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Thursday, September 27, 2007
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Recycling is becoming a habit these days
Staff Writer How much garbage do you lug out to the end of the driveway for pick up each week?
One can?
Two?
How much recycling?
I have to admit, we're not as "green" at our house as we could be.
But we are getting better.
My husband recently attended a meeting for his job that spoke to our sustainability. He was a little surprised at some of the figures and has since become the self-appointed trash monitor at our house.
"Where are you putting that?" he'll ask these days.
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Cass County employee Randi Vargo used a front-end loader to scoop loads of plastic at the recycling center last week north of Pine River. The facility sorts and compacts plastic, aluminum, tin, paper, glass and other materials dropped off by local sanitation trucks. Brainerd Dispatch/Nels Norquist
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"Hmmm, recyclable or not?" he'll query someone on the way to the trash.
Once you make an effort to do it, recycling does become a habit.
We can dispose of most paper, metals, glass and plastics right at our curbsides. It couldn't get any easier. When you consider that includes everything from computer paper to craft and wrapping paper, newspaper, junk mail, telephone books, envelopes, soda cans, juice, soup and spaghetti sauce cans, pickle jars and milk jugs, it seems like more things can be recycled these days than can't.
So why is it still so hard to do?
More than ever, the things we purchase come individually wrapped, heavily packaged or disposable and statistics credit each of us with creating between 5 and more than 7 pounds of garbage a day.
Most of our trash haulers have made the process a lot easier these days by eliminating some of the work on our end and even supplying the containers to keep it all in. Gone are the days in some cases of even peeling labels and bagging. Some companies have gone to a "single sort" system where you just toss it all together in one can and, well, basically just toss it all together in one can.
"Ninety percent of our recycling is done by businesses," said Doug Morris, Crow Wing County Solid Waste coordinator. But residential recycling adds up. Last year Crow Wing County residents recycled 1,679 tons of paper, cardboard and magazines alone and the total, including glass and metal, was 3,366 tons.
"Residential recycling does go up every year," said Morris, "but we still see a lot of those aluminum cans being thrown away, too."
Once your recyclables leave your curb they are trucked to a central recycling center to be sorted.
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Workers sorted the different types of plastic off a conveyer belt last week at the Cass County Recycling Center north of Pine River. Brainerd Dispatch/Nels Norquist
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Marlen Harris is the site manager at the Cass County Recycling Center in Pine River.
"We haven't gone to single sort yet," said Harris. So most of the recycled materials they get are separated by residents before pick up. That doesn't mean other materials aren't still mixed in there and those are removed by hand. A magnet picks the metal out so that stays together and the other materials are separated manually one from another. When it comes off the conveyer belt it is baled for hauling.
"Lighter bales made from the aluminum might weigh about 700 pounds," said Harris, "and cardboard and paper bales can weigh as much as 2,400 pounds."
Harris said for the most part paper from his site is then sent to three different locations. Some is sent to Becker where it is recycled back into cardboard. Some goes on to Moorhead to be made into egg cartons and some is sent on to Vargas, near Alexandria, where it will be combined with other materials and made into insulation. Most of the center's glass is taken to Shakopee where it is used by Anchor Glass in the company's products.
Harris said the metal is sent to facilities and remade back into cans and other secondary metal products.
Marcia Hegg from Waste Management said our communities are doing a good job recycling but we still make a few mistakes. We still need to rinse our containers out and just because a milk or juice jug is recyclable, doesn't mean the cap is. Those should be removed.
"Keep recycling," said Hegg, "because that sends less stuff to the landfill."
Ever wonder what all those numbers mean in the chasing arrows of the recycling logo?
"Plastics all melt at different temperatures," she said and the numbers signify exactly what type of plastic a container is made of.
Cottage cheese containers and those similar are usually not recyclable, either. Hegg said a good rule of thumb is that if it has a neck on it then it probably is.
All kinds of other items can find new life again if we get them to the right places, too. The Lions Club accepts old eyeglasses. Most cell phone providers will take back your old cell phones when you trade them in for those snazzy new models, too. Some retailers take back their plastic bags for recycling along with other items like pill bottles and film containers. Ink cartridges can be returned to most office supply stores and retailers and if you've made the switch to the new compact fluorescent light bulbs your local hardware store may take them back. The new bulbs last a lot longer than the old ones - but they are not disposable.
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Bales of compacted plastic bottles line the outside of the building at the Cass County Recycling Center north of Pine River. Brainerd Dispatch/Nels Norquist
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The local landfill serves as a kind of a catchall for almost everything else.
"The best thing to do when you clean your garage is bring it to us and we probably have a place for most of it," said Morris. Appliances are taken at the landfill at a fee of $5 apiece. Electronics and computer equipment is accepted for a small fee. Residential grass clippings, leaves and brush are taken at no charge.
Even small things like automotive oil can add up.
"Last year the Crow Wing County Landfill took in 36,000 gallons of reused oil that probably would have been thrown out in the environment," said Morris.
The landfill offers residents an opportunity to get rid of hazardous waste the second Wednesdays and Saturdays of the months from April through October. The last two dates for this year at the Crow Wing County Landfill are from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Oct. 10 and Oct. 13. Paints, cleaners, garden chemicals, automotive products and aerosol cans can all be dropped off.
We are a disposable society now, but a surprising amount of the things we use can be recycled or used by others once we're finished with them.
Our grandmothers used to rinse out bread bags and sandwich bags. They reused aluminum foil and sometimes plastic wrap.
They were the original recycling gurus.
We may rinse out an occasional Cool Whip container at our house.
I want to be a good steward of the earth and until lately I felt pretty good about the fact that I never littered or threw garbage out of my car window.
I can do a lot better.
For more information on recycling call the Crow Wing County Solid Waste Department at 824-1290; in Cass County call (218) 547-7241, or (888) 910-2425.
SHEILA HELMBERGER, staff writer, may be reached at sheila.helmberger@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5886.
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