Reduce Reuse and then Recycle

According to the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council, Texans produced about 36.6 million tons of solid waste in 2020, the most recent year for which data is available, costing more than $1 billion each year in disposal expenses.

Conscious consumption, including responsible waste management, can enrich our lives with awareness and fulfillment as we do our part to create a more sustainable Rio Grande Valley. We can reflect on our actions and consequent impact and choose to deviate from the norm of excessive consumption and waste to make decisions that align with our morals.

According to the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council, Texans produced about 36.6 million tons of solid waste in 2020, the most recent year for which data is available, costing more than $1 billion each year in disposal expenses. At least 20 percent of this waste is compostable materials that can be returned to the soil to improve food production and help restore ecology. Landfills across the country are reaching their capacity. Additionally, the burning of waste emits methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change and causes human health issues such as respiratory and heart diseases. According to the Climate & Clean Air Coalition, methane causes half a million premature deaths each year in the U.S.

But the power of people, fueled by hope for tomorrow and participating in responsible waste management, can change these bleak facts. How? We can reduce waste that ends up in a landfill by composting food scraps in our home compost bin or coordinate a drop with someone who composts. Landscape waste such as grass clippings and leaves can be collected in paper bags and picked up by local composting facilities in cities such as McAllen and Brownsville. If your city doesn’t have a compost program, we can call the municipal representatives and demand this service. Marta De Angulo, administrator of the Zero Waste RGV Facebook group, shares, “We can improve our local food systems and economy when we switch from packaged to local produce and other products.”

When we do recycle, we can make a more positive impact by first REDUCING and REUSING and then RECYCLING correctly.

RECYCLABLE

Clean Plastics 1 & 2
Clean Aluminum & Tin Cans
Paper, Newspaper & Cardboard

NOT RECYCLABLE

Styrofoam
Plastic Bags
Products with Food Residue

Further, we can reuse materials we already have and purchase refillable vessels and bulk products. This helps cut back on the extraction of natural resources that use fossil fuels, fill landfills and emit pollutants. We can also get creative and use cardboard to suppress weeds and grow a garden, line small garbage bins with newspaper instead of plastic bags, donate magazines to your local salon, fashion old t-shirts into produce bags and refill jugs with water.

The last point of responsible waste management is to recycle because only about 5 to 6 percent of plastics is actually recycled in the U.S., according to 2021 data. Other materials have higher success rates, including 99 percent for lead acid batteries, 91.4 percent for corrugated cardboard (both in 2021), 70.9 percent for steel cans and 59.7 percent for aluminum cans, both in 2018.

However, contaminated non-recyclable materials like styrofoam, along with plastic bags and food scraps contaminate hauls and contribute to recycling ending up in landfills. For example, recycling stored in dark bags is tossed without even making it to the sorting line because it is hazardous for employees to open and sort what’s in them. Abril Paz, recycling education coordinator for the City of McAllen, confirmed that the McAllen Recycling Center acts as a regional facility, receiving materials to sort by hand from other cities. She urged people across the valley to clean/rinse their recycling, to only recycle accepted materials and to not bag their recycling because it clogs machinery.

Furthermore, with the National Sword Policy, China no longer accepts exported recycling materials from America, leaving 56 percent of recycled waste unprocessed. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t recycle.

When we do recycle, we can make a more positive impact by first REDUCING and REUSING and then RECYCLING correctly. This includes being informed about local recycling processes. To assist people in responsibly managing their waste, we offer a label that lists the materials commonly accepted for recycling throughout the RGV. Another list contains RGV recycling facilities.