It’s Time to Toss Wishcycling

Congratulations! With good planning, communication, and promotion you’ve cultivated a community of willing and enthusiastic recyclers through intuitive recycling education. They’re diligently filling their bins with paper, plastic, cans, bottles, and everything that looks like it should be recyclable. Every day, full trucks are rumbling into the recycling center. It’s a good feeling.

But here’s the catch: 76% of recyclables are lost at the household level. Despite everyone’s best intentions, it can be disheartening to know that a substantial amount of material is diverted from recycling to the landfill. Ironically, contamination is often caused by the same people who strive to be responsible recyclers – the wishcyclers.

What is wishcycling? 

Quite simply, it’s when people throw non-recyclables into the recycling bin, not out of malice, but rather because they don’t know what materials are or aren’t recyclable. 

Make a wish and toss it in

It happens to the best of us. Standing over the bins, holding an empty package, trying to discern whether it should be recycled or trashed. It certainly feels better to believe it could be recycled. But without that clear municipal guideline handy, many people make a wish and toss it into recycling. Surely someone at the other end will know what to do with this mystery package.

That’s wishcycling. It’s not malicious. In fact, it’s hopeful – but unfortunately, it’s not helpful. Most residents want to do the right thing, but wishcycling undermines your recycling program and has real costs. Wishcycled materials end up causing more harm than good, causing the need for more sorting and screening after pickup, eliminating some of the efficiency that’s core to the appeal of recycling to begin with. 

The real cost of wishcycling

As recently as 10 years ago, recycling contamination rates were calculated around seven percent. Now, nearly 25 percent of the items we try to recycle are too contaminated to go anywhere but the landfill, and wishcycling is a key factor in this number continuing to rise.

Studies show that reducing contamination by just one percentage point can save municipalities up to 90 cents per household each year.

If your community could stem wishcycling behavior and clean up contamination by 10 percentage points, what could you accomplish with the potential result of $9 per household? More importantly, what would it mean for the sustainability of your recycling program, your community, and the global environment?

Today’s recycling education software tools fulfill resident needs for searchable “what goes where” information on the fly, and they represent an investment of significantly less time and money than municipal solid waste tools built in-house – not to mention the positive benefits for the community and the environment.

Digital tools make wishes come true

Your residents want to do the right thing. Now it’s easy to help them recycle confidently and accurately. Instead of expecting them to memorize long lists of materials or dig out an annual brochure, provide them with an easy-to-use tool they can carry in their pocket. A custom recycling app can answer their questions quickly and eliminate the guesswork. Digital tools can be the cornerstone of your recycling program and a key to addressing wishcycling behavior. Let’s take a look at how this works:

• Make it easy to know what goes where – Give your community a digital recycling tool like Waste Wizard and they’ll have the information they need at their fingertips to make confident recycling choices. No need to search a long list of materials when they have access to real-time, searchable database that’s customized to the capabilities of your recycling program. Waste Wizard from Routeware also provides feedback on the most searched items to help you fine-tune your education programs.
• Interactive learning – A great way to help residents recycle right is with the Routeware Waste Sorting Game. It’s a fun way for people of all ages to test their knowledge and pick up some recycling tips. Meanwhile, you can see which materials cause the most confusion to help you further focus your educational programs.
• Informed communities contribute more – When everyone understands the big-picture of recycling in their community, they know how to play their role. Digital tools like the Mobile App from Routeware allow you to inform and educate residents about how their decisions have impact. Along with reminders and schedule updates, the app allows you to deliver quick tidbits that help take the guesswork out of recycling.
• Reward recyclers with informed feedback – The right digital tools give you the ability to better inform and engage residents. As the community catches on to positive recycling behavior, the feedback you provide will empower them to continue making wise choices. After all, wishcyclers want their actions to make a difference. With the right data and an increasingly successful program, you can show them how they’re contributing to a healthy community and environment.