A worker sorts recyclables at the Boulder County Recycling Center in Boulder.
A worker sorts recyclables at the Boulder County Recycling Center in Boulder. (Jeremy Papasso / Staff Photographer)

We Americans consume a lot and waste a lot. That means we dump far more trash than is necessary into landfills. In fact, we produce twice as much waste per capita as Western European nations.

The amount of municipal solid waste produced annually in the United States has tripled since 1960, and in 2013, it totaled 254 million tons. That's 4.4 pounds per person every day.

We've made a lot of progress over the years in how we handle this waste. Recycling jumped dramatically nationwide after the mid-1980s, but it leveled off around 2010, with the average American recycling or composting 34 percent of his waste.

The rate varies by the type of waste, and by state and city. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that we recycle 99 percent of lead acid batteries, 67 percent of paper, and 55 percent of aluminum cans, but only 40 percent of the rapidly increasing quantity of consumer electronics such as cell phones and computers, only 34 percent of glass containers, and 30 percent of plastic bottles and jars.

We should be able to do much better than this. So why don't we?

Individual habits are one explanation. Many people think recycling is inconvenient, even in cities that provide curbside, single-stream collection for recyclables. A number of states mandate recycling, but they don't enforce their laws, and in most cases they offer few incentives to recycle.


Some states and cities do much better because they take recycling seriously as part of a broad commitment to sustainability. Cities such as Seattle impose fees that are proportional to the amount of waste put out for collection, a so-called pay-as-you-throw system. Even if the cost is small, it's an important incentive to encourage people to recycle, and they do.

Seattle had a 50 percent recycling rate in 2014, and 71 percent for single family households, and the rate continues to improve. The city has set a goal of eliminating the "maximum possible amount of waste." Few other cities are so ambitious.

Some critics see matters differently. They argue that recycling is too costly and ineffective to continue, and some states seem to agree with them. They have balked at continuing even a modest subsidy for municipal recycling, saying that cities should terminate their programs or pay for the cost themselves.

Is this the right action to take? Recycle only if it generates enough benefits by some arbitrary metric? Doing that would send exactly the wrong message as cities and businesses across the nation try to build a new commitment to sustainable use of resources.

Experts in sustainable management believe that we should start by redesigning production processes where possible to prevent or minimize waste in the first place. Then to the extent possible, we reuse what cannot be reduced, recycle what is left over, and only then dispose of what cannot be recycled.

No one argues that the cost of recycling is unimportant. But there are ways to deal with that cost rather than declare it excessive and abandon recycling programs. We could follow the lead of the most innovative cities by putting a price on trash. If people have to pay more, they will find ways to generate less waste, as will businesses, and the fees can cover the cost of recycling programs.

Think about what else such fees might do to reduce excessive packaging and wasted food. We toss out about 40 percent of the food we buy. This is one reason why several large cities, including San Francisco and Seattle, now require household composting.

The EPA is trying to promote what it calls sustainable materials management as a long-term way to address all of these challenges.

We are in the early stages of an important sustainability transition that will put a premium on efficiency throughout a product's lifecycle, reducing environmental impacts, and rethinking business and household consumption. That's the way to go!

Michael Kraft is professor emeritus of political science and public and environmental affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. E-mail: kraftm@uwgb.edu