Recycle or Bust: What’s IN and What’s OUT

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In Barcelona the color-coded bins are ubiquitous. There is a great deal of infrastructure in place to recycle. And yet, there is some degree of skepticism on the street. Is there such a thing as recycling fatigue? Many questions abound.

  • What’s the difference between the grey recycling bin and the brown one? 
  • Do I throw the milk carton in the blue bin or the yellow one? 
  • If I throw all my trash into the grey bin do the recyclable items get sorted out? 
  • Do the trash bins found on corners get sorted? 
  • Does any of this matter? 
  • Why can’t it be simpler?

While the focus of the environmental movement is on the urgent issues of global warming and climate change, recycling and reducing waste are long-standing components of improving the environment and can significantly reduce everyone’s carbon footprint. Over the next few months Barcelona Metropolitan will have a series of articles on recycling and waste reduction. 

How Much Waste Do We Produce?

According to the World Bank, humans generated 2.01 billion tons of solid waste in 2016 and by 2050 that could rise to 3.4 billion tons. About 12% of all municipal waste in 2016 was plastic—242 million tons of it.

Figures published in the journal Science in 2015 indicate that somewhere between 4.8 and 12.7 million tons of plastic enter the ocean each year.

In Spain, only 14% of the plastic waste that is generated is collected for recycling. 

By the end of this year, we will have used 500 billion plastic bags of which, five million will go to the ocean. In addition, less than one percent of these used plastic bags are recycled correctly.

In Spain in 2016, approximately 18 kg of plastic per person were recycled but, about 23 kg were landfilled. EAE Business School released a report entitled “Waste Management and the Circular Economy” concluding that, in Spain, 56.7% of waste is dumped in landfills, while 43.3% is recycled or reused. Specifically, 13.5% is used to generate energy, 18.3% is recycled and 11.5% is used for composting. However, these percentages do not comply with the current hierarchy of priorities established by the European Union, which prioritizes the minimization, reuse and recycling of waste above dumping in landfills, as is currently the practice. 

Apart from reducing the volume of waste that goes to landfills, the question remains: Does recycling really have an impact on global warming?

Does It Matter If I Don't Recycle?

Consider just the recycling of paper and plastics. According to DoItGreen.org the pulp and paper industry is the 5th largest industrial consumer of energy. In fact, 65% less energy is consumed in the production of paper using recycled materials versus when raw materials are used. Lower energy consumption results in reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Recycling one ton of paper saves 17 trees from being cut down. Each tree helps reduce global warming by capturing and holding carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas. Methane and nitrous oxide, both greenhouse gases, are emitted during wastewater treatment. Production of recycled paper uses 50% less water than raw material paper production, reducing the amount of methane and nitrous oxide released in the wastewater. Additionally, if paper is recycled it won't end up in landfills where it would then degrade and release methane.

As it concerns plastic recycling, the Stanford Magazine reports that study after study reveals that recycling surpasses virgin production of plastics on all environmental measurements, especially when it comes to carbon emissions. Estimates vary with the type of recycling process used, but there is consensus that recycling and remanufacturing plastic saves at least 30% of the carbon emissions that original processing and manufacturing produce. That could mean an annual savings of 30 to 150 million tons of CO2.  A group of Italian scientists performed an analysis of different recycling methods, as compared to landfilling or combustion. Comparing greenhouse gas emissions from post-consumer plastic recycling with the equivalent amount of virgin plastic production, the researchers quantified emissions savings of 70% to 80% in the recycling scenario.

This Metropolitan series on recycling will cover each category of recyclable waste in more depth. But for now, we’ll lay the basics of what is recyclable and what is not in each of the colored recycling bins: yellow, green blue and brown. This and more information is found on the Barcelona city website:

1. Yellow Recycling Bins for Plastics, Cans and Cartons

Items which can be recycled are: plastic containers (water bottles, plastic bags, yogurt containers, etc.), beverage and food cans, cartons (such as Tetra briks), plastic plates, metal lids, aluminum foil, cling film and polystyrene trays.

Items which cannot be recycled: toys, watering hoses, tubes, materials such as videotapes and CDs, as well as packaging from dangerous products (like solvent or paint).

Recycling plastic is complicated; every time an item is recycled its quality decreases, giving it a relatively short life before it has to be discarded. In Barcelona, recyclable plastics are delivered to sorting plants, which separate the various materials by combining optical, mechanical and manual techniques. The various selected materials are compacted, packaged and distributed to recycling centers.

2. Green Recycling Bins for Glass

Items which can be recycled: glass containers and bottles. 

Items which cannot be recycled: broken glasses, window glass, mirrors, ovenware (like Pyrex), ceramic items, dishes, standard and fluorescent light bulbs.

Glass waste is delivered to recycling plants, where it is crushed and the contaminants are removed. Glass is 100% recyclable and can be recycled endlessly without loss of quality. Glass has the shortest turnaround time of any recycled products and can be back on shelves in as little as 30 days.

3. Blue Recycling Bins for Paper and Cardboard

Items which can be recycled: packaging and cardboard boxes, newspapers, magazines, notebooks books without plastic or wire binding, envelopes, paper bags, sheets and wrapping paper.

Paper items that cannot be recycled in the blue bins: dirty paper products. This includes paper napkins or paper towels soaked with cooking oil or food; these items should be thrown in the brown containers. 

Nearly 80% of the paper we use can be recycled. Paper and cardboard waste is delivered to recycling plants, where it is shredded and separated according to grades. The shredded paper is soaked, chopped up and heated to break it down into paper pulp, which is strained to filter its unwanted materials. It is then de-inked, washed, bleached and rolled out onto reels, which are then distributed to paper mills, ready to enter the market again.

4. Brown Recycling Bins for Organic Waste

Items which can be recycled: leftover meat, fish, bread, fruit, vegetables, shellfish, nuts, egg shells, organic corks, tea bags, coffee grounds, paper towels and napkins soaked with oil and food and gardening waste. 

Items which cannot be recycled: sweeping debris, hair, diapers and animal feces, which should all be thrown into grey containers. 

Food and green waste comprise about 50% of municipal solid waste worldwide. While organic waste does degrade, this takes time. Organic materials thrown into landfills not only fills up the limited available space, but it also releases CO2 and methane into the environment as it decomposes. Barcelona delivers organic waste to ecoparks, where it becomes compost or is used to produce bio-gas.

5. Grey Bins for Other Waste

Items which can be thrown out: cigarette butts, sanitary towels, diapers, sweeping debris, cotton, hair, used pens and pencils, animal feces and all other non-recyclable trash.

Items which cannot be thrown: tea bags, paper towels and paper towel soaked with oil, food leftovers (egg shells, shellfish, etc.), which should be thrown into brown containers. Wood remains, CDs, cartons with toxic materials or clothing should be delivered to a punt verd (green point, a neighborhood recycling center).

The grey bin is for all the waste which cannot be recycled. This waste is delivered to ecoparks, where errant recyclable items are separated out into paper/cardboard, packaging, glass and other materials by several procedures in order to integrate them into the recycling chain. Waste which cannot be recycled is then either delivered to landfills or incinerated.

However, the system works only as well as the humans that feed it with trash. Items that are not cleaned before disposal can result in more items going into landfills. This is particularly true for food containers—plastic, metal or glass—that do not get cleaned before being placed in a recycling bin. Secondly, often the location of the bins seems random and it can be difficult to find all five colors of bins in the same location. The city is taking steps to remedy this with its new solid waste contractor which began to provide service in November 2019. Also, in some areas with narrow streets like Raval and el Born, there are no bins but you may find street level large cylinders that are essentially pneumatic tubes in which you can dispose of organic waste (brown top) or all other trash (grey top) in a pneumatic powered system under the streets.

You now have the basic information to be a conscientious recycler in Barcelona. Every small step that each of us takes counts. Together we can work toward change for the health of our planet and ourselves.