Avoid single stream collections, says EU

Collecting dry recyclables from households in a single-stream operation ‘incurs detrimental environmental and economic effects and should be avoided’, according to EU research.

A report from the European Commission’s Joint research Centre, ‘Impacts of the collection and treatment of dry recyclables’, finds that single-stream commingled collections give the worst outcomes of any sorting method.

The goal of the study was to recommend best commingling practices for the separate collection of dry recyclables based on the requirements of the EU Waste Framework Directive and ahead of its upcoming revision.

More streams

‘The results indicate that single-stream collection (commingling all dry recyclables together) incurs detrimental environmental and economic effects and should be avoided,’ the report concludes.

‘Systems with three or four streams achieve comparable environmental and economic performances and are recommended, together with selected dual-stream systems where glass, metal and plastic are commingled, while paper and cardboard are collected in a separate stream or commingled with beverage cartons.’

The report finds no evidence that four-stream systems are better than three-stream systems or dual-stream systems when paper and cardboard are kept separate from the other light dry recyclables, suggesting that some degree of commingling can be safely accepted.

In the UK, for example, now outside the EU, it is reported that 203 local authorities – around half – operate commingled recycling services.

Commingling commonplace

The report adds that, in the vast majority of the cases, a separate collection of each individual dry recyclable (beverage cartons, glass, metal, paper and cardboard, and plastic) is not enforced.

‘Instead, some form of commingling is always in place, which formally represents a derogation from the provisions of the Waste Framework Directive. This occurs for many reasons, mainly owing to the techno-economic constraints related to separating individual materials (with a low share and weight of the total, e.g. metal), but also simply to poor collection practices.’

It also finds that higher recycling rates correlate to a lower net Climate Change impact by the waste management system.