If a plastic Greek yogurt cup has a label that says it's recyclable, is it actually recyclable? The question isn't just philosophical.
Last month, the environmental group Greenpeace sued Walmart, claiming the recycling logos the US retail giant stamps on certain packages are misleading. Specifically, it argued that single-use plastic yogurt cups are rarely if ever recyclable in California, and demanded they stop being labelled as such.
The lawsuit is probably going nowhere. But Walmart and its partners shouldn't celebrate just yet.
For too long, retailers have relied almost exclusively on "recyclability" as the measure of whether a product is environmentally sound. But a growing body of research (not to mention common sense) has shown that increased recyclability doesn't necessarily lead to less waste, fewer emissions or improved human health.
If Walmart - and Greenpeace - want to present the most sustainable options to consumers, they need to look at the bigger picture.
The broader environmental effects need to be taken into
account
The logo at issue, the emblem consisting of three spinning green arrows, was designed in 1970, just as municipal recycling programmes were taking off. By the early 1990s, policymakers and activists had grown concerned that the label was being used to "greenwash" environmentally suspect products. In response, the US's Federal Trade Commission undertook a byzantine study of consumer and industry perceptions and created benchmarks to help decide what constituted a legitimate claim of "recyclability".
If fewer than 60% of a community's residents had access to a recycling facility, for example, then qualifications such as "may not be recyclable in your area" would have to be added to the label.
Enter Walmart. Its yogurt cups are made from a plastic that fewer and fewer recycling programmes accept, since their primary market for selling it - China - barred the import of most such recyclables in 2019.
So Walmart began stamping "Check Locally" in the space between the three arrows on these plastics. Just below the logo, in two-point font, it added: "Not Recycled in All Communities."
Greenpeace sued, claiming the print is too fine, the message is confusing and the plastics in question simply aren't recycled enough to qualify for the label. The group's goal seems to be forcing Walmart, always image-conscious, to avoid bad press by using packaging that's more recyclable.
Although well-intentioned, it's a misguided approach. Americans like to recycle, and their household refuse is essential to meeting the needs of manufacturers, especially during Covid. Plastics are part of that supply chain, and investment and innovation should expand the market for them over the next few years.
Meanwhile, specialised facilities will still buy even the most difficult-to-recycle plastics.
If Greenpeace succeeds in eliminating the logos, those cups won't be available to the recyclers that still take them - they'll simply be diverted to trash. Government mandates that manufacturers use a specific percentage of recycled material in their products - California will require 15% recycled content in plastic bottles in 2022 - could become harder to achieve.
More important, simply demanding more recyclable packaging misses the point. A better approach would consider the impact of producing and transporting that packaging - not just disposing of it.
In a now classic study comparing the impacts of different coffee packages, researchers found that a recyclable steel can generated more than four times the greenhouse-gas emissions of an unrecyclable plastic brick pack over the course of its lifetime, and 4.5 times more solid waste by weight.
That doesn't mean recyclability is irrelevant. But any honest assessment of sustainability should take these broader environmental effects into account. Retailers with in-house brands could start by assessing the climate impacts of their own packaging and revealing them to customers.
Bloomberg
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