In this series of articles, we have been looking at recycling through the ages, considering the changes in mentalities and behaviours, the environmental savings, and the comparative costs. This week we will be completing our recycling through the ages series with the 2000's.

Markets
Before the markets crashed, we were experiencing what is sometimes referred to as 'the commodities super cycle', a boom in the demand for physical commodities, like minerals, fuel, food and chemicals. This was all going rather swimmingly until the price of oil became unstable and began flying around like a pinball. If you'll consider that in 2003, a barrel of oil cost just $30, and in 2008 it would have cost around $145, you can begin to see the instability. Today (August 2014), oil sits at a nine-month low of around $101. It's still not stable. What does oil have to do with recycling though? Manufacturing plastic products from virgin polymers (new plastic) is a far more energy reliant, oil driven and expensive procedure than using recycled plastic. Add in the fact that oil prices quadrupled, the benefit of recycling plastic became apparent and necessary, and around this time, around 2008, the industrial side of recycling really got a kick-start.
Recycling in the home
Recycling bins have been described as 'a British icon' in the home, and it must be admitted, that's an apt description. You'd be hard pressed to find British homes that actively oppose recycling (and nigh on impossible to find any with a valid reason) as in the 2000s, domestic recycling became an unconscious act. The government provided us with different coloured boxes and bins, and it became harder work to avoid using them, and would potentially arouse some sort of guilt born from ignorance.
Thoughts about recycling?
I've taken a few quotes here from a 2007 forum discussing feelings about recycling, I hope you will agree that these attitudes were mostly commonplace during the Noughties (and still today).'I always recycle. Sometimes I will even go out of my way just to recycle something I have and am nowhere near a recycle bin at the time .' 'When I bought my house, I asked the owner "where is the recycle container?" and he said that he never recycled, he did not have the time. What a pig. What extra time can it take? You throw the bottle or can into a different trash bin, that's all. 'Domestic recycling was not seen as honourable or duteous, but just something that had to be done, as it didn't make sense to avoid it. Let's be honest, many of us were guilty of not recycling 'on-the-go', as it could be inconvenient and there wasn't a recycling bin there when we needed one. Well in the late 2000s, the government began installing recycling bins next to general waste bins. Alternatively, they installed multi-bins that had different chutes for paper, drinks cans, plastic bottles and general waste, as well as compartments for cigarette butts and chewing gum. Current day, these are very common, and will be seen on any given high street. What happened to landfills? When a landfill is full or no longer needed, it is often covered over, left for a few years and then built upon. The main problem with building on top of a landfill is that unstable material beneath the ground, causing car parks to dip and rise. I've seen an ex-landfill turned retail park recently where rain collects in various craters all over the site that exiting cars have to work hard to avoid. There's also the issue of methane build-ups, but these are dealt with well by professionals.'I recycle whatever I can - bottles, cans, paper, newspaper, cardboard, etc. I do what I can, but we as a society have a long, long way to go!' 'I try to recycle as much as I can, but do inevitably end up throwing stuff out that could probably be recycled. I don't think it's possible for someone to recycle 100% of what they can.....well, it probably is, but they'd be carrying a ton of crap with them wherever they went.'

'Waste management in England has come a long way over the last 10 years: waste going to landfill has nearly halved since 2000; household recycling rates have climbed to 40%; waste generated by businesses declined by 29% in the six years to 2009 and business recycling rates are above 50%. But we need to go further' 'Given the picture of material resource use in England, it is clearly wrong that we still send so much material to landfill in England that is a potential resource. While the overall volume of waste disposed of in landfill has reduced at a significant rate in recent years – a 45% fall since 2000/01 – in 2009 we still landfilled 44 million tonnes of waste in this country. Our vision for the zero waste economy is that landfill should be the waste management option of last resort and only for wastes where there is no better use.'
United States of Recycling
In this series, America has been mentioned a fair amount, so it's important to make reference to their efforts.
What next? What now?
The end of the Noughties wasn't all that long ago, but it sure feels that way. In the same year of the Haiti earthquake disaster, the Chilean miners, the Wikileaks scandal and the first African world cup, a decade of successful recycling initiatives bore fruition and the recycling reviews were all positive and deserve plaudit. It's now 2014 and we still haven't named this decade, since a clear name is not forthcoming. Suggestions include tens, tennies, tenties and teenies but I've come across a much more optimistic answer. The one-ders. This is in hope that this decade with provide numerous breakthroughs in all fields of science, politics and the environment. It is hoped that recycling rates will only continue to increase, and we work hard towards the zero waste target of 2020.If you enjoyed reading about the 2000s, please read each of our preceding features. To read about the 1990s To read about the 1980s To read about the 1970s To read about the 1960s