Taking it to the curb

BROWN COUNTY – In 1990, Chapter 287 of the Wisconsin State Statutes, titled Solid Waste Reduction, Recovery And Recycling, was passed.

This statute puts strict bans on what cannot be in landfills and must, in some way, be reused or recycled.

These bans are on electronics, lead and acid batteries, solid waste, waste oil, mercuric oxide batteries, tires and more.

This statute also creates statewide educational programs that teach the community about recycling.

“Recycling is a circular economy concept,” said Business Development Manager of Brown County Port & Resource Recovery and Recycling Educator of Brown County, Mark Walter. “You go to the store, buy a case of soda or a six-pack of soda, drink it, put it back in the recycling, it comes back onto the shelf within 60 to 90 days full.”

The recycling process
Most people do not think about what happens to garbage or recycling after it is taken by the trucks.

Walter explains the process, “If you think about the process when you’re in your house and you throw away your stuff, you separate your recycling one way [and] your garbage another way, and you take it out to the curb… up to that point, and to the point where it gets picked up, everything is pretty much the same. It’s what happens after that where things change a lot. On the garbage side, after it gets picked up, it then goes to a landfill… that’s it, that’s done.

“Recycling goes to a sorting facility, and everything is sorted by type of material. Our recycling facility employs 50 or more people on two different shifts who are in charge of sorting, quality control and other things. From there, it then goes into a truck. It gets sorted, bailed and sent to market. The market is buying it as raw material… it is going back to a market where there are a number of people in a manufacturing facility who are then cleaning, sorting [and] separating material in a further sorting facility… eventually [the final product] should come back into our facility.”

But recycling can be very confusing and complicated and it can be hard to tell what can and can’t be recycled.

What can be recycled
Some items that can be recycled include glass and plastic jars and bottles, milk jugs, produce containers, newspapers, office and school paper, cardboard boxes, envelopes, junk mail, books, magazines, aluminum cans, steel cans and tin cans.

Anything that has had food or liquids in it must be rinsed out before going into the recycling, and boxes must be flattened.

What cannot be recycled
Items that cannot be recycled include styrofoam, motor oil bottles, tissue paper, shredded paper, wrapping paper, pet food bags, paint cans, propane tanks, aerosol cans, aluminum pans or foil, scrap metal, electrical appliances, mirrors, ceramics, china, batteries, sharps, drinking glassware or window glass.
Plastic bags, wraps and films also cannot be recycled unless they are in a special, separate area.

What if you don’t know?

If you are unsure if an item can or cannot be recycled, Tri-County Recycling has a website where people can search for an item and it will tell you how to recycle or properly dispose of it.

You can visit this website at recyclemoretricounty.org/waste-wizard/.
There is also an app, Betterbin, that can be downloaded from the Apple App Store and Google Play which does the same thing as the Waste Wizard website.

This app is available to residents of Brown, Outagamie and Winnebago counties.

Become a recycling master
If you are interested in learning more about the importance of recycling,
Tri-County Recycling offers a Recycle Right Master Class, a free introductory course that gives you the tools to teach others how to recycle right.

To learn more about the class, visit recyclemoretricounty.org/classes.