“Plaid Man” and I were talking this morning. Yes, my daughter and I call him “Plaid Man” because that is exactly how he walks around the house while having his morning coffee. Somehow, he has managed to acquire an entire wardrobe of plaid clothes, but that is a conversation for another day.
What he and I were debating this morning was capitalism versus socialism – or probably better, more clearly stated as social democracy. And maybe the true distinction between socialism, democratic socialism, and social democracy is a blog topic for another day. In our household, we often say “socialism” for simplicity’s sake, but our true reference is the country of Denmark – which, by the way, we think is a great model, and they are a perfect example of a social democracy.
So, let’s stay there and pretend that it is a totally and completely normal conversation for a husband and wife to have over morning coffee… is it not?
The reason this massive topic is on our minds today is that yesterday, we went on a tour of our local recycling facility. Or, to use better framing, the MRF (Materials Recovery Facility).
“MRF” is a more accurate description because this is a privately owned facility that processes our recycling as a commodity. This means they sort, pack, and sell all of our recycled materials into the market for a profit.
Now, don’t get me wrong – boy, do I appreciate the work they are doing! The entire team there is incredibly passionate about recycling. We saw hundreds and hundreds of bales of all kinds of plastic, aluminum, and paper. We saw crushed glass being prepared to be transformed back into bottles, or to be mixed to make a lower-carbon, greener concrete.
So, do I LOVE the work that this facility and their cohorts do? Absolutely! And no matter how much we manage to change consumer habits, our society will always need recycling as a key component. These facilities have proven their incredible ability to adapt over the decades – moving from dual-stream to single-stream and shifting from an era where newspapers dominated the bins to today, where the stream is packed to the brim with Amazon shipping boxes.
But our conversation this morning centered on the fact that their adaptation is always fundamentally tied to profitability. That is the pure nature of a privately owned corporation. Contrast that with a more public, state-run model – the kind of system where the government funds and manages infrastructure like schools, roads, utility grids, and waste management.
I know I am throwing out some heavy concepts here. In the US, our viewpoints, infrastructure, and culture are tied to a very specific way of living and market-driven thinking. But take a country like Denmark, for example. Plaid Man and I lived there for a time, so we experienced firsthand how an entirely different system operates.
In Denmark, systemic changes are approached differently because the government – the very body making environmental regulations and working to fulfill its commitments to international climate accords – is also the body funding and running the country’s recycling infrastructure. If they need to overhaul the system to meet a green target, they do it.
Meanwhile, during my tour yesterday, I asked a question about updating a certain process, and the answer I got was, “Well, that’s not likely. We have this entire infrastructure that cost us…”
I also asked how they would feel if, for example, we could entirely eliminate big laundry detergent jugs from the recycling stream through refill style shopping. His response was clear: “I would not like that.”
Why? Because those recycled items are a product they sell. As a privately owned business, they want more aluminum, glass, plastic, and paper so they can sell it and make money.
This is where my perspective as I look at our finite planet – already filled with enough of everything and certainly not in need of any more fossil-fuel-created plastics – would put elimination ahead of recycling. In other words, we should choose to “refuse” plastic altogether. And therein is the crux of what Plaid Man and I talked about. Perhaps “talked” is a better description than “debate,” because on this particular topic, we both agree.
A privately owned company is legally bound to serve its shareholders. No business wants to leave stranded assets or sunk costs behind by having parts of their infrastructure become obsolete. They would also prefer not to continually, at a cost to them, upgrade their processes and mechanisms.
But how would a government that is governing for “we the people” make decisions about the health of the planet? In our experiences, and in the example of Denmark, they are positioned to make the structural changes necessary to put climate goals and public health at the forefront.
Denmark is not perfect, don’t get me wrong. But in a public system, a government is – at least in theory – supposed to put the long-term well-being of its citizens and future generations at the heart of its infrastructure decisions.
Look, I am not suggesting that we in the United States should or could make these massive economic changes overnight. And I am not trying to fundamentally alter your political worldview in a short blog post. I understand the intense complexity of culture and politics, especially in America right now. But what I do want to challenge you to do is recognize that entirely different systems exist, and in many places, they are working beautifully.
If you take a quiet moment away from the noise, sitting all by yourself (or with your very own Plaid Man), ask yourself: Do you really think private companies should have the ultimate authority to run, AND profit from, our education? Our healthcare? Our prisons? …Our recycling?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
P.S. Want to have your own deep economic debates over morning coffee but need a vocabulary refresher? Check out my latest book, A Kid’s Guide to Economic Activism for the Climate! It’s written for 8-to-12-year-olds, but it’s the perfect, judgment-free guide for adults who want a clear breakdown of words like GDP, infrastructure, stranded assets, sunk costs, and more. Read it for yourself, then hand it off to a kid in your life.
Link to buy the book:
