What Does ‘Recyclable’ Really Mean?
Most of the products in the typical kitchen use plastics that are virtually impossible to recycle.
The film that acts as a lid on Dole Sunshine fruit bowls, the rings securing jars of McCormick dried herbs, the straws attached to Juicy Juice boxes, the bags that hold Cheez-Its and Cheerios — they’re all destined for the dumpster.
This story was originally published by ProPublica and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Now a trade group representing those brands and hundreds more is pressuring regulators to make plastic appear more environmentally friendly, a proposal experts say could worsen a crisis that is flooding the planet and our bodies with the toxic material.
The Consumer Brands Association believes companies should be able to stamp “recyclable” on products that are technically “capable” of being recycled, even if they’re all but guaranteed to end up in a landfill. As ProPublica previously reported, the group argued for a looser definition of “recyclable” in written comments to the Federal Trade Commission as the agency revises the Green Guides — guidelines for advertising products with sustainable attributes.
The association’s board of directors includes officials from some of the world’s richest companies, such as PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, Land O’Lakes, Keurig Dr Pepper, Hormel Foods Corporation, Molson Coors Beverage Company, Campbell Soup, Kellanova, Mondelez International, Conagra Brands, J.M. Smucker and Clorox.
Some of the companies own brands that project health, wellness, and sustainability. That includes General Mills, owner of Annie’s macaroni and cheese; The Honest Co., whose soaps and baby wipes line the shelves at Whole Foods; and Colgate-Palmolive, which owns the natural deodorant Tom’s of Maine.
ProPublica contacted the 51 companies on the association’s board of directors to ask if they agreed with the trade group’s definition of “recyclable.” Most did not respond. None said they disagreed with the definition. Nine companies referred ProPublica back to the association.
“The makers of America’s household brands are committed to creating a more circular economy which is why the industry has set sustainability goals and invested in consumer education tools” with “detailed recycling instructions,” Joseph Aquilina, the association’s vice president and deputy general counsel, wrote in an email.
The Green Guides are meant to increase consumer trust in sustainable products. Though these guidelines are not laws, they serve as a national reference for companies and other government agencies for how to define terms like “compostable,” “nontoxic,” and “recyclable.” The Federal Trade Commission is revising the guides for the first time since 2012.
The Consumer Brands Association believes companies should be able to stamp “recyclable” on products that are technically “capable” of being recycled, even if they’re all but guaranteed to end up in a landfill.
Most of the plastic we encounter is functionally not recyclable. It’s too expensive or technically difficult to deal with the health risks posed by the dyes and flame retardants found in many products. Collecting, sorting, storing, and shipping the plastic for reprocessing often costs much more than plowing it into a landfill. Though some newer technologies have pushed the boundaries of what’s possible, these plastic-recycling techniques are inefficient and exist in such limited quantities that experts say they can’t be relied upon. The reality is, only 5 percent of Americans’ discarded plastic gets recycled. And while soda bottles and milk jugs can be turned into new products, other common forms of plastic, like flimsy candy wrappers and chip bags, are destined for trash heaps and oceans, where they can linger for centuries without breaking down.
The current Green Guides allow companies to label products and packaging as “recyclable” if at least 60 percent of Americans have access to facilities that will take the material. As written, the guidelines don’t specify whether it’s enough for the facilities to simply collect and sort the items or if there needs to be a reasonable expectation that the material will be made into something new.
“The Green Guides have long set forth that items labeled as ‘recyclable’ are those which are capable of being recycled,” Aquilina, the association vice president, told ProPublica. “Any characterization suggesting Consumer Brands is pushing for a ‘looser definition’ is false.”
The reality is, only 5 percent of Americans’ discarded plastic gets recycled.
But the association seemed to disregard what the FTC said in a separate document released alongside the guides, which states that a truthful recyclable claim means that “a substantial majority of consumers or communities have access to facilities that will actually recycle, not accept and ultimately discard, the product.”
In its comments to the FTC, the association pushed back on that idea. The U.S. recycling system is decentralized, and manufacturers have no control over economic factors that might lead a recycler to change its mind about how it handles a certain type of plastic, the association wrote, adding that it was unrealistic to force brands to predict which products will be “ultimately recycled.”
The association represents sellers and will naturally seek more flexibility in its positions, Jef Richards, a professor of advertising and public relations at Michigan State University, said in an email. The “problem with defining ‘recyclable’ as anything that MIGHT be recycled is that I seriously doubt that’s how consumers define it.”
When consumer expectations fail to match what the advertiser is saying, “consumers are being deceived,” he added.
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That deception has concrete impacts: Plastic bags that mistakenly end up at recycling centers can gum up machinery, start fires, and contaminate bales of paper, which then can’t be recycled. The problem could get worse if the FTC listens to the Consumer Brands Association and allows companies to market plastic bags as “recyclable.”
Annie’s mac and cheese is one of the brands under the association’s umbrella that has a reputation for health and sustainability. Unlike most pasta companies, Annie’s avoids using plastic film to create windows in its pasta boxes. The brand also sells cheese crackers packaged in plastic that is clearly labeled as nonrecyclable, with a diagonal slash through the triangular “chasing arrows” symbol. Its parent company, General Mills, however, has promoted store drop-off recycling programs for one of its granola bar brands, Nature Valley. A Bloomberg News investigation found these programs have a spotty record, with much of the plastic ending up at landfills. The CEO of General Mills is a member of the association’s executive committee. Earlier this year, the investment firm Green Century filed a shareholder resolution asking General Mills to investigate how it could reduce its use of plastic packaging. The resolution also suggested that the company assess the effectiveness of drop-off recycling programs.
The Honest Co. similarly cultivates a sustainable reputation, including by avoiding two particularly problematic types of plastic in its packaging. Its website provides instructions on how to dispose of plastic packaging; product pages tell consumers to disassemble and rinse out containers and to “check with your local municipality for recyclability acceptance.” Tom’s of Maine uses similar language in fine print on its “first-of-its-kind recyclable toothpaste tube.” The tubes show the familiar chasing arrows recycling symbol accompanied by the words, “Once empty, replace cap and recycle.” Small letters on the edge of the tube read, “Your community may not yet accept tubes for recycling. Check locally.”
A group of state attorneys general suggested using more aggressive language: “NOT ROUTINELY RECYCLED — Please check with your local jurisdiction.”
But regulators have warned that “check locally” caveats are vague. The Environmental Protection Agency told the FTC last year that the warning “has little value in assessing recyclability” and said companies should use clearer instructions to reduce “wishcycling” — tossing things into a curbside bin with the faint hope that they will get recycled. A group of state attorneys general suggested using more aggressive language: “NOT ROUTINELY RECYCLED — Please check with your local jurisdiction.”
“We’re proud of the leading role we’ve played in transforming tube packaging,” Rob Robinson, a marketing executive at Tom’s of Maine, said in an email. A “check locally” caveat appears on the toothpaste tube, the outer carton, and the company website, he said.
Miriam Holsinger, co-president of Minnesota-based Eureka Recycling, said not every sorting center has the right equipment or staff training to recycle these tubes. “Until all toothpaste tubes are recyclable, it’s just not something that you can easily do.”
General Mills, The Honest Co., and Colgate-Palmolive didn’t return requests for comment.
A list of the 51 consumer packaged-goods companies that ProPublica sent inquiries to is included in the original story.
Lisa Song reports on the environment, energy, and climate change for ProPublica.
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