2020/01/13 - Mayor's Column: Recycling is Everyone's Responsibility

“An Open Door to O’Fallon”
A Weekly Note from Mayor Herb Roach
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People around the world are making great attempts to increase recycling. I recently met with the Manager of Municipal Relations for Waste Management, the City’s Waste Hauler. He expressed to me how difficult it is becoming for recycling companies to continue to provide recycling services. Some costs related to recycling have gone up over 300% and companies are having to decide whether or not to continue picking up recycled materials.

Waste Management has asked us to talk to our community about improving recycling so that we can continue to receive these services in the future.

When you throw materials in the recycling bin, they are picked up, sorted and then exported. There is a whole market for recycled materials. Some manufactures make new cans of recycled aluminum. Clothes can be created from recycled plastic. Paper can be recycled over and over again. Once removed from your homes and businesses, recycled goods have another life as commodities on the open market.

Over the past few years, China, the world’s biggest market for recycled goods banned the import of plastics and other materials headed for that nation’s recycling processors. Until they closed their doors, China handled nearly half of the world’s recyclable waste for the past quarter century.

Since he bans, China’s plastic imports have plummeted by 99 percent, leading to a major global shift in where and how materials tossed in the recycling bin are being processed. While the glut of plastics is the main concern, China’s imports of mixed paper have also dropped by a third. Recycled aluminum and glass are less affected by the ban.

Globally, more plastics are now ending up in landfills, incinerators, or likely littering the environment as rising costs to haul away recyclable materials increasingly render the practice unprofitable.

Fortunately, there are ways that we can help Waste Management, and other waste haulers continue to provide recycling services. Here are four rules for simplified recycling:

• No Trash – Please only recycle clean and empty plastic containers, paper, cardboard products, aluminum and glass food and beverage containers.
• Keep it Clean – Make sure all plastic food and beverage containers have been emptied and any food residue cleaned or rinsed. Please keep liquids and food out of your recycling.
• Keep it Loose – Rather than bagging them, just empty your recyclables directly into your cart.
• No Plastic Bags – Plastic bags are not recyclable. Return those plastic bags to your local grocery store where they can be properly recycled and reused.

Recycling is included in the standard service package through Waste Management. The standard service package includes a 96-gallon trash cart, a 96-gallon recycling cart, weekly collection of unlimited amounts of trash and yard waste, and every other week collection of unlimited amounts of recycling.

As residents of O’Fallon, you should always be able to reach out to your elected officials and ask questions about what is happening in O’Fallon. Having open communications is important to me and something I care very deeply about. Thank you for reading, and please remember, my door is always open!