by Colleen Sullivan
Recycling has changed a lot in the past few years. My recycle bin has gone from a small 2’ x 3’ plastic bin to a 50 gallon trash can with more volume than my can for “other” waste. What has changed? Eureka, Missouri, residents and many others who are serviced by IESI, Allied,Waste Management,Veolia and other independent haulers may no longer be limited to newspapers, cans and soda bottles. These haulers have the capability to offer single stream recycling which allows cans, glass bottles, aluminum trays and foil; plastics of all types (except #6); magazines, newspapers, junk mail, cardboard, pizza boxes and even waxed milk and juice cartons to be tossed into a single bin. Simply empty and rinse all containers.
It seems pretty simple—and it is. If it is paper and can be torn, it can probably be recycled. If it is a plastic container and is not stamped with #6, it can probably be recycled. Please do NOT recycle hazardous chemical containers such as motor oil, insecticide or herbicide; no Styrofoam coffee cups, plates or clear polystyrene #6; no plastic films such as cling wrap or bags from potato chips, cake mix and cereal. Please return plastic grocery bags to the store for recycling.
IESI along with the other haulers noted above bring their recyclables to a materials recovery facility called Resource Management Company. I had the opportunity to tour Resource Management along with the Sierra Club this January to see where my commingled recyclables go. Somehow I had expected a dirty and smelly operation, and was surprised to find a large, open and rather clean facility in Earth City. It looks like any other new building on the outside and houses 72,000 square feet of operating space. The process is a sophisticated and proprietary system of shakers, ramps, eddy currents, blowers and quality control linesmen that has been engineered and refined over the last seven years. The shakers remove the glass and then the paper, metals, and plastics are filtered out. According to Gary Gilliam, Resource Management’s sales manager, “This system has revolutionized the industry for us and our haulers. Not only can we sort more materials, but hauling trucks can now ‘compact’ their recycle loads which means they can pick up more on a single run.” This is also significant because special fleets of recycle trucks are no longer needed.
The sorted paper is bailed and sold to make other paper products. The glass is pulverized into sand for new bottles, pea gravel or fiberglass insulation. The aluminum, tin and steel are sold for re-fabrication. The remaining plastics are palletized and shipped to Resource Management’s Chicago facility where a stateof- the-art optical scanner reads each piece of plastic and sorts it by recycle number, size, weight and color. Beverage bottles #1 are remanufactured into products like carpet. In fact, approximately 50 percent of carpeting is now made from recycled bottles. Containers with #2, milk and juice jugs, along with detergent and shampoo bottles are extruded into pellets to create plastic decking and a wide variety of other materials.
“Creating a second life for these items is all about economics,” said Gary. Buyers have a reduced cost of materials which allows them to be more competitive. In addition to saving natural resources, recycling saves energy, reduces air and water pollution, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. According to the statistics for 2006, Eureka residents diverted 520 tons from the landfill which is an average of 11.3 pounds per person per month! What about people who do not have curbside recycling or are unsure if their hauler offers single stream? Good question. If your community does not offer curbside pick up, you can take recyclables to a variety of centers that are listed on the St Louis-Jefferson Solid Waste Management District website: www.swmd.net. If you do have curbside recycling and are not sure if it is single stream, call your hauling company or contact your city government. Single stream recycling is expanding rapidly.
Recycling—especially single stream is an easy thing to do, but it still requires changing habits which is hard. If you are already a recycler, challenge yourself to divert at least half your trash into the recycle bin. If you are new to recycling, set a small can next to your kitchen trash for paper, cans, glass and plastic. Choose to buy items such as eggs in cardboard instead of Styrofoam—containers that are or can be recycled. For those in business, especially in the food industry, set guidelines for responsible purchasing and handling of materials—particularly #6 which cannot be recycled which means it goes to landfills or gets shipped overseas. Last but not least, take pride in your efforts small and large because your choices and actions do make a difference.
Thank you!