Making the Recycling “Sausage”

The Pulaski County Regional Recycling & Waste Reduction District toured America Recycles, our local recycling Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) a couple of weeks ago. During our tour we got to see the full life cycle of what happens to the items you put in your recycling carts. The process starts here, where the materials from the carts are dumped inside the facility.

It then goes through the sorting machinery. The gears you see in the photo below sort specific recycled materials by weight. Cardboard will float over on top, while other materials like cans, bottles, and jugs will fall to the bottom, landing on a conveyor belt. The materials that went to the bottom will go on a different path until everything is eventually sorted.

The reason why we promote putting only the right stuff in your recycling cart is because of what are called “tanglers.” Tanglers include plastic bags, trash bags, ropes, wires, hoses, and clothing. These items, which should never go in your cart, wrap up the moving parts of the sorting machinery and shut it down. This stops the whole process until the tanglers can be removed. Only after the tanglers are removed can the recyclable material be processed.

Here, below, is a photo of a processed cardboard and paper bundle that has been through the sorting machinery and is now ready for sale and shipment. See the cardboard and paper?

The photo, below, is a would-be bundle before it is put through the machinery. It takes a lot of time to get the recycled material clean without items that don’t belong there. In this picture there are so many tanglers that will jam the sorting machinery. Anything that you can wrap around your arm does NOT belong in your recycling cart. Put it in your garbage bin.

Recycling is a very important aspect of keeping our city and state clean and promoting economic development. Please do your part by only putting acceptable items in your recycling cart (empty plastic bottles and jugs, and empty aluminum, tin, and steel cans; cardboard, cartons, newspaper, junk mail, and paperboard). Don’t ever put plastic bags, food or food scraps, clothing or fabrics, wire, hoses, rope, hangers, or electronics in your curbside recycling cart. Now you know why! For more information go to MyDoRight.com.

Thank you for doing your part to keep recycling moving.