Recycling Trauma & Corporate Guilt
I grew up in Berkeley in the ‘90s, so my Recycling Trauma is real.
We were told that if we – you and I – didn’t recycle, the world would end. We cut up plastic rings like little environmental vigilantes and threw ourselves writhing to the ground like dying birds if our parents forgot. Then one day, William Hurt or maybe Joey from Friends told me in a Lost in Space remake that recycling was never going to be enough.
So I did some digging.
Turns out, modern recycling programs – curbside bins, office sorters, all of it – were less about saving the planet, and more about saving face. About shifting blame from corporations to individuals. “If YOU don’t recycle, WE all die.”
From Coca-Cola’s “Keep America Beautiful” campaign in the ‘50s to the Crying Indian ad in the ‘70s (yeeeeesh), the industry has always been better at marketing responsibility than accepting it. The Resin Identification Code (those little 1–7 numbered triangles) made it look like everything was recyclable – even though most plastics aren’t. And industry execs knew by the 1970s that recycling at scale was “costly” and “unlikely.”
Basically: The guys sinking oil tankers want you to fish out that non-recyclable bottle or else we’re all going to hell.
Taylor Swift’s jet produced enough CO2 last year to power 67 homes. But I have to recycle? Get outta here.
This is what it looks like when leadership doesn’t walk the walk.
It’s the all-hands that steals your time so the C-suite can show each other their worth.
It’s the values deck that vanishes when layoffs hit.
It’s “return to office” emails from a second home in Aspen.
And it’s exhausting.
Return to office? You first.
Two weeks’ notice? You first.
Stop pushing the “values” line if you’re going to ghost people after three interviews.
If you can’t trust your team to handle hard truths, maybe stop hiring children? And for the love of coffee, stop telling them the company’s future rests on their shoulders if you’re not going to let them build it.
I still recycle. So should you.
But I no longer feel what you humans call “guilt.”
Let’s just say I had a bag of fudge – and due to decades of corporate finger-wagging – I’m all out of fudges to give.
So value people. Be wary of institutions.
The only calls I get from former jobs are from friends, not founders.
That’s the value we built while we were there.
Until they stop spilling oil, it will never be your fault.
#corporateculture #corporateresponsibility #greenwashing
