Power Books: Conflict and Controversy over Recycled and Non-Recycled Content

At the October Session on the Resource Recycling Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, the editors and reporters of Resource Recycling were introduced as a Panel by MassRecycle Board President Gretchen Carey.

Be a Recycling Resource: How to Engage with the Media and Fight Disinformation

• Gretchen Carey, President, MassRecycle

• Marissa Heffernan, Associate Editor, Resource Recycling, Inc.

• Dan Holtmeyer, Managing Editor, Resource Recycling, Inc.

• Antoinette Smith, Reporter, Resource Recycling, Inc.

• Colin Staub, Associate Editor, Resource Recycling, Inc.

In this session we heard from Resource Recycling's editorial team and SRO leaders on how to engage with the media to be a resource for dispelling dis/misinformation and how the media can help share your message.

Part one is the lead in to how EPR has made the "P" - producer - into a brand name. What recycling is actually about is raw materials, and the "P" Producer is the mine. The strip mine. The fracking. The petroleum well. 

Recycling defends itself best when it's not comparing one recycler or process to another recycler or process, but when we describe the only alternative - EXTRACTION.

In parts 2, 3 and 4 the plan is to cover three recent books published about EXTRACTION.  But first, lets visit the topic of disposal one more time, since it is the only lens the press looks at recycling through.

The War Below:  Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives

Ernest Scheyder

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-War-Below/Ernest-Scheyder/9781668011805

Cobalt Red:  How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives

Siddharth Kara

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250284297/cobaltred

Power Metal:  The Race for the Resources that Will Shape the Future

Vince Beiser

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/709947/power-metal-by-vince-beiser/

Here is a link to a great WSJ article about how a P Producer - Glencore - is willingly in the EPR business of recycling used electronics, or "e-waste".

@BillMaher @RealTimers Misinformed by NPR about Single Use Plastic Recycling

Sigh.  Bill Maher has given some of my favorite commentaries. But most of his comments about Plastic Recycling are Rubbish.

Here are some fact checks from last Friday's RealTimer claims about plastic recycling... in Bill's most finger wagging self-assured lecturing voice, Mr. Club Random poses as an expert in plastic recycling - something he has done over and over.  Because - I do believe this - he's an environmentalist who cares about the planet. 

But he's making up things about plastic recycling which will certainly lead to people not participating in plastic recycling collections, and he himself is doing more harm than good.

1.  Bill, the 9% of all plastic recycled is not 9% of single use containers. It included cars and electronics and all kinds of other plastic.

2. Bill, most of the "ocean patch" of plastic is vinyl from ships and shipping industry waste, not single use containers.

3. Bill, the people who fly to the USA to inspect bales of plastic scrap, price it, pay for it (more than the value of paper these days), pay truckers to load it onto ships, and then bring it to the plastic factories which have web sites and are licensed by their governments and who pay taxes on it at customs - no, no, no, Bill - they do NOT then throw them in the ocean.

4. Bill, the textiles and other plastic items made out of recycled plastic would otherwise be made out of virgin plastic. And even incredibly weak recycling systems for plastic are obviously better than that.

5. Dear Bill, check out the Oregon DEP study on the lifecycle costs of different types of packaging, learn about forests and mining, and stop making our environmental degradation all about one type of lightweight packaging which happens to make a lot of sense as a lightweight anti-spoilage container.

Bill Maher is partially right about recycling creating moral licensing which may cause overconsumption of natural resources to a degree offsetting the value of the recycling.

But like @BillMaher likes to say about "progress" on social fronts, the progress made in plastic recycling - which started when the Bottle Bill states collected enough PETE to sustain a critical mass of material to invest in it - is not "fake".

What AI Says About This Blog. Kinda Now, Kinda Wow....

 The Good Point Recycling blog (retroworks.blogspot.com), authored by Robin Ingenthron, features a wide range of influential posts focused on ethical electronics recycling and e-waste management. Some of the most popular and influential topics include:

1. Critique of the UNU E-Waste Research Program: One of the more impactful posts challenges the statistics and methodologies used by certain global institutions in the e-waste industry, particularly around how e-waste exports to developing countries are portrayed.

2. Solar Panel Recycling Initiatives: This blog highlights solar panel reuse projects, discussing the complexities of repurposing panels in developing nations and comparing it to historical issues around CRT (cathode ray tube) recycling.

3. Fair Trade Recycling Advocacy: Many posts advocate for "fair trade recycling," arguing that developing countries benefit from access to secondhand electronics, which should be seen as an opportunity for technology transfer rather than a dumping issue.

These posts draw attention due to their deep, often critical analysis of global e-waste practices and the underlying motivations of international organizations involved in e-waste regulation.

For more insights and to explore influential posts on e-waste and electronics recycling, you can visit the blog directly.