Recycling myths thrown out

SANDPOINT — Less than 1 percent of our local garbage gets culled out to be designated as “recyclable” on a yearly basis and only a portion of that returns as a “post-consumer” component in subsequently produced goods.

“It’s all based on economics,” said Ken Gimpel, from the municipal relations department of Waste Management, Inc.

By category, recycling stacks up as follows:

? Aluminum

“Aluminum is the success story in recycling,” Gimpel said. “Everything else is a problem.”

Nationwide, about 75 percent of aluminum collected in recycling programs is melted down and reused.

? Glass

Lacking a market for glass bottles — beverage companies won’t put their products in glass that has already been used — this commodity only results in approximately 30 percent post-consumer applications.

In the Inland Northwest, where there is no manufacturing company using large quantities of glass, the material ends up being stockpiled by companies such as Spokane Recycling, which charges $70 per ton to receive it.

? Newsprint

Approximately 33 percent of newsprint gets reused, according to Waste Management. That figure is partly determined by how many people place old newspapers and magazines in with their recycled items. Of the portion that is recycled, the majority is sold to China, where it is used to produce things like shipping boxes.

? Plastic

One of the biggest problem children in the recycling trade, plastic containers have virtually no re-use value where food manufacturers are concerned. Because the material melts at a temperature below what is needed to kill human pathogens, food and beverage companies opt to use 100 percent “virgin” plastic for packaging their wares.

“So milk jugs don’t turn back into milk jugs,” Gimpel said. “All of that material goes into making lower-end products.”