RECYCLING UPDATE April 2021
Cynthia Nagy
In April, as we celebrate Earth Day, League wanted to focus on recycling. It is hard for me to believe Earth Day has been an annual event on April 22nd since 1970. In the 80’s, I remember taking my young sons up and down the road collecting trash and planting trees in celebration of this important day. Today, I still am collecting trash along our road, mainly beer cans and tires. Why??
Every time I take recyclables to one of the county’s Drop Off Centers there is always unrecyclable material in the containers, especially plastic bags, pizza boxes and shredded paper. Why??
After trying to research exactly what is and isn’t recyclable for this article, it came clear that recycling is not a black and white issue, there’s a lot of gray areas especially with plastics. Every resource stated to contact your processor to find out exactly what they accept.
I sought out Waste Management to get a perspective from a processor. They pick up recyclables from Jefferson Village, Geneva City and residential households north of Route 90. Their Public Relations Representative, Vince Crawford provided the following information, my additional research is in blue text:
Waste Management sends collected recyclables to a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Akron. (Because of the way recyclables are separated at MRF’s, the density and shape of an item has as much to do with its recyclability as the material it is made out of. The sorting facilities use a series of spinning discs, bouncing conveyers, magnets and air jets that cause various materials to separate themselves, but they are really only designed to work on the common items that make up the most valuable recycled materials. Garbage such as plastic bags jam up the machines and cause major problems).
25% of items in recycling bins are garbage with plastic bags being the biggest problem. Putting garbage in with recyclables is ruining the process.
There are only SIX items that are recyclable:
1. PAPER – Must be clean. NO shredded paper, paper towels, disposable diapers or Kleenex.
2. CARDBOARD – Flattened. Recycled cardboard is turned back into cardboard.
3. ALUMINUM CANS – They are 100% recyclable with a rapid turnaround of 60 days! NO aluminum foil in a single stream process.
4. STEEL & TIN CANS
5. GLASS JARS – FOOD AND BEVERAGE JARS ONLY (NO glass windows, dinnerware, vases, glassware. Glass can be recycled over and over again. Making new glass from recycled glass is typically cheaper than using raw materials-Greenandgrumpy.com.
6. PLASTIC BOTTLES AND JUGS – Only if the neck of the container is smaller than the body. Leave the caps on. The container must be empty.
The industry is moving away from using the numbers. The triangle on the container does not necessarily make it recyclable, it can also mean the container was made from recycled plastic. Plastics have an end life.
5 gallon plastic barrels are recyclable but their MRF will not handle them.
When oil prices rise, plastic recycle prices rise.
Styrofoam is NOT recyclable
(When it comes to plastic, most recyclers only want bottles and jugs. These are the only plastics for which there currently is a decent market. This can be define as “only plastics with a neck.” All plastic lose some of its flexibility every time it is melted and remolded into something new. Plastics are made of strings of polymers, the strings get shorter and shorter, becoming less flexible and more brittle every time it is melted down. Metal and glass can be recycled over and over again without losing their strength or essential properties. Plastic is different. “Plastics with the lowest number (#1 and #2 inside that familiar recycling symbol) are the most easily recyclable and have the most value to recyclers. The farther down the line you get with the various recycling numbers, the less value the plastic has for reuse. The packaging industry really only wants bottles and jugs, which are made of the valuable #1 and #2 plastics. Butter tubs, yogurt, cream cheese and takeout containers are usually made with #5 plastic, which is not as cost-effective to recycle.” Greenandgrumpy.com)
To confirm the truly confusing gray areas in recycling, Waste Management’s website, wm.com, list of recyclables differs from Vince Crawford’s reported six items. On Friday, April 16th the website stated “generally, the items below can be placed in your curbside recycling containers, bins or totes. These items should be clean and loose — remove from any additional packaging and do not bag them.
· All plastics #1-7 (except foam cups or packing materials)
· Aluminum foil products (cans, baking tins and foil)
· Paper bags
· Cardboard
· Clean paper
· Glass containers
· Scrap metal (cookie sheets, utensils)
No wonder we are confused!
Linked below are recycling flyers from Waste Management and Kimble Industries. Kimble’s flye, the MRF where the county’s recyclables where sent to states “when in doubt… throw it out.” We can help educate the public by sharing the flyers with friends and family.
Easy Recycling Guide 2020
Recycling Myths
What in Recyclable