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Godoy's "Snowjob" Chair: Candy wrappers never get recycled?
Regular readers of this blog know I'm obsessed with the idea of one person's garbage becoming another's raw material, particularly when there's a minimum of processing involved. One fascinating example of this phenomenon is designer Emiliano Godoy's "Snowjob" chair, which is skinned in candy wrappers. (Not used ones, but misprints and obsolete ones.)
One point Godoy raises -- which sheds some light on the name of the chair -- is that these wrappers all have recycling symbols on them, yet he claims that the material...
...although technically recyclable, is never recycled, not even in its virgin, post-industrial state. One label on the back is folded in such a way that the recycling logo that appears on each candy wrapping is visible, speaking about the fact that the cover is made from recycled materials, but also about the misdirecting impression that this logo makes on the final consumer, who might think that candy wrappers are actually recycled when in fact none of them is.
I do wish Godoy would back this claim up with some links or evidence. This is not to cast doubt on his statements, but rather because I'd be very interested in reading up on why these things are not recycled, how they are able to get away with it, and what other materials claim recyclability but never see re-use.
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please check www.ecoist.com for more info
we collaborated with Godoy on this project. Ecoist upcycled post-industrial waste provided by Coca-Cola, Frito-Lay, Mars, and many other companies.
The first thing to say about the statement above is that when I say "recycling" I don't mean reusing or downcycling, which is what I'm doing with these postindustrial pieces. I mean actually recovering the material and transforming it into something new. The first problem is that the material for the candy wrappers is a mix of different things, usually a thermoplastic with an aluminum lining, a layer of ink and probably a clear coat on top. There are several packaging materials made this way, such as tetrapack or waxed cardboard. In these cases, recycling means recovering only one of the materials in the mix, and landfilling, dissolving in wastewater or incinerating the rest. That's why basically every candy wrapper features the infuriating number 7 inside the recyclable symbol, which indicates the type of plastic the wrapper is made of. Number 7 means "other". I seriously think this should not be allowed, as it leaves a misleading impression in the consumer.
The second problem is that any of these processes are expensive and complex. Postindustrial waste is usually not enough to justify setting up a complete industry around it's recycling, especially when supply is not even or steady by industrial standards. If cost was not an issue, then the big question is what to do with the recycled materials (that's why chemical recycling looks so interesting next to mechanical recycling, as it opens the possibilities in regards to what this material can be applied to).
The third problem is that even if in some part of the world there was a facility that sorted, cleaned, somehow separated the different materials and recycled them individually, and then found some client that would pay for the resulting raw materials, we would still need the reclaiming and distribution network to get the american-made candy wrapper that I consumed in Mexico to this facility, wherever it may be. And in the end, if we were able to do all this, we would still have to question how pertinent such a system is: most probably the embedded energy of this new material would be so high that the planet would be better off just leaving it in the nearest landfill.
I think we have to stop greenwashing, stop deceiving consumers, and tax the hell out of disposable products. There is no such thing as away, just out of sight.
Most of what I say here is pretty standard knowledge for people treating waste, but a starting point literature could be "Recycle, the essential guide" from Black Dog Publishing.
Saludos, Emiliano