Kickstart: The expense of easy recycling

We all know we need to bring recycling rates up. But is the answer a $3,500 new appliance for your home?

The Washington Post has a story from CES 2022 in Las Vegas on two technology startups that aim to make it easier for consumers to recycle with another home electronic gadget.

Lasso Loop would automatically sort and separate recyclables in a sort of small-scale materials recycling facility in your home. (It'll also reject nonrecyclable items, the Post writes.) Once it's full, you use an app to arrange for a pickup of the recyclable items. The prototype works, company officials said, but it's also the size of washing machine. And pricing could range from $3,500 to $5,000.

Considering that some people can't be bothered to return recyclables even when they get 10 cents back for them, that price point is asking a lot.

Meanwhile, the Minimizer from ClearDrop is essentially a compactor for bags and other flexible plastics that would be priced at about $150. Again operating on the idea of making it as easy as possible to recycle, consumers would just drop bags into it and once it's full the Minimizer would provide customers with a block of bags that they can put into curbside recycling bins or drop off at a retail store that collects bags.

As Steve Toloken writes, environmental groups and legislative aides expect there will be more action on recycling and plastics sustainability issues in the coming year. I just don't think that adding another piece of expensive technology is quite the answer most people were thinking of.

But speaking of bags, how about hearing from a fan of plastic bags?

Angela Clarke is a woman from Wales who has a collection of more than 10,000 plastic bags and recently made a splash in United Kingdom media with the story of how she began collecting them.

She's been collecting them since 1976 when she spotted bags printed with the Union Jack on them to mark Queen Elizabeth's 25th year on the throne. (The queen is closing in on 70 years of her reign now.)

"These have been part of my life for 45 years," Clarke told TV station 5 News. "Each one brings back memories of people who have given them to me or places I've been."

People should stop demonizing plastics and insted learn to handle them properly, she added.

"The poor carrier bag gets blamed for everything, for the microplastics at the bottom of the ocean. Plastics in the '70s was the wonder product. People need to take more care about it," she said.

Clarke is now waiting to see if Guinness will declare her collection a world record.

The plastics industry, like every industry, has been hit hard by COVID-19-related absences, but nailing down the impact is a bit hard. A new survey from the British Plastics Federation of its members may help to provide some solid numbers.

The survey, conducted Jan. 5-14, found that 78 percent of BPF members have had staff absences due to COVID, with an average of 8 percent of the workforce unable to work, according to a summary released Jan. 20.

Nearly a quarter of companies said they have at least 10 percent of staff currently on sick leave and 32 percent said they had to reduce production due to the impact of COVID-19 on staffing.

The twice-yearly Business Conditions Survey also found that 80 percent of BPF members were having problems recruiting staff, with manufacturing floor workers the hardest to hire.