Some corrugated products can be taken for curbside collection, while others (such as paperboard) must be taken directly to a recycling facility. Some facilities put all their materials in the same bin, and one reader asked why.
The answer boils down to the difference between cardboard and paperboard.
Cardboard is the type of cardboard that most people think of as a box. For example, the type of cardboard shipped by Amazon. You can put it in your home recycling bin or take it to any Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority, he says. , Communications Officer for LCSWMA.
However, paperboard or plywood is a single-ply, lightweight paper material often used for things like cereal boxes. It has a high contamination rate and cannot be used when it gets wet. So, Gross said, residents shouldn’t pick up on the street where it can be exposed to the elements.
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The paperboard can be recycled at the City of Lancaster’s recycling center on New Holland Avenue, Gross said. It can also be placed with household waste where it can be converted into energy during the combustion process. At that location, the customer is responsible for segregating board types into appropriately labeled bins.
Additionally, Gross said some fiber buyers are allowing cardboard and chipboard to be mixed for processing. Gross added that while Penn Waste accepts chipboard and mixed paper at its material recycling facility, it instructs all Lancaster County customers to follow the Big Four rule. Bottle.
Correct recycling method
Gross explained that there are no penalties for cardboard mixed with paperboard or plywood. Because it is difficult for the crew to sort materials by curb.
Once the material is collected, it is sent to a material recovery facility or transfer station complex and then to the MRF, Gross said. I explained to remove it.
“When residents put stuff they can’t recycle into containers, it creates more work, increases pollution in the recycling stream, and reduces the quality of the actual end product of raw materials to market,” said Gross. I’m here. “When residents recycle properly, the lives of those who work and the world is a better place.”
LCSWMA imposed Big 4 changes to single-stream roadside services in 2018 after the collapse of the US recycling market, or “recycling crisis.” Newspapers, grocery bags, trash bags, junk mail, glossy magazines, yogurt cups, bottle caps, cereal boxes, to-go containers, and anything else that isn’t part of the Big 4 shouldn’t go in the trash.
LCSWMA narrows recycling program to ‘big four’, cites market collapse
The change comes after a ripple effect from China, which until 2017 was the largest consumer of recyclable materials produced in the United States, to crack down on imported waste and reduce pollution, such as the kind from paperboard. banned most recyclable materials, including mixed paper. In 2018, China announced plans to ban all imported recycled goods. To keep recycling sustainable in Lancaster County, LCSWMA said a single-stream curbside service was deployed at the time.
Click here for Q&A on recycling in Lancaster County.
Looking for pollution in recycling streams. One year from now, how are your efforts to recycle only the Big 4?
