Contamination Hurts Recycling Efforts

Residents Can Help Programs By Increasing Their Savvy

Last updated Saturday, November 24, 2007 10:05 PM CST in News

By Richard Dean Prudenti
THE MORNING NEWS

Avoiding Contamination

Recycling rules were black and white and stringent years ago, Treece said.

The advent of better machinery permitted some contaminants, but "bad" contamination happens when nonrecyclable items mix with recyclables or when an item isn't part of a particular recycling program.

Allied Waste Services expects a degree of contamination -- 5 percent at the most, said Jennifer Fagan, the company's sales manager. With any more, the load heads to a landfill.

"We definitely rely on the resident to do it correctly," Fagan said.

Allied Waste Services is under contract to begin a new cart-based recycling program in Bentonville on Dec. 3. The company has been educating the public about the new program.

Collection workers don't look through people's recycling carts, but will not pick up carts if they see contaminants. It's possible the company will audit containers if the trucks return to a recycling center with contaminants from a particular route.

Recycling services will accept a little oil on cardboard or cooking oil in glass bottles, but not much.

"The guys won't touch the recyclables if they see there's food," said Brian Pugh, waste reduction coordinator for Fayetteville.

The reason has more to do with cleanliness than contamination.

A few drops of soda in a plastic bottle is OK, but one that is half-full is unacceptable. More than likely the soda will spill on other plastics and attract vermin. It also creates unbearable smells for those who work at the recycling center, Pugh said.

Some mixed packaging contaminates itself, such as the cylinder potato chip containers that mix cardboard with a metal rim and bottom. Residents must separate the different parts to recycle the item.

"Or you can steer yourself away from that if you purchase items in recyclable containers," Pugh said.

Throw out wet-strength boxes and waxed cardboard containers, like those for milk and juice. They are not recyclable.

Programs Differ

Another form of contamination happens when residents put materials in recycling bins that aren't accepted by that program, said Wendy Cravens, director of the Benton County Solid Waste District.

"People need to really educate themselves on what their program takes," Cravens said. "There are common denominators, but every program is different."

Some recycling centers don't accept glass because the glass mill is too far away to justify transportation costs. Glass is a contaminant in Bentonville because Allied Waste won't pick up glass in Bentonville, but glass is part of Fayetteville's program.

Treece said programs may adjust accepted materials to demographics, and population size has a lot to do with product marketability for recycling.

Paper, Plastic Don't Mix

Paper and plastic are recyclable, but not together. If a resident's program requires materials be separated, he or she should do so, Cravens said.

Plastic is a bad for paper production because "the process of repulping paper product fibers is a pretty intolerant process," Cravens said.

Treece described plastic and paper materials as "oil and water." The plastic doesn't pulp like paper, so it gets caught in the filter screens.

"Paper mills would rather see an engine block in the mix because they can deal with that," Treece said. The presence of plastic can raise costs to the paper mill and decrease the value of the product.

So before throwing out junk mail, remove all the plastic from billing envelopes and other items.

Recycling leaders also emphasized that newspaper readers take the paper out of the plastic bag and recycle separately. Many recycling programs exclude plastic bags because the material is not a valuable commodity. Some supermarkets serve as a drop-off point for recycling plastic bags.

Plastics Not Created Equal

"The hardest thing to explain to people is plastics. The way the plastics are coded makes it confusing for people," Pugh said.

There are seven varieties of plastics, labeled 1-7. Some recycling centers accept all plastics while some are selective, even about the shapes of the plastic within the same number designation.

The most common recyclable plastics are No. 1 and No. 2, but some collection services accept only the No. 1 and 2 bottles with necks.

Bottles with necks are chemically different than food tubs, such as containers for yogurt, butter or microwaveable food trays. The chemical differences to achieve these shapes creates different melting temperatures, and so they can't be recycled together even though they may be labeled with the same number.

"It's confusing, very confusing. I admit to that," Pugh said. "It's second nature to me, and I forget a lot of times the ordinary person who doesn't work in this field doesn't have a clue about this."

Some programs make it easier for residents to recycle by allowing them to throw all recyclables in the same cart. Sorting for Bentonville's program will occur at a recycling center. Fayetteville sorts its recyclables curbside using special trucks.

"The do's and don'ts of recycling can appear like we're asking you to stand on your head and wiggle your nose before you put material in the recycling bin," Treece joked.

Helpful Recycling Tips

* Keep lids attached to steel cans when opening to reduce the number of lids falling to the floor at recycling centers.

* Remove bottle caps. They are more a safety hazard. Compression at the recycling center will burst the capped bottle and may cause the cap to become a projectile.

* Leave metal staples in paper or cardboard. A magnetic process removes the staples during the pulping process.

* Recycle inserts and newspaper together.

* Leave labels on jars because they will burn off during the melting process.

* Don't recycle light bulbs, mirrors and cookware (tempered glass) with glass jars. They are made of different materials.

* Distinguish steel cans from aluminum cans with a magnet. Magnets attract steel.

* Clean recyclables for contamination and sanitation reasons.

Source: Staff Report

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