In Pennsylvania, Act 101 mandates that three materials from a list of eight must be collected by municipalities that are obligated to have recycling programs. (Population dictates those that must recycle.) Those eight items are aluminum, steel and bimetallic cans, plastics, high-grade office paper, newsprint, corrugated paper, clear glass and colored glass. As long as three of those items are part of the mandated recycling program, the municipality is in compliance. This originally led to each item being placed in a separate container with collection by trucks that had separate bins for each of those items. Advances in technology allowed for the evolution of single stream recycling in which all items are commingled in one container and collected without separation in the collection vehicle. Those items are then mechanically separated at the recycling facility. After separation, the recycled material is then sold into the appropriate market.

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Contaminates 

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Unfortunately, a large portion of items people attempt to recycle are contaminated, thus resulting in these items being unable to be recycled and causing a negative impact on the environment.  There are two types of contamination: “dirty stuff” and “wrong stuff.” Dirty stuff is just that: material that is not clean such as a jelly jar with residue remaining inside. Wrong stuff is material that is not recyclable, such as plastic toys, bicycle chains, garden hoses, intermingled with legitimate recyclables.  When contaminated items (unrecyclable) make it to the processing plant, they are sorted from accepted recyclables and ultimately end up in up in a landfill - which is the most undesirable outcome of a recycling program.  It is important for our residents to understand what is accepted and not accepted, so we can lessen our negative impact on the environment and ensure that we as a township are not wasting our recycling premium on items that cannot be recycled. 

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How to Prepare Recyclables: 

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• Carefully sort and properly identify what can and cannot be recycled. Placing only the recyclables listed above in the recycling container is essential.

• Individually place recyclables in the recycling container. Do not first bundle them in a plastic bag and then put the bag in the recycling container. The plastic bag is considered to be “film” and therefore a contaminant which contaminates the entire container.

• Cardboard and paperboard boxes should be flattened before being placed in the recycling container.

• For plastic bottles, jugs and jars, use the following procedure: Empty, Clean and Dry.

• Watch for contaminants. Anything that has come into contact with food is considered to be contaminated and should be disposed of as trash. Examples are paperboard containers from fast food with cheese or condiment residue adhering to the side and grease-stained cardboard pizza boxes.

• Follow the shorthand guide to recycling: When in doubt, throw it out.

• Make sure the “wrong stuff” is not accidentally placed in the recycling bin.

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For more information on the environmental and economic impact of correctly recycling, please visit: 

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https://shacog.com/recycling.aspx

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