Is recycling dead? (Philadelphia, Allentown, Scranton: home, transfer, buying)

[fisheye]

I don't know if this just affects our area, the State, or our Nation? A few months ago there was a change in recycling locally. They put up fences and have an 'inspector' on duty for every piece of recyclables we dispose of. For plastics they will only accept #1 and #2 plastics. This is not just a 'Swiftwater' policy; it is happening in Pocono Summit (where they closed the recycling center at the local transfer station) and it is happening in Scranton: https://wnep.com/2019/04/10/communit...d-recyclables/.

I know that there was a problem with people that tossed away restricted items before the new procedures. Many times I would see that people left full and empty paint cans as well as restricted electronics or simply household garbage. I realize they had to do something. But this last move looks like the end of recycling.

Is this happening all across our State? Is it happening in other states? Maybe, over time, they can retrain us? Only time will tell; but it is not getting easier to recycle.

[briantroutman]

I posted a response to a related question on a Philadelphia thread about recycling.

But in short...

You may not be aware that up until last year, the vast majority of our recyclables have been sent on large container ships to China. In 2018, the Chinese government decided that they no longer wanted their country to be the world’s dumping ground, so they enacted new restrictions on recycling imports that are so stringent, it’s virtually impossible to send recyclables to China anymore. A few other east Asian nations have stepped up to accept recyclables from the U.S. and other western nations, but all of these other nations combined can barely make a dent in the large void China left behind.

Just do a search for “recycling crisis” and you’ll see scores of articles on the topic.

As a result, counties and municipal governments are finding that their per-household costs to handle recyclables are skyrocketing. In Philadelphia, for example, the recycling vendor signaled its intention to increase the cost per ton by nearly 500% in a single year. The city found another vendor willing to increase the old rate by “only” 160%, but that vendor couldn’t accept as much as the city produces, so Philadelphia is now incinerating half of its recyclables in Chester.

I don’t have time to go into all of the recycling-related problems we face, but one of the most significant is contamination. You only need to look at any curbside recycling bin or recyclables collection center to see why. People throw in old toys, plastic wrap, old vinyl shower curtains, and take-out styrofoam containers (with food left in them!) with the plastic—none of which belong. They put broken drinking glasses and burned out lightbulbs with the glass. And at the drop-off centers in rural areas, I see things like old furniture, busted electronics, discarded clothing... It’s as if some people think that “recycling” is an umbrella term for a combination materials recovery and Goodwill-type donation program.

[jdhpa]

I think the biggest problem with recycling is that while much waste is potentially recyclable, there is no market for it. No one (or very few) who actually turns the waste into new products. There are a couple of exceptions (clear glass, aluminum, ...), and some niche companies that recycle more broadly, but for the most part no real recycling for much of the waste.

In California at least, cities are required to recycle a large percentage of their waste. But the definition of recycling doesn't include it actually being used, only being separated out so that, should there be demand for it, it could be recycled. Cities hire workers to sort waste into their various categories. That meets their legal requirement. Then they take it to the landfill with all of the non-recyclable waste, because there is no demand for it.

IMO, rather than spending effort on getting people to put their waste into recycling bins, the emphasis should be on finding ways to effectively, profitably recycle waste. When that is achieved, it will be easy to get people to recycle their waste, because they'll be able to make money by doing so. Until that's achieved, other than the few materials that already have a market for recyclable products, it seems like an exercise in futility.

[fisheye]

Perhaps we need a few more ski slopes: https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...oint-ski-slope. I read another article on that Copenhagen garbage incinerator that claimed one of their biggest challenges was getting enough garbage.

As far as what is happening here; it does not look promising without change. Thank both of you for your input.

[g500]

Dauphin County (Harrisburg PA) stopped collecting all glass over two years ago. I keep putting glass in my recycling bin anyway. Essentially glass is trash here because it was losing the county money to the tune of $2,000 a month (small compared to their total budget, but still)

I think there should be a shift toward using aluminum for packaging when and where feasible, since I read somewhere that aluminum is 99% recyclable and could be re-used almost endlessly. There was some old wives tale that eating/drinking/cooking with aluminum caused Alzheimer's disease. Seems highly unlikely, but worth looking into maybe? Plastic is cheap, hence our reliance on it. However it is not nearly as easy to recycle compared to aluminum.

Also educating people about how to recycle would be worthwhile. People constantly recycling Styrofoam and plastic straws at my work even though they are not recyclable. Or people not recycling at all (very very common and much larger quantities).

[North Beach Person]

Recycling is a victim of its success. We've had the same disposal issues here as you've had.


Glass should be an easy one, mix it with asphalt to create glassphalt and use that to pave parking lots and bike paths.

[jtab4994]

Originally Posted by fisheye

They put up fences and have an 'inspector' on duty for every piece of recyclables we dispose of. For plastics they will only accept #1 and #2 plastics.

All recycling programs that I've ever heard of, have only accepted #1 and #2 plastic which are easily recycled into new products. But of course a lot of people don't even know there are different kinds of plastic so they dump it all in the recycling bin. That's part of the reason the Chinese stopped buying our recycled materials. Yogurt containers and such are #5. Plastic bags are #4.


I've got my wife to throw her #5 yogurt containers in the trash at home but here at work it's a lost cause even among the Millennials. One lady at work tried to start a campaign to get people to recycle the Keurig cups but it was just too much work. These things are hugely popular but each single cup goes into the trash because the plastic used in them is #5 (I think; I just know it's not 1 or 2). I wish our company had never spent the money on that stupid machine, for a lot of reasons, instead of just sticking with the old Bunn brewer.

Originally Posted by g500

Also educating people about how to recycle would be worthwhile. People constantly recycling Styrofoam and plastic straws at my work even though they are not recyclable. Or people not recycling at all (very very common and much larger quantities).

You'd think public schools would be all over this. You've got to drum this into people, in a positive way, when they're young. Whether it's Boy Scouts or Young Pioneers, there are youth groups out there that teach kids to care about the environment, but to reach the maximum number we need the public schools on board.

[briantroutman]

Originally Posted by jtab4994

All recycling programs that I've ever heard of, have only accepted #1 and #2 plastic ...

...it's a lost cause even among the Millennials.

I’m not sure where you’ve lived, but I’ve seen plenty of recycling programs that accept more plastic than #1 (PETE) and #2 (HDPE). As close as Allentown, for instance, the municipal curbside recycling program collects plastic bottles, jugs, and tubs #1 through #7—plus junk mail, cereal boxes, paperback books, aerosol cans, and the usual glass, aluminum and steel containers...all dumped into a single bin. Scranton has a brochure on its recycling program, and it appears to be more restrictive, but the section labeled “Plastic” makes no mention of accepted or excluded plastic numbers. Interestingly, Scranton’s program mentions pizza boxes as being OK to recycle, yet I’ve seen many articles on recycling that claim pizza boxes' oil-soaked cardboard can’t be recycled—and further that a greasy pizza box can contaminate an entire batch of paper, rendering it useless.

I’m the first to jump on the public for lazily dumping all sorts of trash into the recycling stream (I did in my post above), but I also have to cut them a tiny bit of slack over the incredibly confused and mixed messaging many of them receive. Clearly more education is necessary, but until we have more uniformity in recycling practices, I don’t think effective and widespread awareness programs are possible.

[Gerania]

I've stopped recycling almost anything other than #1 and 2 clean plastic and paper. Everything else, or everything, is going to a landfill.

[villageidiot1]

My township is more restrictive than what has been mentioned here. They will not take all #1 and #2 containers. They will not take the plastic containers with attached lids that are mostly used for produce. They will not take the lids from #1 and #2 containers. They will not take #1 and #2 containers that were used for chemicals, oil, weed killer, etc. They pick up our recycling containers once a week and leave unacceptable items in the containers.

My wife thinks that recycling is the proper thing to do and thinks all containers are recyclable. That means I have to clean out the recycling containers every week with items they would not take. I try to convince her that recycling is actually costing us in additional taxes to support these unprofitable programs.