Staff tour new recycling center.

Last week, staff of our Recycling On the Go program got an in-depth tour of the new multimillion-dollar Republic Services Material Recovery Facility (or MRF) in Bridgeton, MO. The facility, which has been in operation for less than a year incorporates some of the most advanced sorting technology, including optical sorters which can read the chemical make-up of a plastic.

A material recovery facility is where recyclables go to be sorted — picked up from residential alley ways or from businesses. The extent with which items are sorted depends on the facility. In Bridgeton, the Republic Services MRF sorts paper, cardboard, glass, aluminum, steel cans, aseptic cartons, and plastic containers #1 and #2 — baling all other plastics together for sorting at another facility.

Standing by the mountain of cartons, sorted out at the end of the line.

Our ‘Recycling Ambassadors’ who help implement the Recycling On the Go program at events May through November, become experts in recycling and composting. At each of the full service events with which we work, Recycling Ambassadors are on-site ensuring that the waste diversion strategy keeps relevant to the layout and crowd patterns, and interact with vendors and visitors to education about the latest standards for single stream recycling.

In addition to finding out the most current best practices for single stream recycling in our region, we also learned about the markets for each commodity which is produced at the MRF. One of the greatest things about recycling is that, unlike dumping waste in a landfill, items which are collected and sorted have a value and purpose. In fact, approximately 28,000 jobs exist in Missouri because of the recycling industry.

Below are our favorite information nuggets that we picked up from the tour:

Aluminum cans that are collected in the St. Louis region for single stream recycling can be back on your local store’s shelf as a new, recycled can within 60 to 90 days!
Glass has the smallest carbon footprint in the St. Louis area because there is a local recycler in town.
Creating a plastic bottle from recovered plastic requires 88% less energy than creating a plastic bottle from virgin materials.
Lids? Leave them on! Please keep all lids on all containers — includes plastic and glass bottles, and aseptic cartons. The lids are more likely to be recovered if they are left attached to the larger item.
But I thought plastic bags were recyclable? That’s true, but not through single stream. They’re tough to keep out of all the machines and require a special process that different from bottles or plastic containers. The solution? Take advantage of those plastic bag collection points at grocery stores! And remember, only include bags which stretch… if it doesn’t stretch, leave it out.
Aseptic packaging, or cartons (like the ones ultra-pasturized products come in), are now widely recycled — including in St. Louis. However, until it becomes easier to recover materials from each carton for recycling, the plastic and glass milk jug is still a better option for the waste stream at the moment.
Although #6 cups can be collected in single stream, they are not recycled in the States. If they are collected, they are sent to a specialty plastic recovery facility where they are either thrown away or packed with other hard-to-recycle plastics and shipped to overseas markets like China for potential recycling into a #7 multi-layered resin polymer or incinerated. One thing is for sure, your #6 red Solo cup will not be recycled into another #6 plastic cup.
The single stream residential recycling rate is almost 10% greater in Chicago! …So, we’ve got room to improve!

Check out more scenes from our field trip via flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stlouisearthday/sets/72157635153131761/