Conservation Station: Back to School (Part 2): Recycling 201
By Stacy Martin on September 10, 2012 from Conservation Station
In a landfill: Never*
In a backyard compost: 2 weeks
In an industrial composter: days
In the ocean: 8 weeks
Your Starbucks Coffee Paper Cup
In a landfill: Never*
In a backyard compost: One Month
In an industrial composter:
In the ocean: 6 Weeks
A Biodegradable Bio-Plastic Cup
In a landfill: Never*
In a backyard compost: Unknown
In an industrial composter: Less than 3 months
In the ocean: Unknown
A Regular Plastic Cup
In a landfill: Never*
In a backyard compost: Unknown
In an industrial composter: Unknown
In the ocean: Turns into trash island for 450 years
A Styrofoam Container
In a landfill: Never*
In a backyard compost: Unknown
In an industrial composter: Unknown
In the ocean: 50 years
Biodegradable Diaper
In a landfill: Never*
In a backyard compost: 6 months
In an industrial composter: Less than 3 months
In the ocean: 1 year
There is now a certification process for products to be able to claim that they are biodegradable. The ASTM states that compostable plastics (ASTM D6400) and compostable packaging (ASTM D6868) be able to fully degrade within 180 days, however, most testing is done using industrial composters which does not mimic real world composting or disposal and certainly not landfills. Of course backyard composting times can vary with moisture control, rotating, shredding, and the introduction of organisms so these times can vary.
I actively recycle. When the little bin the waste company overflowed, I started using a large plastic tote. When that routinely overflowed, I purchased a blue recycle toter the size of the big green one provided by waste management. But it still overflows. Why? Because we only have recycling pickup every other week. Many of my neighbors also have big blue toters. I called in 2011 and asked when weekly recycling pickup could begin, as there's clearly enough participation to warrant it, only to be told there are no plans to do that in our area.
This is a problem, because to avoid being inundated by recyclables, I sometimes find myself putting them into the regular garbage. I'd love to see us go to single source Plastic #1-7, glass, and aluminum recycling. But baby steps, people, can we first switch to weekly recycling, twice monthly garbage pickup? Because, if people had their stinky garbage overflow the way my recycling does, they'd start recycling more in a hurry.
Posted by Karen Shumway
Sep. 21, 2012 at 12:51 PM EST
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