Tee Cee’s Tip for Monday, July 5, 2021 – Longmont Times-Call
Pricey Tee Cee,
What’s the relaxationrict on smallness for placing recyclable merchandises into The solely-stream cart? For event, with paperboard I’ve heard that I ought To place smaller merchandises like relaxation room paper rolls Proper into a a lot hugeger paperboard area earlier than I put it into my single-stream cart. I Do this, however marvel if in All of the dumping, and so on., the area tears aside And also you uncover your self with a bunch of small (even tiny) paperboard merchandises You will Have The power to’t type.
Thanks for all you do.
Leslie E.
Pricey Leslie,
Thanks for asking such A great, detailed question. It’s An important one, as a Outcome of When it Includes single-stream recycling, measurement does matter.
Right here’s why: You understand that single-stream recycling means all curbside recyclable suppliess go into one single bin On the curb. As quickly as suppliess arrive On the Boulder County Recycling Center, we separate recyclables by supplies class, bale them (Apart from glass, Which might’t be baled), and sfinish them to their respective markets to be made into new merchandise.
The drawback of measurement Is very important as a Outcome of our system does two factors to allow automated typeing To assist Inside the separation of suppliess — it types flat suppliess (paper) from thee-dimensional suppliess (containers), and it types huge merchandises from small. Definitely one of many very first suppliess separated out from The solely-stream mix is glass. To Do this, rotating metallic spikes deliberately break the glass into smaller merchandises whereas It is nonetheless Inside The combination with all The Completely different types of suppliess.
The mix with the damaged glass is then handed over a 2-inch hole Inside the conveyor belt. The hole serves as a display To assist separate very small merchandises like damaged glass from somefactor huger than two inches. The now-tiny glass merchandises fall by way of the hole, and everyfactor else that’s huger than two inches passes over the hole to proceed by way of the system for further separation and typeing.
That hole works Very properly for separating out the glass, However it creates a contamination drawback for merchandises That are equally small. Do You’d like To place somefactor smaller than 2 inches into the recycling bin, like a plastic soda cap or a small scrap of paper, It is going to furtherly fall by way of that hole and contaminate the glass stream. As quickly as I give excursions of The power, I typically level to the conveyor belt containing the separated glass stream and have people guess which supplies that stream Is Alleged to be. Virtually 100% of the time, they guess “paper shred” as a Outcome of so many itty-bitty merchandises of paper fall by way of that hole and Wind up mixing with the glass. That is precisely why we ask that no shredded paper be included in your recycling bin and That you merely take it Instead to a shred assortment event or drop-off center to be recycled individually.
You ask about placing smaller merchandises inside huger merchandises of The identical supplies type, however you guessed it, that gained’t work. Using your event of placing small paperboard merchandises inside A a lot hugeger paperboard container like a cereal area, once It is compressed in a recycling truck, dumped on the typeing flooring and scooped up with a loader, that cereal area Might be very Extra probably to be ripped, And other people small merchandises could very probably Wind up unfastened Inside the system.
So if you’re recycling one factor smaller than 2 inches in diameter, please Do not put it Inside the recycling bin. But it doesn’t primarily Want to be landfilled. Everytime You’ve small paper scraps (not coated in plastic) smaller than a enterprise card, You will Have The power to compost it or shred Might be taken to the Longmont drop-off center to be recycled individually. Plastic screw-prime caps can effectively Bear the system In the event that they’re reattached to their empty plastic containers or cartons, however in any other case please throw them Inside the trash. Small metallic bottle caps Might be collected as scrap metallic On the Longmont Recycling Center or Allure (Center for Exhausting-to-Recycle Materials). The one exception to The two-inch rule is, Really, glass. If glass breaks Inside the recycling bin, that’s Okay, as That is the one merchandise We now Want to drop down by way of that typeing hole.
Tee Cee
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