With 'Single-Stream' Recycling, Convenience Comes At A Cost
In many municipalities around the country, the days of sorting your recyclables for curbside pickup are long gone, replaced by a system called "single stream" recycling. But what happens after all those bits of plastic, paper, glass and metal get put in the bin?
Because it's often collected by the same workers who pick up the garbage, it's easy to wonder if the recyclables make their way to the dump, too. But single-stream recycling ends up at a place called a materials recovery facility.
An MRF is part warehouse, part industrial plant; a single facility can process hundreds of tons every day, using workers and high-tech machines.
"This machine is like a large grocery store scanner," says Brent Batliner, manager at the St. Louis-area recycling division of Republic Services as he stands next to something called an optical sorter. "It's got infrared scanners that, as material passes underneath it, it will read the chemical makeup of the bottle."
This optical sorter is set to scan for HDPE, or the type of plastic labeled with the numeral 2. When a milk jug or detergent bottle reaches the scanner, a row of air jets sends it flying off the conveyor and into a storage bunker 25 feet below.
"Pops it right off the belt," Batliner says.
There are other optical sorters, as well as a machine with a magnetic belt to capture steel, and one with spinning magnets that repel aluminum. But even with all that high-tech equipment, single-stream recycling is far from perfect.
Batliner says some of the residential single-stream recycling sent here does end up in a landfill.
Consumers are part of the problem. While some people pat themselves on the back for the plastic bags and greasy pizza boxes they try to recycle, the MRFs can't process them.
"People sometimes want to put a lawnmower motor in," says Gary Gilliam, sales manager with Resource Management, which runs another St. Louis-area MRF. "You know, well, it's steel. But it's not what we do here."
In his 20 years in the business, Gilliam has seen it all.
"One of the guys came in one day with a hand grenade," he says. It turned out to be a fake.
Contamination is a bigger problem. Mixing everything together is convenient, but leads to wet paper and bits of broken glass that can't be sorted.
"As we often say, you can't unscramble an egg," says Susan Collins, director of the Container Recycling Institute, a nonprofit research and advocacy group. She says what single-stream wins in volume, it sacrifices in quality.
"In terms of preserving the quality of materials so that the maximum materials collected can actually be recycled, single-stream is one of the worst options," she says.
Collins adds that about a quarter of single-stream recycling goes to the dump. For glass, that loss can be as high as 40 percent.
Even so, in the constant tug of war between quality and convenience, convenience wins. But as single-stream processing continues to increase in popularity, the trade-off will be fewer recyclables recycled.
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Transcript
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
You know, there's no question that recycling is a good thing, and taking that blue tub out to the curb is an easy way to feel good about yourself. But St. Louis Public Radio's Veronique LaCapra tells us that a lot of what you think is getting recycled probably isn't.
VERONIQUE LACAPRA, BYLINE: Remember the days when recycling meant prying the staples out of office paper, meticulously washing bottles and cans and taking everything, carefully separated, to a drop-off center? Now?
(SOUNDBITE OF CANS FALLING)
LACAPRA: I just toss it all into a big, blue dumpster in the alley behind my house. Single-stream has made recycling a lot easier for consumers. But then you see a garbage truck picking up recycling and wonder...
(SOUNDBITE OF GARBAGE TRUCK)
LACAPRA: ...Is it just headed for a landfill? It turns out it's not. Single-stream recycling ends up at a place called a materials recovery facility, or MRF - as in M-R-F - for short. A MRF is part warehouse, part industrial plant. A single facility can process hundreds of tons every day, using workers and high-tech machines. Brent Batliner manages the St. Louis area recycling division of Republic Services. He's standing next to something called an optical sorter.
BRENT BATLINER: This machine is like a large grocery store scanner. It's got infrared scanners that, as material passes underneath it, it will read the chemical makeup of the bottle.
LACAPRA: This optical sorter is set to scan for HDPE, or number two plastic. When a milk jug or detergent bottle reaches the scanner, a row of air jets sends it flying off the conveyor and into a storage bunker 25 feet below.
BATLINER: Pops it right off the belt.
LACAPRA: There are more optical sorters - a machine with a magnetic belt to capture steel and one with spinning magnets that repel aluminum. But even with all that high-tech equipment, single-stream recycling is far from perfect. Batliner says some of the residential single-stream recycling here does end up at a landfill. Part of the problem is - well, you. While you pat yourself on the back for the plastic bags and greasy pizza boxes you try to recycle, the MRFs can't process them.
GARY GILLIAM: People sometimes want to put a lawnmower motor in. You know, well, it's steel. But it's not what we do here.
LACAPRA: That's Gary Gilliam. In his 20 years with Resource Management, which runs another St. Louis area MRF, Gilliam has seen it all.
GILLIAM: One of the guys came in one day with a hand grenade.
LACAPRA: It turned out to be a fake. Contamination is a bigger problem. Mixing everything together is convenient, but it leads to wet paper and bits of broken glass that can't be sorted.
SUSAN COLLINS: As we often say, you can't unscramble an egg.
LACAPRA: Susan Collins, who directs the Container Recycling Institute, a nonprofit research and advocacy group, says what single-stream wins in volume, it sacrifices in quality.
COLLINS: In terms of preserving the quality of materials so that the maximum materials collected can actually be recycled, single-stream is one of the worst options.
LACAPRA: Collins says about a quarter of single-stream recycling goes to the dump. For glass, that loss can be as high as 40 percent. Even so, in the constant tug-of-war between quality and convenience, convenience wins. And while single-stream processing increases in popularity, the trade-off is apparent. For NPR News, I'm Veronique LaCapra. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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