b"Rethinking RecyclingWorking to find the sweet spot on reusing our trashBY TIA SWANSONThe depot at the South Orange DPW, a collection site for single-stream recycling. On any given day, everything from styrofoam, to toys to plastic bins can be found in the pile. Experts con-tend that a better education program is needed so residents learn what they should and shouldn't throw in their recycling bins. F and Maplewood dutifully filledIt is also true, however, that experts say that be- Bill Haskins, a longtime environmental advocate or many years, residents of South Or-angetween 15 and 30 percent of what is thrown into sin- who is now a South Orange trustee, reports that the theirrecyclingcontainersandleftgle-stream recycling containers cannot be recycled.two towns will this spring begin seeking bids for a them curbside, secure in the belief thatAnd the 2018 numbers may not reflect the suddendual-streamrecyclingcollectionsystem.Adual-they were doing their part to make thedownturnintherecyclingindustrythatoccurredstream system, unlike a single-stream, requires a first world a cleaner, better place, one fo- when China announced in the middle of that yearsort. In most systems, that would mean residents cused on reuse, rather than rejection. that it would no longer take this countrys unsortedwould put out paper, cardboard and junk mail in That belief collapsed in 2021, when it becamerecycling. the recycling one week and everything elseplastics, apparent that not only were the two towns payingNevertheless, both municipalities have pledgedglass, and cansthe next. A dual-stream system cuts gobs of money to the haulers collecting the recycla- to do better. In April of last year, the two govern- down on contamination, which is one of the things bles$500,000 in each townbut that much ofments jointly hired Zero Waste Associates to analyzethat lowers the recycling rate in single-stream sys-what went into those cans and toters was not actu- the issue and come back with proposals. The resulttem. Cardboard isnt ruined by oil that leaks from a ally being recycled. was a far-reaching plan encompassing nearly a de- plastic jug, for example.Thethingthatkillsme,saysSouthOrangecade and envisioning a community that eventuallyThat system asks a bit more of residents; they resident and activist Michael Parlapiano, is.we areplaces not only recycling, but compost at the curb,do the first sort. But Haskins is optimistic. Its a spending half a million on a charade. where rather than a flat garbage rate, residents payprocess.You ask a little more, and you bring people Thats not quite true. In 2018, the last year forbased on the amount of garbage they produce. Zeroalong. which statistics are available, South Orange recycledWaste describes a place that is home to reuse-it shopsParlapianothinksgovernmentofficialsarenot 64 percent of its total solid waste. Maplewood hit 57that divert used furniture from the waste stream anddemanding enough of residents. As he sees it, if the percent. In that same year, the state average was 58where at least 90 percent of the solid waste is re- towns could reduce the cost of collection and sort-percent, the Essex County average was 52 percentcycled or reused. ing and cut down on the contamination, then they and the best performing county, Middlesex, had anThe first step toward that vision will be a changecould make money by selling their recyclables and average rate of 69 percent. (Maine, the state with thein the two towns recyclingand an end to singlealong the way hit a higher recycling rate. I think highest recycling rate, hits 72 percent.) stream. manypeopleiftheyrealizedtakingthesesteps 28/ matters magazine / hearth + home 2022"