Depending on your location, your recyclables may end up in a landfill or waste transfer station. In some cases, the recycling process is so flawed that it sends recyclables to a landfill. Other programs have improved technology to prevent this from happening. Some trash doesn’t go to landfills at all. Some trash is turned into energy in Waste to Energy plants. As Debbie Spiliotopoulos told us, up to 60% of trash in Northern Virginia is turned into energy.
Where Does Your Recycling Go?
While the price of the recycling process is still relatively low, the cost of processing the recycled materials has increased. The cost of sorting and processing the recyclables has nearly doubled to more than $100 per ton, and labor is an increasing problem. The price of commodities is also down, which makes recycling programs less profitable. Several factors are responsible for these changes. The exit of China from the recycling market is one of them. Another reason is the growing contamination in the recycling stream, which requires separate transportation.
Costs
In cities, the costs of recycling are often offset by the negative value of the recycled materials. In San Jose, California, for example, the price of recycling materials costs $28 per ton, compared to $147 per ton for landfilling. Meanwhile, Atlantic County in New Jersey pays over $3 million to recycle materials. Despite the costs, recycling is the most efficient way to reduce the amount of waste a community produces. The costs are higher than the cost of manufacturing virgin materials.
Locations
The following is a list of drop-off locations in your area. These locations can be found on the Department of Sanitation’s map. These are just a sample of the types of recyclables you can take. You can view the map in the link below or download a printable version to refer to at a later date. All recyclables should be separated into their appropriate bins. For example, metal and glass should be placed in the blue bin. Plastic and corrugated cardboard, including food packaging, should be rinsed before being placed in recycling. Mixed paper and cardboard can go in the green bin. Cardboard should be cut into small pieces and corrugated cardboard flattened into bundles. Rigid plastic, which is relatively inflexible, should be rinsed before recycling.
Single-use products
Plastics from single-use products are causing environmental problems around the world. The majority of these items are not recyclable, and the corporations that produce them make huge profits from them. The problem is exacerbated in developing countries, where the burden of plastic waste falls primarily on the poor. The developed world has started to act to stem the tide of this trash, but countries in the Global South are bearing the brunt. Single-use plastics have become so ubiquitous that the smothering tide of the trade reaches vulnerable people and places. While big business is aware of the problems with plastic pollution, they are doing little to address it.
California recently passed SB 343 which limits the types of plastics that can be recycled. The bill aims to reduce the amount of single-use plastics that can be recycled. This will make it easier for consumers to recycle their plastic goods. Californians should take note that only one-fifth of the single-use plastic they use gets recycled. This measure will help reduce plastic pollution, especially in the California desert.
Plastic waste
When it comes to recycling, you may be wondering where plastic waste goes. Most of it ends up in landfills, but a small percentage is recycled. In Bangladesh, for instance, recycling facilities accept plastic bottles as recyclable waste. They sort them by recycling numbers (one to seven) and sell them to manufacturers for reuse. However, this process is not as simple as it sounds. Here’s what happens to plastic bottles after recycling.
Since plastics began being mass-produced more than six decades ago, their production of them has skyrocketed. There are now 8.3 billion tons of plastic waste in the world. Of that, nine percent is recycled. The remaining 79 percent accumulates in landfills or is sloughed off into nature as litter. Some of it even ends up in the ocean. This new policy hasn’t stopped the problem, however, as waste collected in the United States has remained largely unrecycled.
Waste to Energy
When you throw away your recyclables, where do they go? Most people in the U.S. are “aspirational” about recycling, and they simply put them in a blue bin to reduce guilt. Unfortunately, a lot of what goes into these bins is not recyclable, and the majority of these items are sent to the Recology plant for processing. But there are ways to recycle in a more responsible way.
Summary
In most cases, household Where Does Your Recycling Go? to a material recovery facility, which is the size of a football field and a whirlwind of machines. Here, it’s sorted by material makeup. Paper and cardboard go through giant rollers while glass and plastic go into a spinning drum. The spinning drum filters out light materials, such as plastic. Once the recycling has been sorted, it’s transported to a processing facility. Looking for a dumpster? Call Orlando Dumpster Rental and Junk Removal Services for the best experience.
