For some reason, WordPress could not publish this morning’s post. I removed the images, and now it seems to work. Here is the story without the images.
Hopefully it was a one-time glitch. Apologies.
Like many Westporters, Stephanie Bass is a regular visitor to the transfer station,
Unlike some of her fellow trash-tossers, she knows what goes where.
Stephanie reminds “06880” readers that there are several big bins. One is marked “Cardboard.” Others say “Paper only” and “Glass.”
So why, she wonders, do folks toss non-paper waste into the “Paper only” bin?
She guesses that up to one-quarter of the garbage is thrown in the wrong spot.
In addition, she notes, there is composting — and “the huge place we can throw anything else, like paint and aerosol cans.”
Stephanie loves the people who work at the transfer station. They help her back her car up, while other drivers “climb up my back, honk or dash out” past her.
When she was on crutches from a broken leg, they helped her unload her truck. “They are heroes,” she says. (I know: I have highlighted them several times as “Unsung Heroes.” Click here, and here, and here, and here, to see.)
Stephanie assumes that dumping trash in the wrong bin is not illegal. But, she wonders, what happens to now-contaminated paper waste? Can it still be separated, and recycled?
How much extra does it cost to do that?
She asks if a local group, like Boy Scots, can be on hand to help Westporters separate their garbage properly (“and embarrass them,” she adds).
Westporters are a smart bunch, she notes.
Why then are some not bright enough to put their trash in the correct bins?
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Recycling information is available on the town website. It says:
While it is convenient for residents to mix recyclables in the same bin, the sorting process for mixed recycling is not perfect. Machines and employees at the MuRF (Multi Re-use Facility) cannot remove all the contamination that occurs in the recycling bin, and this contamination can result in rejected loads that end up in the landfill.
What contamination?
Most of us have seen the partially filled containers, the soggy boxes, the plastic bags, and the shattered bottles that make their way into some recycling bins. The partially filled containers, the soggy cardboard boxes, the plastic bags, and the broken glass, all represent types of contamination that can compromise the quality of our recycling.
Broken glass is a big problem.
Broken shards of glass can attach themselves to the other recyclables in the bin and contaminate them. Conversely, the glass bottles and jars can also be contaminated by the bits and pieces of paper, bottle caps, metal, and straws from the mixed recycling. The MuRF can either pay to have the glass cleaned, or if that is not possible, the contaminated glass is sent to landfills to be used as a type of alternate cover.
There must be a solution.
The solution is simple: When you separate glass from mixed recycling, each recycling stream is freed from contamination by the other, and the value for each recycled commodity improves. The clean, separated glass can be sold and recycled into new bottles and jars or other products such as industrial filler for cement, and the higher quality mixed recycling commodities become more marketable.
How can I recycle glass separately?
In a cooperative effort, the Town of Westport, Sustainable Westport, and the Oak Ridge Materials Recovery Facility, have arranged for a separate, ‘GLASS ONLY’ recycling container (pictured above) at the Westport Transfer Station. Please Remember:
- Rinse your glass containers and remove lids or caps.
- Glass bottles and jars only.
- No mirror or window glass, drinking glasses, glass, ceramic, or clay, plates, cups, pots or bakeware and no lightbulbs
- Recycle your clean bottles and jars during regular Transfer Station hours.
(For more information from the town website, click here.)
(Interested in recycling your money? Please click here to support “06880”!)
I am a regular there and didn’t know there is a Paper Only bin. I preferred old days before it went single stream. I didn’t mind separating my recycling as I think it’s cheaper for me to do it than have an employee do it. It looks like we’re moving away from single stream which is fine with me. What I’ve noticed is that the companies dump everything they pick up into the trash. There’s gotta be a way to separate trash from recycling.
“Westporters are a smart bunch, she notes.
Why then are some not bright enough to put their trash in the correct bins?”
For the same reason they are not bright enough to be able to read that STOP says stop not hesitate, for the same reason that they don’t have the spatial capacity to park between two parallel, stationary lines and so on and so forth – selfish/entitled/ lazy/ self important – pick your adjective.
I’m with Leigh. Got the memo about the glass and the food waste, but have never noticed a “paper only” sign.
Speaking of broken glass: can the Transfer Station make a chute for the Glass-Only dumpster? When the dumpster is near empty, it’s impossible to deposit your glass bottles without breaking. The fall to the bottom guarantees breakage. Which means all our efforts to collect glass bottles for re-use goes wasted. Perhaps a simple chute would solve the problem?
Dan: thanks for posting. As to the missing pictures: look into the PAPER ONLY bins and see the EVERYTHING that is dumped.we should have a pool on the %age.
Hi – Quick clarification points from Sustainable Westport:
1) There is no “paper only” dumpster at Transfer Station. There is a bin for cardboard boxes specifically AND for separate glass but the other recycling containers are for mixed single stream recycling.
2) Broken glass is a source of contamination in single stream recycling but it is NOT a problem with separate glass collection (in fact, that separated glass gets broken up and ground down in the process of recycling). To learn more, visit https://www.sustainablewestport.org/separate-glass-at-the-transfer-station-a-better-way-to-recycle/
3) Commercial haulers should not be dumping recycling in the trash compactor. However, on Fridays, the Transfer Station dedicates one trash compactor to recycling so you may see commercial haulers dumping recycling into the trash compactor on that day.