Bryman, A., & Bell, E. (2011). Business Research Methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Cresswell, J. W. (2013). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (4th ed.). London: Sage Publications.

Duke University. (2016). How much do we waste daily? Retrieved from https://center.sustainability.duke.edu/resources/green-facts-consumers/how-much-do-we-waste-daily

Eckersley, R. (1992). Environmentalism and political theory. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Elliott, B., & Elliott, J. (2013). Financial Accounting and Reporting. London: Pearson.

EPA. (2013). Defining and Measuring Solid Waste Recycling and Disposal (No. Publication No. 905Q13001). Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-09/documents/region_5_state_measurerment.pdf

Gandy, M. (2014). Recycling and the Politics of Urban Waste. Abingdon: Routledge.

Purser, R., Park, C., & Montuori, A. (1995). Limits to anthropocentrism; toward an ecocentric organization paradigm. Academy of Management Review, 20(4), 1053 -- 1090.

Recycling Consortium. (2016). Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Recycling Explained. Retrieved from http://www.recyclingconsortium.org.uk/primary/

Sarmaniotis, C., & Tilikidou, I. (2000). Consumer Attitudes towards Recycling: Construction of a Reliable and Valid Multi-item Measure. MEDIT, 2(1), 48 -- 51.

Statista. (2016a). Percentage of U.S. municipal solid waste recovered for recycling from 1960 to 2013. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/193928/percentage-of-us-municipal-solid-waste-recycled-since-1960/

Statista. (2016b). U.S. municipal solid waste generation from 1960 to 2013. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/186256/us-municipal-solid-waste-generation-since-1960/

United Nations. (1987). Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future. Retrieved from http://www.un-documents.net/our-common-future.pdf

Wastewise. (2015). The Economic Benefits of Recycling and Waste Reduction -- Wastewise Case Studies from the Private and Public Sectors. Retrieved from http://www.nj.gov/dep/dshw/recycling/wastewise/njwwcasestudy.pdf