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September 14, 2019 – One of the most positive changes that has occurred over the past 25 years with respect to human interactions with the planet is recycling.
The first widely recognized effort to tackle human-caused damage to planet Earth took place at the first Earth Day celebration in 1970. During the 1970s, recycling began to increase slowly, from less than 1% of recycled materials to a measurable level. increase on an annual basis.
This number has continued to grow, with recycling percentages rising from 10% in the 1980s to 25% in the 1990s. At the turn of the millennium, the recycling rate was over 30% nationally, almost all municipalities offering a form of selective collection with more than 9,000 voluntary programs in place in the country.
The trend continued, with rates in 2015 of about 35%.
These figures show that Americans have adopted, to some extent, the idea that resources are not infinite and that the disposal of waste has consequences. People also seemed to understand that the disposal methods used to dispose of waste badly damaged ecosystems around the world.
This slightly encouraging paradigm dramatically changed in 2016 with the announcement by China that it would no longer accept most types of plastic resin waste management companies and carriers in the United States. This decision completely changed the way America recycled.
Overnight, it has essentially eliminated the largest processing destination for the vast majority of US plastic waste. This change has forced cities and towns across the country to reassess how they treat plastic waste and how best to put in place a system that allows individuals and municipalities to do some recycling.
At the local level, this decision has led to profound changes in the way people in Florence have been treating plastic for more than a decade.
Recently, local waste carriers have been able to store all types of recyclable materials in large bins labeled "scrambled". This includes cans, fiber-based materials such as newsprint and cardboard and most types of plastics.
Now, the removal of the majority of plastics from the list of materials accepted by local waste companies has created a confusing situation and has led many residents to simply stop recycling.
Thursday evening at the Siuslaw Public Library, representatives from Florence Master Recyclers, Lane County Waste Management, the City of Florence and the Precious Plastics Florence activist group presented to the more than 50 attendees a new plan aimed at remedy the change be recycled and how it could be done.
Earlier this year, Lane County Waste Management organized a "plastic checkup" which was a success. The event asked participants to drop certain types of clean, unlabeled plastic resin to the Glenwood transfer station in Eugene.
There were limits to what could be deposited, but the answer to the synthesis was good, with more than 1,000 abandonments occurring with eight tons of recycled plastic.
One of the few drawbacks of this event is that a number of people who made the trip to deposit their plastic were turned back due to the type of plastic recovered or the cleanliness of the objects.
This is one of the reasons Lane County decided to move from a large-scale collection model to a model that allows a person familiar with the many types of resins used to directly supervise the site.
Pat Benefield is one of the leaders of the Florence Master Recyclers and his Thursday evening presentation highlighted the county's new initiative to allow individuals and small groups to collect, prepare and deposit acceptable types of plastic resin. at their convenience.
"We still collect the 2, 4 and 5," said Benefield about the types of plastic that can be recycled by the group. "These are the types of resin we have collected since the beginning."
Benefield then shared the information on the Lane County site about the synthesis, and explained why it was decided to use "community collectors" trained to coordinate collection efforts.
"We hope to attract the interest of many in tonight's meeting to become community coordinators," she said. "And if you're not in the plastic, you can do a lot to help the environment, help our city and help each other."
Benefield encouraged participants to consider collecting from their immediate network of friends and families.
"You can do it only with neighbors on either side of you, you can do it in a gated community. I think the important thing is that a person determines that they want to become the collector and direct that person with the other people they want to work with, "she said.
The Lane County website contains a tab dedicated to waste management and the county has released the rationale used to move the program from a specific event to a day to a more flexible model. The site indicates that Lane County will not hold another day of gathering because of information gathered during the event, which showed that 72% of the participants gathered for their household only.
The carbon impacts created by more than 1,000 vehicles from Lane County to the Glenwood Transfer Station were the main reason for the change in collections. Another reason was the idea expressed by county staff that it would be more beneficial and productive to have a number of community collectors able to run smaller, group-oriented collections with sufficient flexibility at the time where accepted articles could be tabled.
During the September 12 meeting, people asked a number of questions to the panel about the specifics of what can and can not be currently recycled in the county's facilities.
Responses were extracted directly from the county website, which indicates that the following materials must be clean (adhesive labels removed) and sorted into the following categories of equipment: patterned bottles and jars # 2; No. 2 bins and lids; No. 4 bottles, bins and lids; and No. 5 bottles, bins and lids.
Depending on the materials you own, this can represent up to four separate categories.
More than one participant mentioned that the main obstacle to becoming a trained collector was the amount of space needed to collect and store the collected plastic.
As this lack of space for storage was a problem expressed by many people, it became apparent that a concerted effort to find a person or organization in the Florence area was necessary to ensure the success of the project. new program.
Another issue raised by more than one person was the question of labels. The problem with most labels is that they work very well. The adhesive used to secure the paper or polymer indicating the contents of the container remains in place, sometimes after several withdrawal attempts. The remaining residue of the adhesive will often clog or damage the sorting and shredding efforts and is one of the major problems faced by county and local road carriers.
"One of the things that worried people the most about Round-up Round-up was the labels," said Benefield. "Labels are not the easiest way to remove a piece of plastic. This is where the message "What else can we do? "Come in. We need to contact the manufacturer and tell him if you will affix a label here. it must come off easily or not affix a label, but make it a part of the container, like a container of yogurt. "
Ruth Miller, a representative of Florence Precious Plastics, an organization created following Florence's changing recycling rules, responded to this concern about tag removal.
"We hold a class on the third Saturday of every month, where we help people learn how to prepare different types of plastics, including ways to remove the label and ways to avoid them. On the fourth Thursday, we have classes on what you can do with plastic in addition to shredding it, "said Miller.
Local waste disposal companies Central Coast Disposal and County Transfer and Recycling accept a limited number of types of plastic resins, which are delineated on the websites of each company. Lane County Waste Management also has extensive information and illustrations designed to provide visual keys to current recycling guidelines.
The Recycling Masters of Florence and Precious Plastics also have websites offering tips, tricks and strategies to reduce and reuse items that we might consider throwing away. There is also a section called Trash Talk on the Florence Master rebreather site that informs the community of new ideas and interesting circumstances related to recycling and waste reduction.
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