Why colour matters when it comes to recycling

(NC) It seems like such a simple system: if it’s organic, put it in the green bin; if it’s paper, plastic or cans, put it in the blue bin; everything else goes in the garbage. But the truth about recycling is more complicated than that—for instance, fewer items than many people expect are actually recyclable.

Pizza boxes are a good example, since the cardboard is made of paper pulp and therefore should be recyclable. But the grease from pizza soaks into that paper pulp and makes it unusable. In fact, putting a non-recyclable item into a load of recyclable material can cause the entire load to be thrown out.

How recyclable a plastic is can depend on its colour. You may have heard that black plastics can’t be recycled. That’s alright when it comes to electronic waste, which often has a number of components that can’t be re-used; but it can add up to a lot of waste when single-use items, such as takeout containers, use black plastic.

The problem comes at the sorting stage. Recycling plants use optical sensors to sort the plastics that come in. Black plastics are more difficult for the sensors to detect, so they’re more challenging to recover and recycle.

Black plastic is also less versatile. Clear plastics have the most options because colour can be added to the mix, but colour can’t be taken out. Even coloured opaque plastics are harder to recycle than white or clear alternatives—they often end up being used in recycled black plastic.

Manufacturers are rethinking how they colour plastic products. As the challenges of reusing black plastics have become clearer, many retailers across Canada have shifted their practices to focus on producing clear or white packaging—you may have noticed more takeout restaurants using white-bottomed takeout trays in the past couple of years, for instance.

When large companies update how they produce their packaging, the impact can add up. For example, Loblaw has made changes across its product packaging to help reduce waste, such as replacing the black plastic lids previously used on its spice jars with a more recyclable alternative. That single packaging change helped the company eliminate an estimated eight metric tons of unrecyclable plastic waste.

More companies are starting to use design to help lower their impact—a single choice, such as packaging’s material, colour or thickness, can improve recyclability across millions of products. You have a part to play as well, in the choices you make. By supporting products with more sustainable packaging and taking care to always recycle correctly, you can make a real difference. Learn more about sustainable packaging at loblaw.ca/en/plastics.