Pre-cycling, the next evolution in recycling

Lately, several news organizations have come out with articles documenting problems within the recycling industry. The demand for recycled material is shrinking dramatically. This makes sense because as our national economy shrinks, factory production is down and the need for raw material is way down. Recycled “stuff” is raw material for a factory.

Now is the right time to examine the items we recycle and determine if we ever really need to bring it home in the first place. Know as “pre-cycling” it means not creating waste in the first place.

I’m reminded of the recycling laws implanted in Germany. The first step took effect at the end of 1991, requiring manufacturers and distributors to take back the cartons and crates in which they ship their products to retailers. The second step, which became effective in April 1992, requires recycling of product packaging. The law allows customers to leave outer packages, such as the cardboard boxes that their tubes of toothpaste come in, behind at the store. What is interesting here is the requirement for manufacturers to take back the packaging themselves. The result is that product packaging has been reduced at the source as manufacturers began to eliminate it on the front end instead of getting it back on the return end.

Pre-cycling has come of age. Now that the market for recycled material has stalled, we need to stop bringing this stuff home in the first place.