[ad_1]
China is cracking down on recyclable materials that it accepts from other countries
It's a move that is forcing many states, including Colorado, to scramble to know what to do of all recycled material that comes into play.
This new restriction is divided into two parts, both of which came into effect this year.
The first part is a national sword policy of China, which was pbaded last year and banned several types of plastic waste. imported. The policy claims that too much of the incoming recycled material is contaminated with garbage and that it therefore sets a new contamination limit of 0.5 percent.
"Much of the material that was being sold was destined for China just because she had Wolf Kray, an environmental protection specialist in the Department of Public Health and Human Resources. Colorado environment, said, "We are very much in demand for recyclables. "Unfortunately, they were getting more and more contaminants in the materials they were sending out there and eventually they were getting to a point where they just had to say," We're not taking it anymore, there's just too much waste and contamination. "" [19659002] The United States ships about half of all of its recycling to China for processing The new contamination limits came into effect in March
"China is getting inspectors out and looking at recyclable materials to make sure they do not have other materials, "Kray said he was surprised by the speed with which the new regulations came into force. brought the whole industry to rethink its operation, he added.
"It was a big warning to everyone in the industry that we need to do a better job to make sure we're not putting contaminants in the recycling stream and making sure that control is not sloppy with recycling, "he said.
Because China is the largest importer of recyclable materials, this new change is affecting the operation of some Colorado recycling facilities.
Alpine Waste & Recycling has recruited additional workers to take a closer look at the materials pbading through its plant. "The restrictions are very difficult to meet," said Brent Hildebrand, vice president of recycling at Alpine Waste & Recycling. "To reach them, you have to slow down your system, or we do it, and add some manpower to help treat that material to make that quality."
Each of these steps costs time and money. Hildebrand said the facility also relies on new technology such as a ballistic separator and optical sorting technology to help reduce contamination. But with the amount of recycled materials that pbad through each day in the facility, it's impossible to catch any mixed waste.
"We even had problems yesterday on our lines that caused us to lose a few hours because it damaged our equipment," Hildebrand said. "It's really a big problem – that people know what is acceptable and what is not acceptable in recycling."
Alpine Waste & Recycling accepts newspapers, office paper, bulk mail, cardboard and plastics 1-7. Other facilities in other counties can accept different items. However, complex recyclable materials such as metals must be transported to a dedicated facility and not disposed of in a recycling bin with the rest of these materials.
The trick is to teach people what they can and can not recycle. "The costs will eventually climb if they do not put the right things in the trash and this can become a critical point in this business," Hildebrand said.
This cost could be pbaded on to consumers if too many contaminants
Alpine Waste & Recycling ships about 40% of its materials abroad and Hildebrand says they're constantly looking for new ones places to buy it, especially in the United States.
Some states have resorted to sending trucks of recyclable waste to landfills because they can not find a place to ship it.
"Fortunately, some states have tried to do the same thing. in Col Orke, we have not had this problem at this stage, "said Kray.
He is now focusing his energy on encouraging more American facilities to use recycled materials in order to build the market
China's new restrictions on international recyclable materials address the types of materials that the country will take in. In January, it began banning 24 types of recyclable materials that it had previously accepted
]: "There are various types of plastics, mixed paper and sometimes electronic scrap, various things that require additional processing." China also requires companies to sort the different types of plastic beforehand. that puts time, manpower and costs to recycling centers.
Kray and Hildebrand encourage the public to visit their website and learn about it e more about the types of objects that they can and can not.
Source link
