Recycling Collection May Soon Be Free-Of-Charge

Picture credit: Zibik on Unsplash

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Reduce, reuse, recycle. All are good intentions to ease the environmental pressure caused by consumerism, but the amount of trash generated by Americans remains vast.

The United States, while representing only 4% of the global population, was responsible for generating 11.65% of waste material in 2018, according to Statista data. Global generation of waste is only expected to increase into 2030 and beyond.

So, if reduction or reuse remains difficult, wouldn’t it make sense simply to recycle as much as possible? Not so fast; recycling for Americans often remains largely inaccessible. Even when curbside pickup is available, much recyclable material, particularly plastics, still finds its way into landfills if there is contamination or if the hauling company decides there isn’t a profitable market for recyclable products.

Making it all a Little Easier

Startup newBin (which is currently raising capital via a crowdfunding campaign) wants to make it easier for Americans to recycle and aims to revolutionize the current system by benefiting from international efforts to shift the cost of recycling to the consumer products companies and retailers who produce the plastic.

So-called “Extended Producer Responsibility”, or EPR, fees are currently the vogue in Europe and Canada. And they’re making their way to the US.

The State of Maine recently passed legislation that seeks to press EPR fees on companies that sell their products into that state. And other state legislatures are considering following suit.

newBin wants to capitalize on this trend to remake the recyclables collection system and make it free of charge to cities and households currently paying for private hauling.

By marketing its new app to cities and towns as an alternative to traditional collection, newBin says households will be able to schedule a trash pickup that independent contractors will deliver to the company’s designated receptacles as a free service. newBin also aims to recycle more of the material than is currently being recycled by fee-based waste collectors.

There are a lot of companies, big or small, that provide on-demand services: rideshare when it comes to Uber UBER and Lyft LYFT, and food delivery with Instacart and Doordash DASH. NewBin focuses on trash services, and not passengers that get taken from one place to another; and there’s no need for any sorting of plastics. In addition, newBin will reward both individuals and contractors with discounts at local grocery stores and gas stations, so-called Eco Rewards.

Eventually, newBin wants to use all the additional untapped plastics it thinks it will pick up from this new system and have it feed a new plastics recovery facility its sister company, International Recycling Group (IRG), is planning to build in its home city of Erie, Pennsylvania.

That ideal could be a few years off, but in the interim, IRG is planning to take plastic waste from traditional haulers that could otherwise end up in landfills and ensure it reaches real recycling markets.

“The beauty of our model is we have a non-landfill, no-tip-fee home for absolutely every pound of plastic that comes in the door,” Mitch Hecht, IRG Founder, Chairman, and CEO said of newBin.

Fees and Savings

Fees are indeed a big part of the traditional waste-management industry. 

Municipalities, for example, typically pay an estimated $100 per ton or more to collect recyclables. By having this expense picked up by corporations looking to assume their share of the collection process, newBin hopes to save the municipalities and their taxpayers from having to pay such high collection fees.

Hecht said he thinks newBin can reduce landfill or incineration of plastics by 1 billion pounds a year within the next 7 years with the company’s business model by accessing the more than 90% of plastics that don’t actually get recycled.

When waste-management companies charge lucrative tipping fees for landfill dumping, that could be an issue for established players. Waste Management Inc. WM and Republic Services Inc. RSG together own almost 20% of U.S. landfills.

You can learn more about newBin and its crowdfunding campaign at startengine.com/newbin.

This post contains sponsored advertising content. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.