Updated Recycling Standards for Maplewood

Elle_Cee said:
There is a bin for the Gimme 5 recycling program at Whole Foods.  https://www.preserveproducts.com/recycle/programs/gimme-5-program-171  No. 5 plastics can be recycled there.  Elsewhere on the Internet, I learned that shredded paper can be composted, as long as it doesn't include glossy, colored paper.  Recycling just got a whole lot more complicated.  

 So basically we're back to having check everything before it goes in the recycling to see what number it is like the bad old days.

mrincredible said:

joan_crystal said:

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There is a lot of outdated information on the town website.  They really need to do a better job of keeping it up to date.

 Sounds like an issue a township committee candidate could add to their platform.

Communication between the township and the town's residents has been an election issue before.  This year, the problem extends beyond out-of-date website entries.  Maplewood still has a significant number of residents, especially among our Senior population, who do not use a computer or smart phone and therefore do not have access to the email blasts which the town is increasing depending upon to communicate with residents in emergency situations or make them aware of policy and program changes, town-wide events, etc.

After reading the instructions on the website, I bought a box of clear plastic bags specifically for shredded paper.  Not happy with the change, although I guess they had no choice. 

South Orange has the same new recycling rules as Maplewood. They just didn’t announce it. It’s on their website. 

http://www.southorange.org/documentcenter/view/1377

Folks, you're missing the point here... Cans and bottles are ALWAYS acceptable. Therefore, drink more beer! Drink more wine! Any questions?

alisons said:
Such a bummer.  I hate to think of all the things I was happily recycling that are now just going to be in a land fill.  Some stuff you just cant cut out - the yogurt lovers in my family must be fed.  Sigh.  

I’m with you. The fruit cups & apple sauce cups I buy in abandon for the school lunchbox are coded #5. Yoghurt #6. 

There is no market for plastics beyond the #1 and #2 and even that it drying up.  Even with recycling, all plastics that is every produced will wind up in the environment as plastics can only be recycled a couple of times.  For other materials the recycling market is not great as the market for glass bottles and now the paper market is soon to dry up.   It looks like everything we produce will be thrown out in landfills.  So its best to reduce, reduce, reduce.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/climate/recycling-wrong-mistakes.html

well apparently, I've been doing things all wrong. I will also note that the few times I or my neighbors have recycled without bagging, the recyclables have ended up all over the street and lawns. So, if they want no bags, the recycling company is going to have to step up their standards and pick up all of the pieces that they drop. 

They are going to have to inform people better given what I am seeing going out on the curb.

Anybody know, what about clean aluminum foil?  Can it go in recycle?

I can't believe that all the sushi containers I used to recycle are now going to have to go in the trash.  I wonder how it hard it be to work toward incentivize businesses to use containers that are sustainable / recyclable / compostable.  There are options out there:

http://letsgogreen.biz/pages/foodcontainers.html

https://www.goodstartpackaging.com/

http://ultragreenpackaging.com/products/sushi-trays-lids/

https://begreenpackagingstore.com/collections/biodegradable-packaging

https://www.ecoproducts.com/premium_sushi.html

Regards,

RCH

rch2330 said:
I can't believe that all the sushi containers I used to recycle are now going to have to go in the trash.  I wonder how it hard it be to work toward incentivize businesses to use containers that are sustainable / recyclable / compostable.  There are options out there:


http://letsgogreen.biz/pages/foodcontainers.html
https://www.goodstartpackaging.com/
http://ultragreenpackaging.com/products/sushi-trays-lids/
https://begreenpackagingstore.com/collections/biodegradable-packaging
https://www.ecoproducts.com/premium_sushi.html


Regards,
RCH
 

I have a friend who owns a restaurant, and take out container cost is a big deal. The fancy biodeg ones are probably a lot of money.

I routinely save close to half of my restaurant meals to take home.  I saw some advice to consider bringing your own containers for leftovers.  That makes sense to me.

Scientists are discovering and/or engineering bacteria that produce enzymes that can degrade plastic.  And degradable plastics are being developed.

tjohn said:
Scientists are discovering and/or engineering bacteria that produce enzymes that can degrade plastic.  And degradable plastics are being developed.

 I'm afraid we just have to start using less.  We have a habit of counting on technology to cure the ills caused by our waste.  

Someone needs to communicate the "no plastic bags" to the recycling staff.  At least 3 neighbors had their recycling in plastic bags and the crew still picked it up.  If it had been left behind people might finally pay attention.

has anyone received a mailing from twp of maplewood regarding new recycle rules?  

Not yet...

No snail mailing.   I did receive an email from the town on this policy change. 

So now we're back to only plastics #1 and #2 and no plastic bags that say recyclable? Either Maplewood needs to immediately delete what it has on the website and/or further clarify post haste. Boy I miss Eric Burbank.

wendy said:
So now we're back to only plastics #1 and #2 and no plastic bags that say recyclable? Either Maplewood needs to immediately delete what it has on the website and/or further clarify post haste. Boy I miss Eric Burbank.

 Where are you looking?  

This link shows the updated requirements:

https://www.twp.maplewood.nj.us/recycling/pages/residential-curbside-recycling

It says "Bottles and Containers coded with #1 & #2".

Does that include clam shell containers that are #1 and #2?

When in doubt.... throw it out is probably the best advice.  I would bet most of the recycling winds up in landfills as contamination is a big deal and with the state of affairs that is where it is going anyways. All plastics eventually windup in the landfills, recycling on delays it ending up in there.  Better there than the ocean. 

Here's an updated guidelines graphic

wendy said:
So now we're back to only plastics #1 and #2 and no plastic bags that say recyclable? Either Maplewood needs to immediately delete what it has on the website and/or further clarify post haste. Boy I miss Eric Burbank.

If Maplewood previously accepted plastic bags, they were sabatoging the intire program.  Beacuse they are so thin, if mixed with other recyclables they get caught in the recycling machinery and require workers to shutdown the line and climb in to retreive them.  They're an ecological disater, from the petrochemicals used for production to the fact 0.5% of the 100 billion bags produced anually in the get recycled.  If they end up in a landfill it takes 100 years to photodegrade into toxins.  That said, we only learned this problem at a Maplewood Green Day years back, and the DPW announcent implies they were accepted till now.

I try my best use re-usable totes, but the bags are so ubiquitous we still get many.  I collect them in a bigger plastic bag or paper product wrap, and bring this to a store that has a drop off.  Almost every supermarket and Target takes them.   

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Once again the recycling truck has picked up my neighbors' recycling that was in plastic bags.  How do we let the town know that the recycling company is ignoring the new guidelines?

My husband was at the recycling center on Saturday. The town employee there had no idea that the guidelines had changed. The message is not being heard.

So plastic bottles ok but plastic bags not ok.  Institutional plasticism.