In psychology, one of the most powerful but overlooked concepts is functional fixedness—the tendency to see objects only in terms of their traditional use. It’s a cognitive bias that keeps us locked into narrow patterns of thinking, preventing us from seeing creative solutions that may be right in front of us.

When companies explore baling as a solution for managing industrial waste or recyclable materials, one of the most important questions they face is: How much labor does it actually take to make a bale?

In psychology and behavioral economics, the term “bounded awareness” refers to the phenomenon where individuals or organizations fail to notice critical information that’s available to them—often because their attention is overly focused elsewhere. It’s not about ignorance or incompetence. It’s about natural limits in human attention, perception, and mental bandwidth.

We talk to a lot of companies that aren’t sure whether they generate enough of a given material to justify investing in a baler. It’s a fair question—after all, every facility is watching its budget and floor space. But in many cases, it actually takes less material than most people think to make baling worthwhile.

The U.S. justice system is based on the principle of “innocent until proven guilty.” Waste Optima takes the same approach to industrial recycling in that any waste stream is recyclable (or reusable) until proven otherwise.

When it comes to industrial recycling, one of the great ironies is this: the more waste you have, the easier it is to recycle. That may sound counterintuitive, especially in a world that’s focused on reducing waste in the first place. But in the recycling and reuse market, volume creates value—and volume creates access.