recycle right.​
​

Grades 8-12

Tutorial 1. The Story of Recycling

Objective: Figure out how much waste your household diverts from the landfill and identify the ways you do it.

The Path to Zero Waste
​The City of Oceanside, with support from Waste Management, the City’s waste hauler, is on the road to zero waste. Oceanside aims to reduce landfill waste to just 10-25% of all waste generated. Recycling is one of the strongest drivers in waste reduction, so we’ll start there with a look through the history of managing waste and the emergence of recycling. 

Waste Mismanagement 
When it came to managing waste, humankind was off to a good start. Our ancient ancestors generally utilized every part of plants and animals for food, warmth and tools. The first farmers increased crop yields by using the waste from domesticated animals to fertilize their fields. In fact, problems with accumulating waste didn’t start to emerge until people began living in densely populated cities. 

During the Middle Ages (5th -15th centuries), city streets were ravaged with garbage, animal, and human waste. Rat populations erupted as they roamed the streets for food. This eventually contributed to the Black Death, the deadliest pandemic in history, which claimed the lives of 45-60% of the population in Europe. The plague was so deadly that there weren’t enough people to bury the dead. 

​The problem of accumulating trash would continue to be a problem in cities until the 1920s when studies linking disease to accumulating trash led to the creation of sanitation services and the utilization of landfills.

The Road to Recycling
Recycling has always been part of our waste handling behaviors, our ancestors just didn’t give it a name. Prior to the industrial age, the inability to produce goods quickly and inexpensively meant that virtually everyone practiced recycling and reusing in some form. Ripped clothing was mended and handed down from one generation to the next. When clothing was beyond repair, any salvageable parts were made into other items, like blankets and rags.  

During the American Revolution (1765-1783), Paul Revere was tasked with collecting old bells and iron kettles so they could be repurposed into bullets and armor. Americans were asked to salvage metal from their homes and canned foods during World War II in order to build ships, airplanes and other wartime equipment. ​

Convenience Contributes to Waste Accumulation
With the Second Industrial Revolution in the mid-19th century, an abundance of products became easier and cheaper to produce on a mass scale. 

​By the 1950’s, disposable products flooded the market with promises of ease and convenience to modern families, an appeal still widely held today. Single-use products, mostly made of plastic, have gained in popularity and now represent more than 30 trillion tons of waste that humans have created since the Industrial Revolution, with each person contributing close to 5 pounds of waste each day.

Pigs and Waste Reduction

The Industrial Revolution was a prosperous time for much of the population, and the demand for bacon was at an all-time high. Pig farmers struggled with supplying their pigs with feedstock to keep up with the increased demand. 

To address this issue, pig farmers turned to a resource they already had, food scraps, or wet waste. Not only did farmers use their own wet waste as a source of feedstock for their pigs, but they also began collecting it in neighborhoods around their farms. 
​
Ultimately, wet waste was not a sufficient feedstock, the quality of bacon deteriorated and bacon consumption decreased.  
​
Some pig farmers shifted course from farming to collecting waste. They used their trucks to pick up all household waste, rather than just wet waste. For homeowners, it was a better solution than burning their waste in the backyard so they purchased trash cans and had their waste picked up. 

And that’s the story of how many large waste companies today started out as pig farmers.

Recycling to the Rescue
All of that waste had to go somewhere, and it ended up in landfills across the country. However, burying waste in landfills was only a short-term solution. Some environmental problems emerged, such as toxic waste leaching into soil and groundwater, and excess levels of methane gas released into the air. In addition, landfills encompassed an enormous amount of space, and that space was quickly filling up. With so many hurdles created by the massive volumes of waste to dispose of, other options were explored, with recycling leading the charge.

Recycling as a way of reducing landfill waste began in the 1970s, and aligned with a growing environmental movement. The first Earth Day on April 15, 1970 was a catalyst that mobilized people across the county to advocate for cleaner air, water, and land. The public’s acceptance of environmental change and the recycling industry advancements have been skyrocketing ever since.

Today, the City of Oceanside contracts with Waste Management, whose state-of-the-art recycling facility processes thousands of pounds of recyclable material each and every day. Residents and businesses enjoy the convenience of curbside pick up of glass, plastics, aluminum cans and paper recyclables, and most Oceanside parks and public spaces are outfitted with clearly marked recycling bins.

Tutorial Challenge

The City of Oceanside is working toward becoming a Zero Waste City. That means they are aiming to divert 75-90% of the waste collected throughout the city away from the landfill using many strategies including promoting reducing waste, reusing items, recycling, and composting.  

1. Survey your waste bins at home: green, blue and gray. What percentage of waste does your household currently divert from the landfill? In other words, how full are your green and blue bins compared to your gray landfill bin each week? If your household does not have individual waste bins, estimate your current diversion rate. 

2. What strategies do you already use with your household to divert waste at home? 

< Return to Recycle Right Tutorials list