Global Recycling Day

ENVIRONMENT Global Recycling Day

As international days go, the commemoration of worldwide recycling is certainly not one of the major events in the calendar. International Women’s Day or World Book Day might get a Google Doodle but for the most part global recycling day seems to fall unheard amongst the extraordinarily long list of international days - it’s always nice to know the UN are working hard to ensure the global recognition of tuna.

Falling on the 18th March, Global Recycling Day has not (despite the best efforts of those behind it) been recognised as an official international event. However, those behind it seem adamant to try and make something of the occasion - asking this year for nominations (be that an individual, town or multinational corporation) for the award of Recycling Hero 2021 that comes with a $500 award.

“Recycling seems to have been one of the few small revolutions that’s actually worked”

It was whilst looking at this award that it struck me how commonplace recycling has become. We all know our black wheelie bins from our green wheelie bins. We all (for the most part) know which goes in which bin - and there’s a poster just in case you don’t. Politicians aren’t arguing about the politics of wheelie bins and activists aren’t either. Looking back at 2009 Daily Mail Articles, the opposition towards wheelie bins seems ridiculous over a decade later. Recycling seems to have been one of the few small revolutions that’s actually worked - but is that necessarily the case? After all, we never met the EU’s target of a 50 percent recycling rate - hovering at about 45 percent. Recycling is undoubtedly an important aspect of increasing our respect for the environment, consuming around 95 percent less energy than it would to produce the item from raw materials. Yet, we seem content with the systemic issues in our recycling system that make it far less environmentally beneficial than it could be. We send the bulk of our waste abroad, where it is usually improperly dealt with. Westminster Council incinerated 82 percent of household waste in 2017/18 - including what went into recycling bins. Some councils have even considered the possibility of eradicating recycling because it simply doesn’t work.

So why is Global Recycling Day so ignored if there are such pressing issues? Perhaps because it ultimately makes up a minor part of our global emissions, or perhaps because governments and activists alike are ultimately content with a job mostly done. If Global Recycling Day is doomed to struggle for recognition, it is perhaps because our political attention spans are short - we’ve moved on to fossil fuels and rainforests.

So, on the 18th March, I’d ask you to remember recycling not as a successful example of making the world a more environmentally conscious place but as a warning against complacency on these issues. Recycling is ultimately a relatively minimal drop in the ocean of climate change. Don’t let complacency with a job half-done concern the more pressing matters. The UK is making great strides in renewable energy - so make sure they don’t rest on their laurels as they have with recycling.