Life After The Blue Bin
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Why does recycling often feel invisible after we toss a bottle in the blue bin?
Most of us don't think twice after we toss a plastic bottle into the blue bin. But what happens next is more complicated than many of us realize. Today we're joined by Laura Stewart, Executive Director of Napcor, to talk about what's working, what still needs to be done, and how we can build a better recycling system together. I'm Mia Quinn and this is Sustainably Speaking.
Laura, thank you so much for being here with us today. We're excited to have you here from Wisconsin. You're in town this week. Well, let's start with like What's the current state? Where are things?
Yeah, thank you so much. So Our world at Napcore is PET or polyethylene pterophthalate. It's commonly Known as the number one it has in the r resin identification code.
So like when I look at the bottle the the bottom of my water bottle, I see the the one. Okay.
NAPCOR is really proud of the work we do around reporting of recycling. And in 2024, we celebrated our 30th recycling report. So kind of a big deal. And we're continuing to see uh PET bottles and containers recover around 30% for the US, but close to 40% if you look at across North America. But there's a lot more work that can be done to improve recycling. And, you know, we see it um again in communities across the US, there's a lot of differences. So we have states like Oregon and California that have Very high rates of recovery for PET bottles, um, sixty percent, eighty percent even.
How do bottle‑deposit and EPR programs boost PET recovery rates in states like Oregon and California?
And the key difference is those states generally have what's called a bottle deposit legislation, so or a redemption program. So you're receiving uh when you buy that bottle Uh you consume it, you then bring it back to a redemption center and you get your 10 cents back. And you can and then that bottle becomes a new bottle, hopefully in the future. So when we look at just recycling as a whole. Um, we see that programs like EPR, uh bottle deposit redemption programs, those deliver higher recovery rates than states that don't have that type of system in place. Okay,
so for people who don't know what EPR is, just just like a quick, like a quick one oh one. Yeah. So
EPR is where It's in the name, extended producer responsibility. So the producer actually pays into a program That's then puts in place system infrastructure um investment to recover um the end of life for that product. So in this case for packaging.
So when you're done using the the product, correct. Um they make sure it goes back into the into the system.
Exactly. It it makes sure that there's responsible M markets for the materials that are being collected. So it's taking stuff and making new stuff out of that old stuff. What could use some
improvement?
Well, I think if you think of nationally across the US, um it's very limited in terms of the legislation that's been put in place. So you have seven states that have EPR legislation that's either been implemented or is being implemented. And bottled deposit programs for PET is 10 states. But there's a lot of states that don't have any kind of curbside recycling convenient for consumers who want to participate.
Are there efforts underway to bring recycling to some of those communities?
What are the biggest gaps in U.S. curb‑side recycling access and how are groups trying to close them?
I know
groups like the Recycling Partnership, for example, are doing quite a bit of effort around curbside. um programs and th the EPR uh legislation and and implementation of EPR programs in state like states like Colorado, for example. Um, part of it is to be able to give access to more consumers. So for communities that don't have access today uh to be able to just walk it to the curb, it's really incumbent on us to build some awareness around the materials that have value that can be Recycled over and over again. And one fact that many people don't know is sixty two percent of all the bottles that are collected today in the US end back up in uh PET beverage containers.
So like 62% of the bottles that are consumed today end up back to being bottles. Yes. Okay, that's great. That seems like an area of success that's working.
It is. It is. And you know, the other thing that really is encouraging to me is the community of our recyclers across the US.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why does recycling often feel invisible after we toss a bottle in the blue bin?
0:00–1:45
2
How do bottle‑deposit and EPR programs boost PET recovery rates in states like Oregon and California?
1:45–3:47
3
What are the biggest gaps in U.S. curb‑side recycling access and how are groups trying to close them?
3:47–5:49
4
How does a modern material recovery facility sort and process mixed plastics using AI and near‑infrared technology?
5:49–8:00
5
Why should bottle caps stay on when recycling, and how are they handled in the sorting stream?
8:00–9:46
6
What design guidelines are brands following to make packaging more recyclable today?
9:46–11:50
7
Does recycling really work, and what evidence counters the ‘it doesn’t work’ myth?
11:50–13:22
8
What does a successful U.S. recycling system look like in 10‑15 years?
13:22–14:43