Making Recycling More Convenient

Recycling just got a whole lot simpler. In fact, it has been since February of this year though the word is only just starting to get out.

Earlier this year, the Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority finalized a new recycling protocol that eliminates the need to separate recycled items before placing them at the curb.

While the protocols and processes have been in place, much of the public does not know that they no longer have to separate newspaper from mixed paper, plastic and other recyclables, according to Newtown Public Works Director Fred Hurley

"The whole system has changed," he said, adding that officials are planning to roll out more literature and a public education campaign to change how people handle their recylables. "It's been a rolling start."

The HRRA is a regional waste management authority that serves over 225,000 residents in Sherman, Bridgewater, Brookfield, Kent, Danbury, New Fairfield, New Milford, Redding, Newtown, Ridgefield and Bethel.

Now, instead of separating bottles and cans, newspapers, cardboard, etc., residents of these towns simply have to sort garbage fromrecycling.

“They should have done this a long time ago,” said Phil Lopresti, who runs a Bethel-based garbage service that serves Danbury, Bethel, Brookfield, and New Milford. “It’s a beautiful thing, and it makes everyone’s life much easier.”

The benefits of this improvement are many and varied. For one, haulers now expend far fewer resources and less energy taking customers’ recyclables to the local processing facilities.

The environmental benefits are also significant. By adding to the number of items that can be recycled, and increasing the ease with which consumers can recycle them, the single-stream system reduces the amount of waste that has to be burned or buried at processing facilities.

The ability to use a single-stream system depends on the use of sophisticated processing plants that have the ability to separate the consumers’ recycling into various “streams” before they are sent back into the commodities market for reuse.

The three major processing plants that service HRRA towns are located in Berlin, Willimantic, and Newburgh, N.Y.. According to the Connecticut State Department of Environmental protection, access to these types of plants is the crucial component for making single-stream systems effective.

“In order to ensure an optimally functioning whole recycling system, local governments must provide for recycling services that sustain all parts of the cycle, not just collection,” the state DEP said in a 2007 publication, “Single Stream Recycling Best Management Practices Manual.”

The one thing officials advise residents to do, however, is to place their paper and other fibruous materials in a plastic bag prior to placing them into the recyling bin so as to prevent them from getting wet. Once paper products get wet, the item can no longer be effectively recycled, and is instead placed in the waste stream, officials said.

Consumers, who have long had to separate out their items, also are welcoming the changes.

"In one fell swoop, Connecticut legislators have expanded what residents can recycle 10-fold," said Newtown resident Dawn Handschuh. "Now we can recycle paper orange juice containers, cereal boxes, paperback books, hangers and even plastic flower pots? Unbelievable! For the many people like me who were willing and able to do more than No. 1 and No. 2 plastics but were waiting for the laws to catch up, this is a giant step forward."

For more information, take a look inside part of the backbone of the single-stream system: Murphy Road Recycling and Automated Material Handling in Berlin CT.