The "Making Recycling Tougher To Carry Out" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Trash day!  I had to take my two trash cans to the curb along with my recycle bin yesterday just in case they decided to alter their schedule and get to my house earlier than they usually do. At times, when I know it may be windy, I will take everything from my plastic trash cans and place it in large plastic bags.  Easier doing this than chasing the can and lid all over the neighborhood the following day due to nasty weather.  

What is to be recycled and what is not to be.
Click to enlarge.

A few months ago we got a letter in the mail telling us that Lancaster County, Pennsylvania's waste officials were scaling back on curbside recycling and we were to no longer place in our recycling bin newspaper, magazines office paper, yogurt cups, plastic food containers, bottle caps and cereal boxes.  So, why not?  Seems China is to blame.  A rapidly developing China had been gobbling up half of the world's recycled paper and plastic.  Now that it is using many of its own resources, it doesn't need the material, and the unwanted trash mixed in with recyclables from the U.S. has created a waste disposal problem.  Therefore, Lancaster County waste authority chose to cut out some recycling staples that residents had long thrown in their recycling bins and hauled to the curb each week.  

The bins say it all!

Now, the problem for the trash men is that many people still disregard the notice and put all the same stuff they used to in their bin.  On my way to work this morning, I noticed newspapers in many bins.  Others had piles of magazines tied together with twine.  So, what does the guy in the recycle truck do?  I'm not sure since I have not seen him since they initiated the new procedures.  I now throw the recyclable items that I used to place in my recycle bin, but are no longer wanted, into my regular trash can. But, currently about 20% to 40% of items that other people put in their recycle bin are no longer recyclable which makes the job of the person collecting them that much harder.  

New instructions for recycling in Lancaster County.

Seems like such a shame that all those used newspapers can't be used somewhere.  I can still remember when my oldest son was in Cub Scouts, we would hop in the station wagon on a Saturday morning and drive around our neighborhood collecting newspapers.  We would take them to the local paper mill nearby so they could be made into newsprint which was used once again to print more newspapers.  The place was only a mile from our house and my sons really enjoyed watching the unit shred the paper as it headed to the paper-making machine.  The paper mill closed years ago and not long after we began the collection of the newspapers by our local trash hauler.  We in Lancaster County do have an alternative since Lancaster County has a trash-to-energy incinerator that converts the unwanted stuff into electricity.  It does create a small amount of ash, but it is minimal.  Our waste-to-energy facility has an extensive emissions control system and emissions are significantly under the limits set by state and federal agencies.  Carol and I have been aware of the importance of plastic recyclables for years.  While visiting on islands in the Caribbean, we have noticed that they no longer supply plastic bags in grocery stores, plastic containers to hold food at fast-food places or even plastic plates and straws at restaurants and even on the grocery shelves.  The damage that all that plastic has done to the oceans around the islands is tremendous with wildlife and fish dying at a much faster rate.  Something must be done world-wide to stop pollution caused by not recycling.  Will I see it in my lifetime?  I doubt it, but hope it can be done.  Please do your part to recycle, but do so responsibly.  Everyone living thing on earth is being affected by not recycling.  We must all do our part to correct what we have done to harm our earth.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.