Almost a year has passed since Clark County changed from three-bin curbside recycling to the more popular large blue roll carts, with small bins for glass. Most of us have added our own personal touches. For example, many customers don’t put out their glass bins but once a month or so. (We wonder how many folks would like to put out a small sign: “Notice! This is one month’s wine bottles! Not one week’s!)
Otherwise, however, personal touches are highly discouraged with the new recycling system. Some of us, even after one year, still have some learning to do. Did you know, for example, that those thin plastic containers that typically contain berries (clamshell containers, they’re called) are not recyclable? They should be tossed in with the garbage.
The most common mistake in recycling in Clark County is throwing plastic bags into the blue carts, with the mistaken belief that they’re recyclable at curbside. (The bags can be taken to the West Vancouver recycling center, and many grocery stores accept the bags for recycling). Local recycling officials have conducted extensive education programs, but as a Monday Columbian story reported, almost 40 percent of the recycling carts contain plastic bags, which turn into virtual monkey wrenches when they enter the sorting equipment. The plastic bags become entangled in rollers, and workers have to use utility knives to cut the plastic bags free.
And for that, all of us, even those with impeccable recycling habits, have to pay. Through workers’ hours lost or excessive wear on equipment, we all have to pay.
It’s too soon to gauge the success of the new blue-roll-cart system, but it’s not too soon for all participants to brush up on the rules and boost the productivity of the new system. Mike Davis, waste reduction specialist for the county, said on Tuesday that an analysis of recycling components will be conducted soon, and long-term plans include enhanced education campaigns. Entering the new system last year, Clark County residents were recycling about 40 percent of solid waste. That might seem like a big improvement over many years ago, but it’s still short of the statewide goal of 50 percent. There’s still time to recycle better, recycle smarter and get that percentage much higher.
Much of the community’s collective attitude about recycling likely can be sorted generationally. Older residents with long memories of the way things were done decades ago might believe that a 40 percent recycling rate is a remarkable achievement. Younger residents — especially schoolchildren who for some reason always seem to be ahead of the rest of us on recycling philosophies — likely abhor the fact that 60 percent of the material is not being recycled. Much of that material (more than 237,000 tons a year) is being barged up the Columbia River to the Finley Buttes Landfill in Boardman, Ore. And, again, we all have to pay for that.
Here are a few more tips:
Do not put window glass, ceramics or light bulbs in the glass recycling bins. Those bins are for glass bottles and jars only.
Recycle plastic bottles, tubs (butter, yogurt), plastic nursery pots, and small plastic buckets, but no plastic lids or block foam.
Do not put lumber in yard debris carts. Take it to waste transfer stations for recycling. Also, no rocks or sod in yard debris carts.
Clean metal cans, metal lids, foil, pie plates and trays before placing them in the blue cart. No food should be on any of the containers.
“When in doubt, leave it out,” recycling officials often say. But informed customers can make a big impact in streamlining the local curbside recycling program and making it more efficient.
For more information about curbside recycling, visit the county website, http://www.co.clark.wa.us/recycle/.
