Jul 18, 2008 4:00 pm US/Eastern
Green Scene: How Your Recycling Gets Sorted
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
If your neighborhood is one of those new to single stream recycling, you might wonder what happens to all those cans, bottles, and papers that you leave in your bin. CBS 3's Mary Stoker Smith shows us.
They come all day, truck after truck, leaving piles of plastics and papers.
"There's been a great pickup in the amount of recyclables coming out of Philadelphia," said Brian Schaffer of Blue Mountain Recycling.
So how does all this get sorted into this?
At Blue Mountain Recycling, they use the laws of physics. A machine tosses everything like a salad. Cans and bottles settle to the bottom. Blowers capture and separate the paper, then send it down a conveyor belt, where workers find interlopers like aluminum. The paper pile is so big, you need a truck to move it! Cardboard gets sorted much the same way.
Once everything's separated, it gets put in bales.
"A lot of your plastic will actually turn into clothing, carpeting, that kind of nature," said Schaffer. So your outfit might have started as outcast.
But not every piece of plastic will become something else. For example, a sandwich tray might have the three arrows of recycling, but "this is your #6 plastic, which is part of the #3 to #7 family, which we currently can't accept," said Schaffer.
Why not? There's just not a big enough market for those plastics.
You never know what you'll find in the trash. "Strangest thing would probably be a bowling ball," said Schaffer.
For the record, you can't recycle a bowling ball. But thanks for recycling your other stuff, even your homework.
RELATED LINKS:
Recycling Resources In New Jersey
Recycling Resources In Pennsylvania
Recycling Resources In Delaware
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