Fall 2013 Talkin' Trash
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Talkin’ Trash & more Tips for Keeping Thurston County Healthy www.ThurstonSolidWaste.org Summer/SpringFall/Winter 20132011 How recycling works When your hauler empties your recycle cart, What happens when I put the they take your mixed recyclables to a facility to wrong items in my cart? sort them out. Thurston County’s recyclables Which plastics go in go to SP Recycling, near Tacoma. SP’s special In order to get the highest value for equipment sorts the items into different recyclables, SP must sort items carefully and my cart? categories. The sorted recyclables are sold to not let the wrong items contaminate the In Thurston County, the number on the manufacturers who want to make something material that buyers want. When folks put bottom of a plastic container doesn’t tell new from them. non-recyclable items in their recycle carts, SP you if it is recyclable. Use the following has to spend more time sorting them out and Using recycled materials requires less energy guidelines to determine if your item can must pay to throw them away. This increases be recycled: and fewer new materials than using virgin the overall cost of recycling. resources. For example, it takes 95% less energy to make an aluminum can from Buyers aren’t happy when the materials recycled cans than from virgin materials. Two- they buy are contaminated with the wrong 1. Containers with a neck smaller than thirds of the aluminum ever produced is still in items. If too many of the wrong items get the base are recyclable. circulation today! mixed in with the good stuff, it can wear Examples: soda bottles, milk jugs, out equipment or produce a lower quality and peanut butter jars. product. Manufacturers have to pay to dispose of the contaminants or sometimes the entire load of materials. If that happens too often, manufacturers may decide not to buy materials from SP anymore. Some items don’t go in your recycling cart because they cause more trouble than they’re worth. Plastic bags are a great example. They can’t go in your recycle cart, but some people put them in anyway. When plastic bags go 2. Tubs that hold dairy products are recyclable. In this edition of Talkin’ Trash, we’ll explain through the sorting process at SP, they get Examples: yogurt, sour cream, some of the more technical aspects of recycling caught and tangled in the sorting equipment. cottage cheese, and margarine. to give you a better idea of how it all works. SP’s workers must shut down the sorting equipment and manually cut the bags free. Why can’t I recycle _____? These shutdowns cost the facility about $1,000 per day. People often ask us why they can’t recycle certain items in Thurston County. Most often, this question is about plastic containers. Plastic bottles, yogurt cups, and detergent jugs go in your recycling cart. Deli containers, clamshell- style containers, and drink cups go in the 3. Buckets (kitty litter, 5-gallon) are trash. So what makes one item recyclable and also recyclable. Must be clean with another trash? handles removed. For the most part, recycling is about supply and demand. Technically, almost everything could be recycled into something new. However, there are some items that manufacturers just aren’t interested into recycling into new Workers remove plastic bags that have tangled products. In business terms, this means there in sorting equipment at SP Recycling Corp. needs to be a market for an item before it can Photo courtesy of Waste Connections, Inc. actually get recycled. Recently, the market for This is why it’s so important to only put plastic bags and film declined so sharply that accepted items in your recycle cart. Too much LeMay had to stop collecting them. of the wrong stuff increases the cost of the Like many other markets, the market for recycling program in Thurston County. Keeping NO plastic bags or molded foam recyclable items fluctuates up and down. out unwanted materials is just as important in your curbside bin. Recycle When the cost of virgin resources is higher, as putting the good stuff in! Remember this foam at the Waste and Recovery manufacturers will pay more for your recycled recycling mantra: Center at Hawks Prairie. Plastic items. When the cost of resources drops, so bags go in the trash. does the value of recyclables. “When in doubt, throw it out!” Quick Plastic film recycling collection ends Last month, LeMay discontinued its plastic Can I still recycle plastic bags at my local updates film recycling service. Until then, LeMay grocery store? had collected plastic film from several local Check with the store. Some grocery stores businesses as well as the plastic film drop Help us improve signs may still collect bags if they have found box at the Waste and Recovery Center. The another recycler. Check with the store at the WARC program included plastic bags, pallet wrap, manager to make sure the bags actually get and plastic strapping. Over the next few months, Solid Waste recycled. educators and LeMay’s decision to end the program was Can I put plastic film in any of the drop other county staff based on lack of markets for mixed plastic film. boxes at the Waste and Recovery Center? will discuss ways Recycling is a business - it takes equipment to improve the and staffing to collect recyclable materials. No. You can’t mix plastic film with plastic signs at the Waste If nobody will buy the plastic film, there’s no containers in any of the drop boxes. and Recovery money to collect it. Center (WARC). What should I do with my plastic grocery Commercial customers and drop box users Our goal is to help bags now? generate more than 15 tons of plastic film our users - you If you can’t think of some way to reuse them each month - around 187 tons each year! - navigate more (many folks use them to line smaller trash cans Right now, several tons of plastic film still sit easily throughout or to pick up dog poop), they go in the trash. unsold in a LeMay warehouse. the site. Next time you shop, bring your reusable It’s unfortunate to see the program go, but shopping bags. Remembering your bags is like We need your it’s important to remember that recycling isn’t any other habit - it takes time and practice. input! If you visit the WARC and notice a magic cure for waste. Recycling only works specific areas where the signs are when someone wants to create a new unclear, please let us know! product from old materials. That’s Email ThurstonSolidWaste@ why it’s so important to make careful co.thurston.wa.us or call 867-2281. choices when buying items in the first place. You can help prevent waste by Help us update choosing reusable items and only buying something if you really need it. WhereDoITakeMy.org Can I put plastic bags and other Our database provides locations to take film in my SingleStream recycle cart over 180 different items for reuse or instead? recycling. We get our best information from you, the community. No. Plastic bags and film tangle in equipment at the sorting facility. They If you know of a local business or do NOT go in your recycle cart. organization that accepts items but you don’t see it listed, please let us know! Send your information to Loni Hanka Learn more at [email protected] or call 867-2282. What should I do with paper grocery bags? Take your clean, dry paper bags to the Thurston County Food Bank. Food bank staff and volunteers use them to distribute food to Changes to green clients. The food bank is located at 220 Thurston Avenue NE in Olympia. business program It’s easier than ever to apply for the Thurston Green Business program. Now there is no application fee! Learn What’s in a number? more or apply now at www.thurstongreenbusiness.com. A yogurt container and a plastic drink cup Items made from different resin grades cool both have the number “5” on the bottom. The and melt at different temperatures. This yogurt cup goes in your curbside recycle cart, creates a gloppy mess when recyclers try to so that means the drink cup can go in too, make new products out of the recovered right? plastic. As a result, plastic of mixed resin grades can only be recycled into lower-grade Wrong. Then what do the numbers mean? products, like plastic railroad ties and park This is one of the trickiest recycling issues. benches. Recycling processors Although two plastic items may share must keep the resin grades the same number on the bottom, that separate in order to turn doesn’t mean they recycled items back into new are equally recyclable plastic bottles and tubs. in Thurston County. To add confusion, the “chasing New compost That number - arrows” icon that circles the collection route called the Resin number doesn’t mean the Identification Code coming container can be recycled or that (RIC) - indicates the it is made from recycled materials. LeMay is creating a new food and yard type of plastic resin waste collection route for residents in used to make the What does this mean for your the Lake Lawrence and Scenic Shores item. But each resin type isn’t an curbside recycle cart? Forget the areas. For questions, call LeMay at exact formula; it’s more of a group numbers. Instead, recycle items by shape: 923-0111. of related types of plastic.