WM, a leading environmental solutions provider and North America’s largest recycler, has officially published a new report, which highlights the importance of consumer households, businesses, policymakers and local municipalities working together to potentially improve the nation’s recycling system.
According to certain reports, the stated report is based on the responses of more than 1,000 American consumers and businesses, thus making up a well-informed basis to summarize data and takeaways around recycling behaviors and perceptions. Such a comprehensive lowdown, like you can guess, goes a long distance to help us understand opportunities to bolster recycling education, investments and accessibility across US.
Talk about the given findings on a slightly deeper level, we begin from how it discovered that, while many Americans want to recycle, some still lack an understanding of how recycling works. In essence, nearly half (44%) of all respondents reporteD that they are looking for ways to expand their recycling practices in the future. Having said so, 1 in every 10 people, who recycle say they recycle plastic bottles and containers, was found not-at-all confident that their plastics are actually recycled.
“Recycling is essential to enabling circular economy, but it works best when we work together,” said Tara Hemmer, chief sustainability officer, WM. “WM’s research shows that many Americans are eager to recycle, but they need more education and greater access to recycling in order to build confidence in the practice. As the demand for recycled materials continues to grow, WM is driving solutions alongside our communities and customers by investing in technology that can make recycling more efficient, building new recycling facilities in areas that previously lacked access, and helping consumers and businesses understand what and how to recycle.”
Next up, the report would go on to see 45% respondents citing lack of knowledge about what can and cannot be recycled as their biggest barrier, whereas on the other hand 64% said that if they knew more about what to recycle and how (and what not to recycle), their involvement would significantly increase.
Another detail worth a mention is rooted in the impact of consumer’s location on recycling habits. An example relaying the same is concerned with how people living across rural areas face greater accessibility issues in order to recycle. In fact, almost 50% of respondents from rural areas reported dealing with more inconveniences that led to lower rates of recycling, such as having to drive long distances or to a different site to recycle.
Rounding up highlights would a piece of detail which claimed that creating products with recycled content can be a differentiator for brands. Here, over 75% of surveyed Americans reported that they are more likely to buy products from companies that include recycled content in their products. However, out of this very 75%, though, as many as 60% revealed not having clarity on which brands use recycled content in their products, calling for more education to help consumers attain a better understanding.
Among other things, we ought to mention how VM commissioned the Futurum Group to facilitate the given study. Once roped in for the job, Futurum conducted two online surveys of 1,045 consumers and businesses, during July 2024, regarding recycling behaviors and perceptions. Going by the available details, the consumer survey included 518 individuals over the age of 18 in the U.S., balanced to reflect U.S. census demographics. As for the business survey, it had 527 employees from companies across the U.S., including recycling program service or contract decision makers within the company, employees responsible for managing recycling programs, and general staff.
Operating out of Houston, VM’ rise up the ranks stems from providing collection, recycling and disposal services to millions of residential, commercial, industrial, medical and municipal customers throughout US and beyond. At present, the company has what is understood to be the largest disposal network and collection fleet in North America, including more than 12,000 natural gas trucks. It is also the largest recycler of post-consumer materials, all while leading the charge on beneficial use of landfill gas with its network of renewable natural gas plants, as well as landfill gas-to-electricity plants.
