How big is the gap between the hard-core recycler and the average Joe and Jane? Single-stream collection and processing of recyclables might be one pretty good indication.

Single-stream recycling has become enormously popular in recent years. It makes things so much easier for the average consumer, who honestly doesn't want to make the organizational effort to separate newspapers from the No. 2 plastic from aluminum cans and establish separate bins for them all. Dumping it all in one big recycling catch basin is so much simpler on our personal waste streams.

When that takes place, people are a lot more willing to participate. Municipal recycling rates shoot way up, which pleases the genuine recycling advocates as well as politicians looking to attach themselves to a community success story.

But a new study released this month rains on the single-stream parade. The study asserts that there are some significant drawbacks downstream with single-stream recycling. The mixing of materials leads to contamination of the material stream and breakage of glass in particular. It's more labor intensive for processors.

Those negative issues aren't a big surprise to anyone. Single-stream recycling collection is a lot tougher on the processor. So what really we have to decide is, do we want to make recycling harder on the one generating the material or the people processing it?

Low commodity prices prompted the investigation, which underscores an economic bottom line. Is it financially worth it for a material recovery facility to continue investing in the expense of single-stream processing if the revenue is questionable?

It's all well and good for communities to boast great recycling rates. But recycling starts at the curb; it doesn't end there. We can feel great in our homes that we're recycling more, but it can create a bottleneck at the processing end if supply is outstripping demand for the materials.

Getting people to recycle is only part of the equation. We need to find ways to improve the processing and enhance the market value. If not, maybe we need to throttle back our expectations a little bit.

Allan Gerlat is editor of Waste & Recycling News. Past installments of this column are collected in the Inbox archive.

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