The City of Decatur send around this notice early this week to inform residents that starting next Friday, July 1st, we will need to separate our glass recycling from all other trash and recycling to get it recycled.

The message on the back is similar to the one posted on the city’s recycling page…

Separated glass collection services begin July 1, 2016.

New rules set by recycling facilities dictate that glass must be collected separately from other recyclables. Decatur residents will need two bins – one bin for glass only, and one for paper, plastics and metal. Residents will be responsible for providing the second bin, and there are no stipulations regarding type or color, though it should be 18 gallons or smaller. Your recycling will be picked up the same day as your garbage. See the City of Decatur single family residential waste collection schedule here.

The note on the reverse of the card also points out that the annual sanitation fee for the new fiscal year has increased from $250 to $275 to cover the cost for separated glass recycling.

The city has wrestled with what to do about glass recycling since early this year, as industry demand for recycled glass has declined and recyclers are now often refusing to accept it.   The city asked residents what they wanted to do and via an online city survey and 90% of respondents were willing to pay $25 to $35 more a year to recycle glass.

So that’s what’s happening.

Finally, will the glass actually be recycled?  According to the city’s glass recycling FAQ – YES.

Yes. The glass collected from the separated residential curbside program will be sent to a recovery facility called Strategic Materials. They are a processor for recycled glass used in a wide array of products such as containers, fiberglass insulation, and countertops

We foretold this.  

Well, maybe not so much “foretold” as casually brought it up randomly at one point last year.

In a post last August about our love/hate relationship with our big blue recycling bins, I noted, if I may quote myself…

…glass is already a questionable recyclable commodity.  It has little value to recyclers and a lot of it gets broken in transit.  Mixed with other recyclables, broken glass leads to contamination of other items and makes them um, un-recyclable.

Then, right on cue, at the beginning of year some metro Atlanta communities stopped accepting glass recycling.

Decatur Asst. City Manager David Junger told the AJC around that time that the city would continue to accept glass in our one-stop-shop bins, but the writing seemed to be on the wall.  At the time, Mr. Junger noted the city was looking at every possibility for the most unwanted member of the recycling family.  We summarized the options thusly…

• Stop recycling glass (and send it to the landfill)
• Have Latham collect glass separately
• Have the city collect glass separately
• Set up drop off locations in the city for glass recycling

Now the chickens are coming home to roost.  (Man…a lot of metaphors in this post.)

Decaturish reports that “Pratt Industries of Conyers, Ga. has informed the city that effective June 1 it will no longer accept recycling materials that contain glass.”  The city has a few months to decide what to do.

So what should we do?

According to Mr. Junger, every option will cost more – including taking it to the landfill.  Are you up for separating glass and recycling it at the curb?  Do you want to make separate trips to recycling locations around the city to dispose of your empties?  Do you just want to chuck it all in your Decatur-bespeckled trash bags?

The city wants your feedback.

Many Decatur residents have been wondering whether Decatur will still be recycling glass in the future, after a recent AJC report noted many recyclers servicing metro Atlanta municipalities are shipping glass to landfills instead of recycling it.

Why?  Because it’s gotten expensive to sort out and recycle glass.

Well, it looks like the AJC followed up with Asst. City Manager David Junger who said that the city’s current contract with Latham Home Sanitation includes the recycling of glass.  That contract runs through June.

After that, Decatur’s commissioners are likely gonna have to make some tough decisions.  If glass recycling remains financially unsustainable, here’s the list of options that Mr. Junger provided…

• Stop recycling glass
• Have Latham collect glass separately
• Have the city collect glass separately
• Set up drop off locations in the city for glass recycling

As we have written about before, the recycling game is much more complex than our giant blue bins suggest.  And the big bin itself has been linked to part of the problem, as the size and convenience of the big bin leads to lazier recycling on our part.  Combine that with the complexity of separating the wide variety of items at recycling centers and you’ve got yourself a system that feels easy, but isn’t when it comes to the dollars and cents that drive the industry.

Over the past months there’s been a fair amount of confusion about the finer points of Decatur’s recycling program.  I even ranted a bit recently about how the “big blue bins” naturally make humans – and by extension, Decatur residents – worse recyclers.

So it sure was nice that when the city came around with their annual “Solid Waste & Recycling Services City Holiday Schedule” they included handy, dandy new recycling one-sheet.  (See above.)

A lot of items on the list are no brainers – cans, paper, plastics, glass etc.

But we’ve read contradicting rules over the years about some of the more nuanced trash.  Let’s quickly run through them here and what this new one-sheet tells us.

• Styrofoam – this one as been relatively clear for a while, but the note clarifies that you CAN recycle styrofoam with the little recycling logo.  You can’t recycle an styrofoam without it.  So you’ll still have to curse anyone who sends you something cushioned in packing peanuts.
• Plastic/wax coated cartons – Good news.  This one is allowed.  I’m still not sure what sort of recycling can occur with wax soaked cardboard, but hey, you don’t need to add it to your Pay-As-You-Throw bags, so that’s reason for celebration, I suppose.
• Plastic Grocery Bags – this one has not been allowed for some time but people tend not to notice it.  Plastic bags are one of the banes of the recycling system’s existence.  So take them to Publix or Kroger and recycle them there or you’re gonna have to just chuck them.
• Greenware cups – Personally, I have trouble even telling “greenware” items from regular plastic.  Even when I do identify a Dancing Goats coffee cup lid as “greenware”, it still feels weird throwing them in the regular trash, but that’s what we’re suppose to do!

Check out the rest of the one-sheet for other details.  And note that you can now include any old tires you have hanging around in your recycling too.  The rubber market must be looking relatively good these days.

As always, if you need new recycling bins contact Public Works at 404-377-5571 and they will hook you up.

Boo!  For more details on what can and cannot be recycled, who can recycle (everyone!) and other FAQs – go HERE.

Do you throw boxes that haven’t been broken down into your recycling bin?  Do you sometimes throw in items that you know can’t be recycled?  Do you toss a lot of glass into your recycle bin?

I know I’ve done each of these things in moments of weakness, especially since I received my big 95-gallon blue bin from Latham Home Sanitation a year or so ago.

It’s probably old news to you that the recycling industry isn’t in great shape in this country.  Though once profitable, recycling has become a “money-sucking enterprise”, according to the Washington Post.  While recycling used to be a profitable business for cities like Decatur, we now pay more and more each year to recycle stuff.

And apparently, things aren’t getting any better.

The Post article details many of the larger issues causing problems for the recycling industry, little things such as a slowing economy, falling oil prices and a stronger dollar have all made recycling more expensive.

There’s not much we can individually do to help out in these areas, but there’s one trend we could all help reverse: We’re becoming worse at recycling.  And if you have a big bin for recycling, you – like me – you are likely part of the problem.

Not having to sort your recyclables is a nice luxury and over the years has convinced many folks to take the extra time and separate trash from recyclables.  A full 91% of Decatur residents reported recycling in the 2014 Citizen Survey.  That’s a pretty good figure!

But as with most things in life, with the good also comes the bad.

As the WaPo article points out, glass is already a questionable recyclable commodity.  It has little value to recyclers and a lot of it gets broken in transit.  Mixed with other recyclables, broken glass leads to contamination of other items and makes them um, un-recyclable.  And contamination in recent years has spread well beyond glass, thanks to our adoption of that big blue bin.

We now are much more likely to throw away intact cardboard boxes filled with styrofoam instead of breaking them down and removing the styrofoam.  The big bin also seems to beckon us to experiment with throwing out rubber, metal or plastic items that aren’t recyclable: like “garden hoses, clothes hangers, shopping bags, shoes, Christmas lights.” according to WaPo.

There’s much else that’s working against the recycling industry, but let’s get to the key question: what can we do?

Here are a few rules I’m going to try to be better about following:

1. Get the garbage out of the recycling bin.
2. Take a minute and read through the city’s list of allowable recyclable items and don’t “recycle” anything that’s not on the list.
3. Break down cardboard boxes and don’t ever put styrofoam in the recycling.
4. Remove broken glass from the recycling bin before parking it at the curb.
5. Don’t ever put plastic bags in the recycling.  Apparently it causes major problems at the recycling facilities.
6. Sort whenever you can.

Bigger picture, it’s probably worthwhile for the city to consider our composting options.  According to this WaPo article, organic material rotting in landfills is now the third largest producer of methane gas.  If we can commit to separating organic matter from our trash, it could potentially have a larger impact on the environment than recycling cans or bottles.

So there you have it!  Recycling isn’t magic. It’s a real and struggling industry that needs our help if its going to survive.  So let’s get sorting!

Decatur takes great pride in its trash and recycling programs.  In the city’s recent Citizen Survey, residents gave both Garbage Collecting and Recycling a 91% positive rating.

That’s good because recently, recycling has gotten more expensive for residents.  The city is now paying almost $13 more a ton (from $76 to $89) for recycling because demand for recycled materials is way down.

As Asst. City Manager David Junger wrote at the Sept. 2nd commission meeting that “post-consumer recyclable commodity prices have dropped significantly due to depressed manufacturing and housing industries, unstable market conditions, and changes to international recyclable commodity markets, especially in Asia.”  Junger goes on to note that “the value of single-stream, post consumer recyclable materials have settled at a price which is producing marginal revenue.”

But as we’ve discussed over the years, recycling is never as easy or as net-positive for the planet as we often want/hope it to be.  For example: In past discussions we’ve learned that you shouldn’t leave your open recycling out in the rain, because wet paper, cardboard and chipboard can’t be recycled if it’s soaked.

Now throw this recent observation into the mix.

The Atlantic reports that single-stream recycling – throwing everything in one bin – “is, ultimately, more expensive than sorting things before they got to the dump, and MRFs can’t separate recyclables quite as well as a system that never mixes them together to begin with.”

This is apparently especially an issue with glass.  Quoting the Container Recycling Institute from the post…

Glass is the material most affected by the amount of breakage in each type of collection system. In single-stream programs, it is virtually impossible to prevent glass from breaking as it goes to the curb, is dumped in the truck, gets compacted, gets dumped on the tipping floor of the MRF, is repeatedly driven over by forklifts, and is dumped on conveyor belts to be processed by the MRF.

As such, if Decatur residents are really concerned about the environment, shouldn’t we look into going back in time a bit and perhaps separating out our glass (at a minimum) with the end goal of making sure more of the items thrown into recycling are actually recycled?  Of course the benefit of single-stream is that its ease of use encourages more people to participate.  But here in Decatur, we already have other mechanisms in place – read: pay-as-you-throw – to encourage continued recycling, so why not be as efficient as possible?

Photo courtesy of Gwyneth