New
Recycling Requirement for 2019
By Albert B. Kelly
To recycle or not to recycle, that is the question. While
it’s not exactly what Shakespeare asked, it is a question we’ll have to deal
with in 2019. With the turn of the New Year, the Cumberland County Improvement
Authority (CCIA) will only be accepting #1 and #2 plastics. This change means
that we will no longer be able to dump any old plastics into the recycling
container as a “single stream” of recyclables.
Instead, we will need to look for the recycling symbol and its
corresponding number to determine whether it goes into the recycling bin or the
regular trash stream. The bottom line is that now, “single stream recycling”
will require residents to do some sorting. In addition to numbers 3 and 6 which
never were part of the recycling stream, the CCIA will no longer be able to
accept plastics numbered 4, 5, or 7 in the recycling stream. Beyond plastics,
residents should also refrain from placing any contaminated cardboard into
recycling containers.
As to why these changes are being made, it’s about the
broader market for recyclable materials. Back in August in this same space, I
commented on the fact that we’ve basically had the luxury over the last few decades
of shipping our plastics, glass, cardboard, etc., in a single stream, over to
China. The Chinese then sorted the good from the bad and did with it what they
would in terms of giving these materials a second life. Those days are gone.
As suggested then, China is no longer an emerging economy
with extraordinarily cheap labor needing or willing to accept, sort, and clean
our single stream of materials. For us, that means we’ll have to do some things
differently from here on out changing our habits when we dispose of recycling
materials. Change is not easy and there will be some starts and stops, but change
needs to happen because of shifts in the recyclable market and for the health
of our planet.
A good example of more efficient recycling is Germany, which
recycles over 60% of their waste as compared to the U.S which recycles only
about half that amount. The bottom line is that the costs to dispose of our
waste as well as the cost associated with recycling will go up. How much more
these costs will increase depends to some degree on how diligent we are in
sorting our recycling materials.
As mentioned above, any plastics numbered 1 and 2 should go
in the recycling container. Any plastics numbered 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 should go
into the solid waste stream. Beyond plastics, you should also place glass
bottles, cans, newspaper, magazines, and cardboard into the recycling stream.
If there’s any doubt, throw it out.
One other point to note, we need to make sure that we remove
caps and lids and we also need to take some care in rinsing out containers with
food and drink residue as it will help to keep costs down. That may not sound
like much, but it is easier and more cost effective for us to rinse out a
single bottle or can at home then for workers to add that step on the back end
for literally tens of thousands of pounds of recyclable materials.
A good information resource is the Cumberland County
Improvement Authority website which provides details on accepted items by
visiting https://www.ccia-net.com/environmental/recycling-program/accepted-items/
As we go forward, we should perhaps expect more and demand
more in terms of recycling, conservation, and putting forth solid public policy
that is matched with adequate public investment. Most reasonable people
understand that there is an environmental impact. What we sometimes miss is
that this is an issue that can’t be solved by government from the top down, but
something we all have to be involved with in our daily lives and in our homes
from the bottom up.
This will mean paying closer attention to the regulations,
taking an extra beat to check for a number on the bottom of plastic containers,
or checking a website occasionally. Mostly it will mean changing habits and
cultivating a mindset about waste disposal, a fragile environment, and the idea
that we can give materials a second, third, and even a fourth life while
conserving limited natural resources.
In 2019, it starts with a little cleaning and sorting of
plastics before placing them into our recyclable containers and dragging them
out to the curb each week.