Tracking Devices Are Not a Good Test for Recycling
Surveys consistently show that Americans support recycling and want better recycling programs, but there is a considerable amount of misinformation about what happens to recyclables once they are collected. With that in mind, it makes sense that some people might try to find out for themselves whether their local recycling programs are, in fact, working.
Enter a recent spate of media coverage featuring "tests" of recycling with AirTags or other tracking devices attached to recyclable plastic bottles, bags, or other recyclable plastics. While this makes for an interesting experiment, the results do not accurately assess whether recycling is working. These tests don't consider how recycling facilities sort and process plastics and how metallic contaminants are removed to protect equipment.
It's important to know that recycling facilities use specialized sorting equipment and technology to separate different types of plastics and other materials. This equipment relies on recognizing the plastic resin types and other characteristics.
By attaching a tracker to a recyclable plastic, you are actually making the plastic not recyclable and can cause the plastic packaging to be mis-sorted and pulled out of the stream as trash.
Here are a few explanations for how that might happen:
First, the tracker may be detected as a foreign material by the sorting equipment's sensors or metal detectors. PET bottles are most commonly sorted by near infrared (NIR) cameras. If the NIR "sees" the tracker instead of the bottle, then it tells the machine this is not a bottle and not to grab the bottle for recycling. Similarly, in the flexible packaging recycling process, metal detectors are utilized to remove metallic contaminants that would damage processing equipment such as screws, coins and less often trackers. When the metal detector identifies a metallic contaminant, the contaminant and any packaging surrounding it would be ejected and sent to the waste stream.
Second, the added weight of the tracker can affect how the container gets sorted. Many recycling facilities use air jets to sort packaging into the right stream for recycling. A tracker can increase the weight – even just a little bit - and cause the air jets to sort the item incorrectly. This is why plastic containers should also be emptied before recycling, because a bottle with a lot of liquid inside can also sort incorrectly.
While trackers can be useful to show that your recycling was transported to a recycling facility for processing, they are not a very effective tool once the package enters the recycling process.In fact, tracker tests actually prove something recyclers already know - that the sorting processes and equipment at recycling facilities are very effective at identifying recyclables and separating out contaminants.
Here's something else we know – several studies ( highlighted in this blog: Attacks on Plastic Recycling Only Worsen the Plastic Waste Problem) confirm the majority of PET, HDPE, and PP packaging that consumers put in their bin is effectively recycled back into new products and packaging in North America.
So, remember when you see stories about trackers in recycling, the real story is the sortation equipment at recycling facilities is working. Want to make sure your recyclable plastics are getting recycled? Put them in the recycling bin!
