Turns out I’ve been recycling wrong for years. Here’s what we all should know. | Opinion
It’s time to come clean about recycling.
I’ve been doing it for years. Or so I thought.
A couple of things have come to light as both Beaufort County and the Town of Hilton Head Island take new steps to get recycling right.
First, I have not known exactly what is recyclable on Hilton Head, and equally important, what is not recyclable. That makes me one of countless “wishcyclers.” We put stuff that is not recyclable in with stuff that is, and it messes up the whole system.
That’s on me. That’s on all of us. We need to do our homework. In fairness to us, it’s confusing because different things are recyclable in different locales. But the local list is available and it’s on us to use it.
Second, chances are high that most of the stuff I’ve put in a separate bin for recyclables all these years at the back door has not been recycled. Much of it has likely been mixed with regular garbage and dumped in the landfill.
That’s maddening. Some of it’s on me for putting “contaminants” in with recyclable materials. But more of it is on the county, which has a contract for solid waste disposal that makes it cheaper for haulers not to recycle. County taxpayers pay the disposal fee for each ton of garbage hauled to the landfill, but the hauler has to pay a processing fee for each ton of recyclable material dumped there.
As a report this spring for the Town of Hilton Head Island put it, there’s a “significant financial disincentive for haulers to recycle under current arrangements.”
Beaufort County needs to fix that in its new contract. Also, nobody’s checking behind the haulers to see what they’re doing.
What it tells me is that if I truly want to be a good recycler, I will need to take my own recycling to a recycling station at one of four county convenience centers.
The county offers plenty of information on what to bring. It even has a video on Recycling 101. And, to its credit, the county has contracted with a professional recycling firm to start handling household recycled goods at the convenience centers as of Aug. 1.
The county engaged the local firm i2recycle to oversee the drop-off bins, process the recyclables and get them to market. One of its new initiatives will be volunteer “coaches” at the recycling bins during the busiest hours over the next six weeks.
The Town of Hilton Head Island recently retained the same firm to oversee trash bins on the beaches to get more of that trash recycled.
These are important steps. As consumers, we can’t negotiate the county landfill contract or oversee haulers. But we can expect a standard list of what to recycle and what not to recycle.
The county website includes the “Residents Guide to Recycling and Waste Disposal in Beaufort County.” It has information on the wide array of things that can be taken to the convenience center for recycling, from cooking oil to oyster shells. But most useful is its list of “The Big Five” — the most commonly used things in our homes that can be recycled.
The website offers more details, but here are the basics on the “The Big Five”:
▪ Corrugated cardboard. Ridged boxes, flattened with no packing material.
▪ Plastics No. 1 and No. 2. Plastic bottles, jugs and jars. Plastic bottles should be roughly the size of a pint to a gallon. Rinse out residue. This is not everything plastic: no bags or clamshell containers (like strawberry containers).
▪ Metal food and beverage cans. Aluminum, tin and steel. Rinse out residue. No metal foil or pie pans.
▪ Glass bottles and jars. Clear, brown and green glass. Rinse residue, throw away lids. No dishes, glassware, vases or window glass.
▪ Mixed paper. Includes junk mail, newspapers, magazines, phone books, office paper, cereal boxes, soda boxes and shoe boxes.
The recycling industry is complicated. We can start by coming clean on the current system’s failures.
David Lauderdale may be reached at LauderdaleColumn@gmail.com .
