Residential recycling programs used to require household separations of newspapers, magazines, scrap paper, cardboard, plastic containers, glass and metal.
Collectors placed those bagged curbside items in separate designated dumping bins in refuse trucks.
All very neat and efficient.
Today, however, commingling is the standard at both curb and collection vehicle.
Everything except glass goes into the same cauldron, requiring magnets and masked and gloved sorters to later separate the household discards.
The reasons? Seems recycling participation increases when households don’t have to separate thoroughly. And less-expensive garbage trucks can be used for recycling collections.
Another dubious positive: More minimum-wage jobs at the local “material recovery facility” (read: dump).
Rubbish. (13 JULY 2003)
