Know What’s Recyclable?

WOODBINE – “People know recycling is required, so why wouldn’t they find out what can be recycled here and follow the program?”
That question is one Linda Crumbock, Cape May County Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA) recycling coordinator, asks herself often, especially when she sees trash bags sitting at the curb filled with recyclables.
“We don’t take recyclables in plastic bags, they go right to the landfill,” she noted. “Why not empty that trash bag into your recycle container so we can put it through our processes and keep the items out of the landfill?”
In 2017, over 29,902 tons of materials were collected as part of the county’s recycling efforts.
About 1,042 tons, or 3 percent, was single-use plastic bags or plastic bags filled with recyclables that went to the landfill. “Take the single-use plastic bags back to the supermarket,” Crumbock said. “That’s our way of recycling them.”
She explained that trash bags can hide sharp objects, so for safety reasons they aren’t opened and therefore they aren’t recyclable. “We have people who will put grass clippings in a dark trash bag, then put the saw blade in there because they think it can be recyclable,” Crumbock pointed out. “People can get hurt with things in dark trash bags, so all of it automatically goes to the landfill.”
Become Familiar
Encouraging people to return plastic bags to the supermarket is one of two messages Crumbock shares with students, groups, visitors and others about recycling.
The other is that recycling is required, and people should become familiar with the materials that are accepted as part of the county MUA’s program.
Ironically, there are differences in what is collected across the county’s 16 municipalities.
Crumbock attributes that to “lack of enforcement” within the municipalities. “If we collect highly-contaminated materials from a certain town, and reject the load as recyclables and instead send it to the landfill, there is an additional fee assessed to the municipality,” she explained.
“You would think that government officials would look at those extra fees and want to eliminate them; have their recycle vendor put a notice on a bin that has a trash bag, for instance, and let them know why it’s not being picked up.
“But that doesn’t happen, yet,” she said.
Local municipalities should be recycling at least half of the solid waste generated within their boundaries, according to Crumbock. For the most part, none of the county’s municipalities have achieved that target yet. “It’s a very aggressive target set by the state,” she noted. “We are trying to achieve it, but not yet.”
App to Debut
One of the most significant challenges facing the county is the number of tourists coming from places that may have different recycling programs. “We have to re-educate people every week,” said John Conturo, Solid Waste program manager, Cape May County Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA), “because while I believe people do want to recycle, what people recycle differs from town to town, county to county and state to state.”
To help bridge the information gap, Crumbock is hoping to debut an easy-to-use app in July. On the app, people can plug in a material to learn whether Cape May County and their host municipality recycles it.
It will also direct the user on how to get rid of the material.
Beside single-stream recycling, which covers plastic, steel (tin), aluminum, glass containers, cardboard, magazines, newspapers and other paper all placed in one recycling container, the county also has recycling programs for grass, batteries, leftover paint, computer, TV and consumer electronics, household appliances, motor oil and filters, cooking oil and tires. Specifics on these programs can be obtained by calling the MUA at 609-465-9026.
“Back in 2007, we started a rigid plastics recycling program for things like resin chairs, plastic benches and other items typical in a beach community,” Crumbock said.
Since then, about 600 tons of rigid plastics have been diverted from the landfill.
Another beach community plastic, shrink-wrap used for boats, accounts for another “robust” recycling program, according to Crumbock.
The amount is fed by 53 marinas and storage places throughout the county.
Market Always Changing
“One of the things I tell people when I talk with them, particularly the younger kids, is what products are made from recycled materials,” Crumbock said. “They make carpet out of plastics, for example. We take wooden pallets and make mulch. They use plastic in the plastic decking materials now available.”
“The market for recyclables is always changing,” Conturo said. “Its profitability changes as well based on market values. In 2017, we saw a spike early on for the price of cardboard, so the year ended up with a profit for us.”
That was the first time the program saw a profit in the last several years, Crumbock noted, “But we don’t do it for a profit. We do it so we are not adding to the landfill.” When there is a profit after operating costs are covered, the balance is rebated to the municipalities based on the percentage of recyclables they contribute.
“We’ve seen the ups and downs over the years, but our raw materials are clean by recycling standards,” said Conturo. “Our vendor, Republic Services, tells us that we have a high-quality product, and they have the brokers working with the markets to make sure we are able to sell our recycled product. There still are, however, a lot of challenges.”
One item that can be recycled and often isn’t is a pizza box, according to Crumbock. “If a pizza box is saturated with cheese, sauce or grease, then it’s not recyclable. But if there’s just a residual amount, it’s okay. You can tear off the greasy cardboard and recycle the rest.”
Items in the recycle bin should be covered so no moisture gets in, Conturo added. That’s because wet material jams processing equipment.
Buyers of the materials also do not allow for very much moisture in the bales of recycled material, meaning they won’t buy it if it’s too wet.
Of the approximate 29,000 tons collected yearly through curbside single-stream recycling, about 82 percent is sold to various markets that include domestic facilities and overseas locations such as China, which suspended all imports of U.S. recycled materials until June 4, regardless of quality.
The recycling industry interpreted the move as part of the growing rift between the U.S. and China over trade policies and tariffs.
Because there is “no market for glass as we process it,” the county uses it to cover the landfill as it gets filled in.
“There are very stringent requirements for glass in the marketplace which we aren’t able to meet, so the state allows us to use it as covering,” the recycling coordinator noted.
“Our equipment can separate the different pieces, and we have a lot of checkpoints along the way, but making sure it’s the quality that it needs to be for the marketplace is hard work,” he said.
Remove, Rinse, Recycle, Repeat
Crumbock speaks three or four times a month to groups about recycling and how everyone can play their part. She uses “Three Rs” to help people remember what to do.
“Remove the cap on a bottle and throw it into the trash,” she explained about the first ‘R.’ “Rinse the container is the second ‘R’ and then recycle it for the third ‘R’.
“We’re obligated to recycle,” she stressed, “schools, businesses, residents and institutions, we just need to be sure we are doing it the best way we can.”
To contact Karen Knight, email kknight@cmcherald.com.