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Mia R. Cortez
Editor
|  It will be three years this April 22 that El Paso homeowners received blue recycling bins, thanks to the city’s Environmental Services Department, and participation has proven even better than expected. EPISD, UTEP, EPCC and Ft. Bliss now participate in the program as well, making Ft. Bliss the only military base in the nation with a recycling program.
At their facilities in Northeast El Paso, the Friedman Recycling Company processes about 3,000 tons of recyclables a month. They are currently in the process of doubling the size of their local facilities to keep up with the high volume of incoming paper, plastics and cans, said Friedman Recycling President Morris Friedman.
Most know the basic rules - only plastics No. 1 and No. 2, paper, cardboard and aluminum. No greasy pizza boxes or dirty bottles. But the more we know about how it works, the better we can do to make the process run more smoothly and efficiently, and do our part in making the city greener.
During a recent visit to the plant, Southwest Senior got up close to a day’s worth (about 300 - 400 tons) of loose recyclables (and a lot of stuff that’s not), asked lots of questions and got plenty of answers.
Here’s how it all sorts out:
Not recyclable:
Food waste, yard waste and organic matter top the list for things that can really derail the plant process, Friedman said.
“One of the reasons that pizza boxes were designated as non-recyclable is because people will leave half a pizza in the box,” Friedman said. “Food residual cannot be ground into new paper - you don’t want that in your new paper batch.”
A slightly stained pizza box will not ruin a batch of clean paper recyclables, but an oil soaked cardboard box will.
Glass
The Friedman Recycling Company plant is not equipped to process glass and have no plans to ever do so. For one, it’s another thing that will mess up a whole batch of otherwise good recyclables, Friedman said.
“If it gets in the bales, the purchasers will see it and say ‘no thank you’ after we went through the whole process of collecting, putting it on a truck - the environmental footprint is counterproductive,” he said.
And the economic return is very low.
“Glass is sand, it’s cheap to make,” Friedman said. “Some municipalities that are recycling glass are taking it to a landfill, crushing it and using it as a cover. California is a little bit different, because they have the California Redemption Value, but it’s subsidized by the government and may be going by the wayside soon.
Plastic shopping bags
Yes, they’re recyclable, but they’re detrimental to the city’s system. A few times a day the systems are shut down so the plastic shopping bags can be unraveled and they also must be hand sorted by line employees. The same goes for saran wrap. Recyclables should be loose in your bin.
Look for a grocery store that collects only bags, said Bret Burrer, director of plant operations for Friedman Recycling Companies.
Garden hoses
Like shopping bags, they get tangled in the drums and stall operations.
Tires
As with other stuff that doesn’t belong, it takes an extra trip to send them back to a garbage dump site. Instead find a tire recycling center or auto shop who will take old tires.
Gift wrap
It’s technically not a good idea to throw it in your blue bin, as it’s not the right quality of paper to recycle, Burrer said.
Other big don’ts
Here are some things we saw at the plant that stood out like sore thumbs: clothing, dirty diapers, old plastic toys, metals, screens, vinyl pet food bags, jewelry boxes, greasy chip bags and other similar items.
The good stuff
The many bales of aluminum cans and paper and bundles of plastics at the plant are impressive. They look uniform and clean and like they deserve to be turned into another can or magazine or milk jug. You must wash out all recyclable food containers, for the health safety of the employees and to avoid mold, odors, critters, etc., in your bin and at the plant. But if you forget to completely wash out an empty bottle of shampoo or lotion, it will most likely still get recycled.
• Paper of all kinds - cardboard, magazines, newspaper, boxes
• Aluminum cans
• Plastics No. 1 and No. 2 - this includes a long list of things. Empty cat litter bins, some plastic buckets or pots, juice or milk containers (paper or plastic).
• It’s a good space saving measure for a packed blue bin, but it’s not necessary to flatten empty boxes.
Comments or questions about this story? E-mail swsenior@elpasoinc.com
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