Nov 26, 2007 11:19 pm US/Central
Good Question: What Happens To My Recycling?
(WCCO)
Each year Americans throw away more than 250 million tons of garbage, which is nearly five pounds of trash per person every day. So it's no wonder recycling reduces our impact on the planet and how much energy we waste.
Each week the stuff residents put at the curb gets picked up and dumped in a truck.
"That's the end point for the residents but it's actually the beginning point for the recycling process," said Tim Brownell who runs Eureka Recycling. They cover all of St. Paul.
Seventy-five trucks per day bring in 150 tons of paper from fruit loops to phone books. Fifty tons of plastic and glass creates a mountain of milk jugs.
"So from here than it starts to go through the system," said Brownell.
Plastic and glass travel up one side of the plant where they are sorted by type and color. After its been sorted and all put together it looks like a giant brick of water and soda bottles, colored plastics and clear milk jugs.
Paper and cardboard go up the other side of the plant where they're sorted, separated from the cardboard while newspaper is bailed by itself.
In all, those two piles that come into the plant are separated 18 different ways.
"Less than 1 percent of what comes through here leaves here and has that has to go to a landfill," said Brownell. "Over 99 percent can be recycled."
The value of this stuff has doubled in three years. It's bought by companies to make everything from new water bottles and paper to clothes and carpet.
If this stuff was not recycled, it would be going to a landfill or to an incinerator. The carbon emissions saved by recycling are equal to taking 39 million cars off the road. So that short walk to the curb goes a long way.
"Every bit that you put out is getting recycled if its handled properly," said Brownell.
There are different types of plastic that have different recycling numbers on them.
Three of the most common numbers are one, two and five. Almost all recycling programs take ones, which are mainly pop and water bottles.
Twos are also pretty popular which are milk jugs or detergent containers.
Most programs in the Twin Cities don't recycle fives which are things like ketchup bottles and yogurt containers.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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