By Jackie Greger • Communications and Outreach Coordinator
On July 27, the Gateway Group and other Chapter volunteers visited Mazza Recycling Services, a materials recovery facility in Tinton Falls. The Mazza operations cover 55 acres and process up to 2,000 tons of material a week, sourced from Monmouth and Atlantic counties. The day was scorching hot as we gathered to tour the facility to better understand the sorting process that our municipal waste goes through before being recycled.
From our green shuttle bus window, discarded materials resurfaced that one tends not to think twice about after putting them on the curb. We drove through what felt like an island of lost items and passed mountains of composting mulch, concrete, bulky waste and plastics, rubber tires, and more. The early life stage of mulch was evident as we passed a facility where the product is bagged and sold for our topsoil and gardening needs, thus going back to the earth. Other cycles—for bulk plastics, for instance—were just beginning here at Mazza, as much of the material is transported for further processing in Pennsylvania.
The shuttle eventually took us to the central processing facility, where we donned safety vests, hard hats, and hearing protection against the loud machinery. In this single stream municipal waste facility, conveyor belts separate materials by weight, type, and size. From our high platform we could see recognizable household items like cereal boxes, plastic water bottles, laundry detergent gallons, and Amazon cardboard boxes. Each conveyor belt is overseen by quality control workers who pull out anything that does not belong or might clog the system (which occurred once on the tour and results in a brief pause of all processing). The workers’ hands fly with efficiency and focus. Once materials are sorted and separated, they are baled and sent to several other facilities to be turned into recycled products.
Seeing the sorting process firsthand and walking through the loud facility enabled us to gain a better understanding of the hard work, skill, and technological requirements of recycling. At home, recycling seems like a black hole. We try our best to follow the rules and hope that our waste magically ends up where it needs to go. Well, at Mazza, magic happens. In this facility, at least, even pizza boxes, foil, and pie tins are recyclable despite information often pointing otherwise. Overall, after our tour of the facility, there was a feeling of reassurance and hope that our individual efforts are not in vain but powerful if you add up the collective outcome.