Recycling Past and Present and the New Innovation Challenge for Materials at End-of-Life

Recycling is critical for the drive towards a circular economy and sustainable materials. More than ever, consumers, industries, governments, and academics are looking at end-of-life materials processing with the simultaneous goals of reducing emissions and energy consumption from primary materials production, encouraging sustainable practices, and securing the supply chains of key materials. However, attention on recycling practices and markets has been inconsistent over the years and critical market trends were largely unnoticed up until three years ago. Consequently, when China instituted its import ban on over 20 classes of recycled materials that failed to meet its strict low contamination limit in 2018, widespread and immediate global repercussions were felt throughout the recycling industry, particularly in the United States (U.S.). To understand the magnitude of this most recent market disruption to the U.S. recycling industry, it is instructive to trace recycling’s origins and evolution to identify where the recycling model has succeeded and where there exist opportunities for improvement. In this vein, this assessment gives a brief overview of the historical development of recycling in the U.S., the state of the industry today, and a discussion of specific materials classes where recycling has achieved varying degrees of success. By providing this context, this assessment aims to generate a discussion based on a systems-wide approach and provide examples of intervention strategies that help move communities toward more sustainable materials management.