How Long Until It Disappears?

EVERYDAY RECYCLING MADE EASY RecycleSmartAPARTMENTS & CONDOS EDITION How long until These guys prefer the it disappears? blue bins Toss an apple core and a metal can into your yard— which will disappear first? The core, of course. Toss them into a landfill and guess which one? The can! Here’s why. Metal oxidizes, forming rust. Microorganisms break the can down into simple molecules, although it will take hundreds of years to disappear in a landfill. But things that biodegrade—like the apple core, tree trimmings, food waste and paper—biodegrade very slooowly in landfills, because the artificial landfill environment doesn’t have the air, water, and bacterial activity needed for the decaying process. That’s because a landfill is carefully designed to isolate trash from the surrounding environment (the air, groundwater that might be used for drinking water or irrigation, and rain that might run off into our streets). Under these conditions, trash won’t decompose very much. A landfill is not like a compost pile, where organic waste is buried so it will decompose quickly (see “How it Works”). The Garbage Project is a waste study conducted at the University of Arizona. Students there dug up the landfill and found Toss those hot dogs, corncobs and grapes that were one-a-days into 25 years old and still recognizable! And they a green cart! found newspapers dating back to 1952 that were still readable. What about plastic? Plastic photodegrades— USE THE ABRACADABRA WIDGET! it degrades under ultraviolet radiation from continued on page 4 Not quite sure how to make something disappear? Just go to RecycleSmart.org and click on “Recycle Where?” You’ll find a range of convenient options for items that you can’t put in any of your bins or carts. Looking Sharp Look for big, Belly-up to bright red or green medical sharps bins throughout the bins! the RecycleSmart area. Making sure At first glance, you might not notice anything different. you keep discarded needles Then you see…solar panels on a trash can?! out of the trash protects waste workers and public health. Put Downtown Walnut Creek is the first “We’re excited to provide bins that will them in a sharps container, then City in Contra Costa County to install keep our streets cleaner and be more right into the bin. You’ll find a list state-of-the-art, solar-powered Bigbelly efficient to maintain,” says Public Works of bin locations at RecycleSmart. trash and recycling bins. The 35 new Manager Mike Vickers. org/HHW. bins replace all the conventional trash and recycling bins and hold five times Fewer pickups mean fewer trucks rumbling downtown and fewer fuel the amount. They use solar power to emissions from the trucks. The Bigbelly compact both trash and recyclables. bins are funded by selling recyclables, in Wireless technology automatically partnership with RecycleSmart. notifies City staff when bins are almost full and need to be emptied. Need More Info? RecycleSmart Republic Services www.RecycleSmart.org Organics, Recycling and Landfill 925-906-1801 925-685-4711 [email protected] Ask your property manager to contact Republic Services about additional recycling, organic or landfill carts FSC or bins, computer and TV collection, special clean ups PLACEMENT or to request motor oil recycling kits, recycling tote bags and kitchen food scrap containers. Printed on paper made from 100% post consumer waste (PCW); processed chlorine free (PCF). RECYCLESMART How it works Composting in the kitchen and yard. Republic Services picks up FOOD We have SCRAPS dinner KITCHEN PAIL ORGANICS TO COMPOSTING FACILITY, RICHMOND We have yards YARD TRIMMINGS Warm and Cooling down humid Water added; and maturing 50%–60% moisture 1–3 months later 21–30 days later ROTATING SCREEN CURING COVERED AERATED GRINDER PILES STATIC PILES 130O–160O Air blown through pipes underneath NUTRIENT-RICH SOIL FARMS, LANDSCAPING AMENDMENT FROM FARM TO TABLE TO FARM TO TABLE TO… Organics make up about two-thirds of our solid waste for about 2-3 months. The result is very dark, earthy soil, stream; a combination of food scraps, landscaping certified to be safe and pathogen free—and perfect for green waste, food and soiled paper. Organics need air, growing more fruits, vegetables and grains that find moisture and heat to activate the decaying process. their way right back to your table! Your organics are processed on 20 acres in Richmond SPRING 2017 continued from page 1 really, really, really long time.” Instead, the sun. But there’s no light in that landfill. recycling and composting can make those When will it degrade? items disappear like magic! And a bonus: The estimates of 200 years, 400 years it takes 1/20 of the energy to recycle or 1,000,000 years to decompose in a aluminum products as it does to smelt landfill are a scientific way of saying “a aluminum from scratch. When Will My Waste Disappear In the Landfill? (...and which cart will make it disappear right away) PLASTIC JUG FOAM CUPS/TRAYS 1,000,000 Years 500 Years GLASS BOTTLE PLASTIC DRINKING BOTTLE 1,000,000 Years 450 Years LEAVES/YARD WASTE DIAPERS Months–Never 450 Years FRUIT/VEGETABLE SCRAPS METAL FOIL Months–Never 400 Years NATURAL ROPE ALUMINUM CAN Months–Never 200 Years PIZZA BOXES JUICE BOXES Months–Never 200 Years PLASTIC BAG TIN CAN 1,000 Years 100 Years FISHING LINE 6-PACK PLASTIC HOLDER 600 Years 100 Years The cart that items should go into for their quick getaway Sources: U.S. National Park Service, Mote Marine Lab; ScienceLearn.org RECYCLESMART Turning food into electricity! Our commercial food recycling program. Your folks always told you to clean your sewage waste. The digesters (called that plate...but if you can’t, now it won’t go because beneficial bacteria “digest” the to waste. waste) produce methane gas as a by- Take a peek at all the businesses product. Big co-generation engines use Because now there’s restaurant food participating in a captured methane to generate electricity similar but different recycling. More than 400 restaurants, that powers the entire water treatment process from your grocery stores, schools and other home’s food scraps facility, and then some. EBMUD sells the large commercial and industrial food and green waste! excess electricity to the Port of Oakland! waste generators in the RecycleSmart service area participate in our Food The leftover is a nutrient-rich compost-like Recycling Project. material that is used as a soil amendment Simply put, we turn the leftover food, grease for non-food agricultural applications. and paper goods into electricity. It’s a big win all around. Businesses save Republic Services collects the food waste, money by diverting waste out of their for no additional charge, and takes it to East landfill bins, the environment benefits Bay Municipal Water District’s wastewater from smaller landfills and the renewable treatment facility. The food is added to the electricity reduces our dependence on “anaerobic digesters” that primarily process fossil fuels. CO-GEN ENGINE Methane RESTAURANTS/ REPUBLIC SERVICES EBMUD DIGESTERS SCHOOLS TRUCK Generate electricity AGRICULTURE Lots of leftover food scraps Hauled away for free Sludge digested by helpful bacteria in a hot tank that Biosoils acts like a giant stomach Non-farming soils SPRING 2017 Let’s eat out! Food recycling participating businesses. ALAMO Fish on Fire Trader Joe's Merriewood Moraga Office Park WALNUT CREEK Forbes Mill Steakhouse Uncle Wang's Restaurant Metro Lafayette Moraga Post Acute Alamo Palace 1515 Restaurant & Lounge Forge Pizza Vally Medlyn's Millie's Kitchen Moraga Produce Bagel Street Café Fountain & Coffee Shop 5 Star Tiffany Court Gotta Eatta Pitta Oakwood Athletic Club Mountain Mike's Pizza Brass Bear Delicatessen Vitality Bowl 54 Mint High Tech Burrito Oasis Café Ranch House Café Don Jose's Mexican Yo's on Hartz A Sweet Affair Restaurant Ike's Lair Open Sesame Rheem Elementary Bakery & Café Yuki of Tokyo Five Guys In the Mix Salads Panda Express Ristorante Amoroma AAA Great Donuts Incontro Ristorante Peet's Coffee Round Table Pizza Alborz Persian Restaurant Ha-La Sushi Jamba Juice DIABLO Pizza Antica Royal Siam Atria Montego Heights High Tech Burrito Jersey Mike's Subs Diablo Country Club Postino Restaurant Saint Mary's College Atria Valley View Katrina Rozelle Juice Zone Rancho Cantina Saklan School Babalou's Jules Thin Crust Pizza Reve Bistro Starbucks Lawrence's Meats LAFAYETTE Bagel Street Café Panera Bread Kane Sushi Roam Artisan Burgers Town of Moraga Offices Baja Fresh 360 Gourmet Burrito Peet's Coffee Kanpai Poke Round Table Pizza Bancroft Elementary Acalanes High School Round Table Pizza Leo's Chinese Rustic Tavern Black Bear Restaurant Restaurant Amarin Thai Cuisine ORINDA Roundhill Country Club Sideboard Kitchen Boudin Bakery Little Pear American Kitchen & Coffee Baan Thai Xenia Bistro! Boundary Oaks Clubhouse Locanda Ravello Artisan Bistro Smitten Ice Cream Barbacoa Restaurant Brass Bear Delicatessen Luna Loca Mexican Back to the Table Springhill Elementary Casa Orinda DANVILLE Restaurant Cooking School Broderick Roadhouse Stanley Del Rey Elementary Brown & Caldwell Acai-Me Lunardi's Market Bentley School Intermediate School Genuine Goodness Buckhorn Grill Almanac Mangia Mi Bistro Burger Starbucks Coffee Geppetto's Cafe Buena Vista Elementary Amici's East McDonald's Blue Ginko Susie's Cakes Glorietta School Coast Pizzeria Burger King McGahs Bonehead BBQ Swad Indian Cuisine Hanazen and Car Wash Buttercup Grill & Melo's Pizza and Pasta Burton Valley Elementary T's Fire House La Cocina Mexicana Athenian School

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