About Us
We’re an enthusiastic group of individuals brought together by a common passion, aggregating the power of individual action for collective impact, small or large, on climate adaptation and the future quality of our lives.
Our Vision
Plug the leak. Until the brave new world arrives
Some day in the near future, we the consumers will no longer have to worry about recycling. Recycling will be designed into products, processes and supply chains as it always should have been. Manufacturers will be accountable for the post sales life of their products and their eventual disposal, as they always should have been. With unprecedented global mobilization, in a couple of decades, we may be living in a thriving zero waste, regenerative economy with the worst effects of climate change averted.
Until then...
It's on us. Today, most of what is recyclable ends up in landfills, at a massive climate and environmental cost. We the consumers are the final station for these products before they end up in landfills.
The goal of Recycle123 is to help households plug this last mile leak and extend the life of reusable products and material. We aim to do this by arming you the DIY recycler with relevant and current information on how to go about recycling, repairing, reusing, returning, selling or donating everything. With this curated and constantly updated information at your fingertips you will be able to figure out the best action.
Further up the road, based on your feedback, we will start up a concierge service where we can handle some or all of your recycling needs.
Does Recycling Matter
Household waste accounts for only 3% of the total waste generated in the US. The rest is Industrial waste. However, the climate impact of even this 3% is significant. United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) estimates that household waste contributes up to 5% of annual global warming. That is two billion tons of CO2 equivalent every year.
Not computed by UNEP in this number is the over-production that premature disposal of useful goods drives. For example 1.5 billion new phones were sold in 2021 alone, one new phone for every fifth person, a large percentage of them replacing perfectly functioning phones. Every step of this over-production process contributes to our self inflicted environmental and biodiversity crisis.
Not recycling is not an option. Not until the companies that extract resources from the earth, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, governments and everyone else involved in the making and selling of things come together as an integrated end to end system that eliminates all waste. Not until we transition to a cradle-to-cradle circular economy, where the problem of recycling is fixed at source and over-production is eliminated. Not until post consumption product life becomes the manufacturer’s responsibility, instead of being funded by consumers and taxpayers.
Until then it’s up to us. Will individual action make a dent? It may not, but the outcome of collective inaction however is very clear. Much like voting in a democracy.