Workers at Gaeta Recycling, a transfer station in Paterson, pull in appropriate items from a conveyor carrying clean, shredded paper, still a sought-after material for recycling. (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media)
By Steve Strunsky and Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
You remember that greasy pizza box you almost threw out, but recycled instead? The cheese was stuck to the lid again, too, but the delivery kid kept the change and drove away so fast you didn't have time to complain? Remember?
Well, you might have thought you were doing the right thing by flattening the box, folding it once and laying it on top of Sunday's paper in the recycling bin -- but you'd be wrong. You should have just chucked it. The recycling folks don't want your greasy pizza boxes any more, or a lot of the stuff you thought you were helping save the earth by recycling.
One reason is that China, traditionally the world's leader in processing paper, plastic and other materials for re-use, has gotten tougher on what it will accept, raising its purity standards for recyclables to cut down on the pollutants that are the byproducts of recycling soiled materials.
"To protect China's environmental interests and people's health, we urgently adjust the imported solid wastes list, and forbid the import of solid wastes that are highly polluted," stated a July 18, 2017 World Trade Organization memo circulated to member-nations on behalf of the People's Republic.
Michael Muyala, the plant manager at Gaeta Recycling in Paterson, said China has gotten so strict it rejects loads of cardboard for being too damp. (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media)
'China's so strict on cardboard right now'
The restrictions are among variables in the global recycling trade that have trickled down to individual consumers, who now must adjust to changes imposed by their own local governments in response to demands by commercial recycling centers and reuse plants now faced with the possible rejection of compressed bails of cardboard, bleach bottles, and other items that consumers drop in their blue bins and place on the curb.
Pizza boxes are still fine if they're clean, said Michael Muyala, plant manager at Gaeta Recycling in Paterson, but not if they're grease-stained.
“China’s so strict on the cardboard right now,” said Muyala, whose customers include businesses and 29 municipalities in northern New Jersey. “They reject loads.”
(Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media)
The changes mean industry officials must constantly update the local governments they do business with on just what types of materials are marketable. Public officials, in turn, have to pass along that information to their constituents, through notices mailed out with property tax bills or other public awareness measures.
“We put this on our township website, and we also have a TV station that we stream on," said Mayor John Spodafora of Stafford Township, who led a local ban on plastic bags taking effect next month due their toll on the recycling process.
Spodafora, a retired cost analyst for the U.S. Army, said an analysis he conducted before imposing the ban found that plastic bags add as much as 30 percent to the cost of recycling because they constantly clog sorting machines and force operations to halt, a figure that Gaerta officials said sounded about right.
Conscientious consumers who want to avoid sending plastic bags to landfills via the trash can drop them off at many supermarkets, which recycle them separately.
A truck dumps paper and cardboard in the main sorting area at Gaeta Recycling in Paterson. (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media)
The don'ts
The following is a list of less obvious items that recycling professionals, public officials and environmentalists say should not go in the blue bins. When in doubt, check your municipal web site or call town hall.
(Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media)
Plastic bags
Though made of plastic that can be recycled, plastic grocery bags, trash bags or other types of bags should not be placed in you household recycling bin, either on their own or filled with other plastic recyclables. The bags clog the rollers of sorting machines, forcing plant operators to constantly halt operations to unclog them.
Because most plastic bags are not biodegradable in landfills, and they are harmful to the environment and marine life if they end up in the ocean, throwing them in the trash is far from an ideal solution. This has prompted ongoing efforts at the local and state level to address the plastic bag problem by banning their use by restaurants, supermarkets, and other retailers.
In the meantime, many supermarkets do accept plastic bags for recycling separately from other plastics.
(Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media)
Greasy pizza boxes
For some pizza lovers, grease is good. That "grease," after all, is essentially olive oil. But to sorters trying to meet stricter purity standards for paper and cardboard, grease makes an otherwise perfectly recyclable pizza box downright unappetizing.
(Patti Sapone | NJ Advace Media)
Hardcover books, still bound
For Gaeta's education-minded plant manager, it's sad enough to see a book discarded rather than donated to a library, literacy program or somewhere else it might find a new reader. But it's even worse, said Muyala, when a hardcover book has been tossed in the recycling bin with its otherwise acceptable pages still bound between their hard cover, which could contain cloth or other non-recyclable materials.
(Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media)
Toys
Most toys are made of plastic. But it's hard plastic, not wanted for recycling, say professionals. So, if you can't bring yourself to toss your child's former playthings in the trash, there's always the next garage sale. Or, maybe you could do like Asbury Park-based day-glow sculptor Joe Harvard, who recycles castaway toys into black-lit works of art.
Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media
Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media
Styrofoam
As much as you might hate the thought of your polystyrene take-out trays sitting in a landfill for thousands of years refusing to decompose, the substance often referred to by the brand name “Styrofoam” is not something your local recycling center wants. There is no market for it, said Muyala, the Gaeta plant manager, as he picked up a scrap of what looked like polystyrene padding from the packaging of a large appliance.
Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media
Medical waste
Whether it's plastic insulin syringes or metal receptacles, medical waste poses a threat to recycling workers who sort many items by hand and should not be exposed to the risk of pin pricks or medicinal compounds. Gaeta officials said this grey receptacle had been improperly or inadvertently recycled by a pharmacy that is one of the the recycling center's commercial clients.
(Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media)
Certain plastics, depending on the number
Just because a plastic container has the familiar triangular recycling symbol does not necessarily mean it's recyclable.
Plastics vary in chemical composition and density, indicated by a number 1 through 7 that apears inside the recycling symbol, according to EarthEasy.com.
Typically, recycling professionals say containers are acceptable if they have a number 1 (polyethylene terephthalate, or PETE, used for water and soft-drink bottles), a number 2 (high-density polyethylene, used for milk jugs and laundry detergent bottles) or a number 4 (low-density polyethylene), while those numbered 3, 5, 6 and 7 may not be, due to their makeup or density. Check with your municipal recycling program for which numbers are acceptable.
This "microwave safe" black plastic tray, identified as polypropylene by the number 5, may be convenient, but it's probably not recyclable.
Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media
Containers for flammable or toxic substances
Even if they are empty, containers for flammable or toxic compounds are likely to contain harmful residue, and should not be thrown in with the recyclables. Pothole repair compounds, sold in plastic containers like this one pulled from a newly dumped pile at Gaeta Recycling, contain a variety of toxins.
(Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media)
Certain types of glass
Glass jars for jelly, spaghetti sauce or other foods are acceptable for recycling, but drinking glasses, bowls, measuring cups, or cookware intended to withstand high temperatures or impact may have different melting points and thus cannot be lumped in with other types of glass, according to Recyclebank.com.
(Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media)
Certain metals
Certainly, those Campbell's Soup and Nine Lives cat food cans can be recycled, as well as the foil tray from last night's roast turkey — though recyclers ask that you please empty and rinse them out.
But heavier metals, like wire hangers, pots and pans, tools, appliances, and furniture parts should not go in the recycling bin, according to Greenopedia.
For those types of items, as with large appliances and electronics, most municipalities have locations and hours when they can be dropped off, usually around the public works garage.
Shredded paper from office clients is a profitable commodity for recyclers because, industry officials say, it is clean. (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media)
Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media
Read more
- The mob used loopholes to make N.J. recycling a dirty business, state finds
- Interactive map: Which towns do the best job recycling your trash?
- Trenton recycling company seeking investors, $25 million to grow
- Empty lot in Asbury Park was a unique art exhibit. Now it's becoming condos
Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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