Recyclable, Unsold, Landfilled: The Gap in Beverage Packaging Recovery
There’s a disconnect that we must bring to light: recyclable and recycled are not always the same thing. In fact, there’s often a significant gap between the two.
This applies to all industries, but today we’re going to discuss how this specifically affects the beverage industry. And with expired, recalled, damaged, mislabeled, or otherwise unsaleable beverages creating additional challenges, companies must be prepared to handle both the liquid and packaging effectively.
So, while using recyclable materials is a great starting point, there are gaps in the recovery process that must be resolved to support a circular economy. Keep reading to learn more about the common reasons why recyclable materials are still sent to landfills, how to properly recover beverage packaging, and more.
Editor’s Note: This article was independently reviewed and fact-checked by Unsustainable Magazine. Claims about beverage recovery, recycling, recalls, and anaerobic digestion were checked against guidance and data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Key Takeaways
- Recyclable does not mean recycled. Beverage packaging can still be landfilled if collection, separation, contamination, transport, or processing barriers prevent recovery.
- Unsaleable beverages create an extra challenge because the liquid and packaging often need to be separated before either can be routed to an appropriate recovery pathway.
- Depackaging can help recover both streams, allowing eligible packaging to move toward recycling while organic liquids may be suitable for options such as anaerobic digestion.
- Recalls do not automatically mean landfill. Depending on the product, contaminant, regulations, and available infrastructure, FDA-recognized options can include reprocessing, reworking, diversion to another safe use, or destruction.
- Infrastructure matters as much as packaging design. A technically recyclable bottle or can still needs an available processor, viable transport, and an end market for the recovered material.
- Planning before waste is generated can improve recovery outcomes by identifying packaging materials, beverage type, likely contamination risks, and suitable facilities in advance.
In Focus: Key Data
- 29.1% — U.S. recycling rate for PET bottles and jars in EPA’s 2018 national materials data.
- 50.4% — U.S. recycling rate for aluminum beer and soft-drink cans in the same EPA dataset.
- 39.6% — U.S. recycling rate for glass beer and soft-drink bottles.
- 24% — approximate share of landfilled municipal solid waste made up of food waste, according to EPA research.
- 58% — estimated share of fugitive methane emissions from U.S. municipal solid-waste landfills attributable to landfilled food waste.
- Beverage-processing waste was the largest food-waste category handled by responding anaerobic-digestion facilities in EPA’s latest national survey.
Why Recyclable Beverage Packaging Still Ends Up in Landfills
A recyclable label does not guarantee recovery. Operational, logistical, and contamination barriers can prevent otherwise recyclable materials from reaching recycling streams.
Product and Packaging Are Still Combined
There’s a challenge that full beverage products face that others don’t: they still contain liquid. This means that they cannot be processed the same way as empty bottles or containers.
Rather than moving directly into conventional packaging recycling streams, they must undergo additional processing. The liquids must be separated from the packaging using depackaging technology. From there, the liquids and packaging are typically processed separately, adding another layer of complexity to the recovery process.
If this process isn’t handled correctly, full beverage products and their packaging can end up in landfills.
Contamination Can Limit Recovery
Residual liquids, mixed materials, labels, and other contaminants can affect whether packaging is accepted. This can be a surprise for companies, as the products might be intact when they send them to processing facilities. But if they leak or break during transportation, for instance, the resulting contamination may affect whether the materials can be recycled.
If a beverage is recalled for a specific reason, this may also affect which recovery options are available, depending on the nature of the recall.
In these cases, materials that could otherwise be recovered may end up being sent to a landfill instead.
Logistics and Facility Capabilities Vary
Just because a facility processes beverage waste doesn’t mean it can manage the exact type of waste you have. Processing an alcoholic beverage may have different requirements than processing a coffee-based drink, for example.
This means companies must find a facility that processes their specific type of waste, potentially introducing challenges related to transportation, volume, and local infrastructure.
When access to the appropriate recovery infrastructure is limited or transportation becomes impractical, landfill disposal may become more likely where permitted, increasing the risk that otherwise recyclable materials are not recovered.
The Consequences of the Beverage Packaging Recovery Gap
“Out of sight, out of mind” doesn’t apply when we’re talking about waste management. While sending unsold beverages and their packaging to a landfill may feel like the easy choice, it has environmental consequences that extend beyond disposal.
When recyclable beverage packaging is landfilled rather than recovered, it can contribute to:
- Greenhouse gas emissions: Landfills are a source of greenhouse gas emissions; particularly organic waste decomposes. When full beverage products are landfilled, their liquid contents can be added to the organic material undergoing decomposition.
- Loss of recyclable materials: Packaging materials like PET plastic, aluminum, and glass that could potentially be recovered are instead removed from circulation, increasing the need for virgin materials.
- Greater demand for landfill space: Sending recoverable beverage waste to landfills uses capacity that could otherwise be preserved by diverting eligible materials to recycling and other recovery pathways.
However, choosing recyclable packaging alone isn’t enough to solve the problem. Companies also need access to the infrastructure and processing capabilities required to recover those materials.
This challenge becomes even more important when recycling capacity is limited. The U.S. has lost nearly a quarter of its PET plastic recycling capacity in just 15 months, while increased reliance on virgin plastic and weaker demand for recycled material are placing additional pressure on the recycling system.
What Happens When Beverage Packaging Is Properly Recovered?
We’ve briefly talked about what’s required for effective beverage recovery, but now we’re breaking the process down even further. Below, we discuss how beverages are separated from their packaging, how liquid waste is handled, and how packaging materials can be properly recovered as part of an effective landfill diversion program.
Step 1: Separate the Beverage From the Packaging
We’ve already briefly introduced depackaging, but it’s important to understand how depackaging supports packaging recovery. Serving as the mechanical separation of liquid contents from their primary packaging, we consider it the bridge between unsaleable beverages and material recovery.
By separating these two waste streams, materials that couldn’t be properly processed while still combined can be directed toward more appropriate recovery pathways. This creates an opportunity to recover both the liquid contents and eligible packaging materials rather than treating the entire product as waste.
This brings us to our next point.
Step 2: Route the Liquid for Beneficial Use
After the depackaging technology separates the liquid from the packaging, the liquid must be properly processed. The right strategy depends on the type of beverage and facility capabilities.
Ethanol recovery can be a solution for eligible alcohol waste, while anaerobic digestion can be valuable for organic beverage waste. Through anaerobic digestion, microorganisms break down organic material in an oxygen-free environment, producing biogas that can be used as a source of energy.
Finding the right outlet for the liquid helps divert beverage waste from landfills while creating an opportunity for beneficial use.
Step 3: Sort and Recover Packaging Materials
The next step is to manage the packaging materials. This step will also vary depending on the type of waste, with common recyclable materials including PET, aluminum, and glass.
A report on PET recycling gives us valuable insight into recycling rates and recovery trends, but ultimately, the type, condition, and quality of the material determine which recycling processors can accept it. Properly sorting and routing these materials is what helps turn recyclable packaging into packaging that is actually recycled.
Closing the Gap Between Recyclability and Recovery
So, the big question is: How do we close this gap?
Knowing the right recovery paths as well as the common reasons why recyclable materials end up in landfills provides a great foundation, but let’s take a look at how to make your waste management strategy even more effective.
- Plan for the entire waste stream: I know, we’ve already hinted at it multiple times, but it’s an often-overlooked area. Unfortunately, many companies don’t plan until they face overproduction, expired products, or recalls that introduce a waste stream they may not have managed before. Instead, plan and determine how each material will be handled before you find yourself in this situation.
- Identify materials before disposal: As part of your preparation, you should be aware of packaging composition, beverage type, contamination concerns, and approximate volume. By having this information ready, you can act quickly and reduce the risk of improper handling that could lead to landfill disposal.
- Work with an experienced waste management partner: You don’t have to handle everything alone. Waste management specialists can evaluate your beverage waste and determine the appropriate recovery pathway. Some companies also offer transportation services to streamline the process, helping reduce disruption to your company’s everyday operations.
- Maintain proper documentation: A clear chain of custody and Certificates of Destruction and Recycling are important during this process. Proper documentation provides a record of how products were handled, can help prepare your company for potential audits, and supports brand protection.
- Transition to more recyclable materials: We said above that recyclables don’t always mean recycled. However, when matched with a proper recovery process, sustainable beverage packaging has a better opportunity to recover and return to material streams rather than sent to landfill.
Final Thoughts
There’s an undeniable gap between unsaleable beverages and proper recovery. While there are many challenges that contribute to this disconnect, each company must evaluate its own waste management practices to determine the best path forward.
This often includes evaluating the characteristics of beverages and packaging in advance, having a plan in place before it’s needed, and working with an experienced waste management partner to streamline the process.
So, ask yourself: Is your full beverage waste being directed to the right recovery stream? And how could you improve your approach to support greater sustainability?