Where Does the Recycling Go, and How Do I Know it Actually Gets Recycled!?!?

In honor of National Recycling Day, our sustainability partner, Mike Kruse, has put together a short write-up about the recycling process. Please take a moment to read the article to learn more about how our recycled materials are processed and sorted.

The public’s perception of the recycling process varies wildly. I’ve heard everything from the overly pessimistic, “It doesn’t matter where you put it; it just goes to the landfill,” to the overly optimistic, “Oh, just put it in the trash; they’ll separate it!” The truth is not close to either of these phrases, though I’ve heard them repeated many times.

How do we know what happens to recyclable materials? Let’s look at mixed-recycling dumpster service at some of our CMA locations. 

Charlottesville and Lynchburg CMA both use GFL for recycling dumpster service. GFL’s trucks empty CMA recycling dumpsters and take the recyclables to local transfer stations. At the transfer stations, the materials are loaded into larger trucks and driven to a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Chester, Virginia. I asked Seth Stephens, the General Manager of GFL’s MRF, what happens to materials delivered to his facility. “Once the single stream recycling hits our tip floor, it is run through our processing system where it is separated into cardboard, paper, HDPE, PET, Aluminum, and Tin/steel.  It is then baled, and the materials are sent to processors that use the materials to create new products”. 

I asked Misty Buffum, Republic’s local rep, what happens to the recycling emptied from Valley CMA’s recycling dumpsters. “Our recycling is hauled to a Republic-run transfer station and then trucked to the American Recycling Center in Manassas, Virginia.” 

The American Recycling Center processes 30 tons of recycling per hour. They have a great four-minute video showing their recycling sorting process. You can find the video below. Look closely, and you may even see a cardboard box from Valley CMA!

One thing is certain: Recyclable materials placed in a trash dumpster will not get recycled. There is no local process to sort through garbage and pull out recycling. These are different waste streams. If an aluminum can or cardboard box is going to be reused, it has to stay in the recycling stream until it is delivered to a paper mill or an aluminum smelting facility. 

The most common way recyclable materials are lost is when indoor recycling bins or cardboard boxes are emptied into trash dumpsters. This we can fix! While there are instances where recyclables are lost further down the recycling stream, it is not common. Recyclable materials have value and are sold by the ton. Dumping at a landfill costs money, so there is a financial incentive for those handling large volumes of recyclables to do the right thing. 

Making recycling work well is just a matter of covering the basics. Provide clearly labeled recycling bins, ensure they are emptied in the right place, and let our colleagues and customers know that CMA recycles everything recyclable. Happy National Recycling Day!