Personal experience: how just one excursion in New York changed my life and attitude towards garbage

Many residents of high-rise buildings in New York are rather frivolous about sorting garbage. Recyclable garbage, or recycling (as we call it in America), is often not carefully separated by city dwellers. Well, yes, it seems like you need to put cardboard and paper in a green container, and plastic and metal in a blue one. But in fact, in every kitchen, there is basically only one bucket - for recycling, where everything “seems to be recyclable” is put together and then simply thrown into one of these containers. Raise your hand, who knows? I think in other cities, things are about the same.

To change your attitude to sorting, it is enough to visit the enterprise where tons of waste from a big city are brought, to see everything with your own eyes and really understand WHY we sort waste.

Garbage king of North America

So, Brooklyn's industrial district, Sunset Park. Left and right - warehouses, trucks, containers. Right in front of my eyes - Gowanus Bay, a view of the Statue of Liberty and Downtown Manhattan. Such an industrial romance.

It is here that the largest waste processing plant in North America is located - Sims Municipal Recycling, or as its employees affectionately call it - Sims.

Absolutely all the metal, plastic and glass collected in the five boroughs of New York (Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, the Bronx and Manhattan) I recycle here, plus half of all paper. During the day, huge garbage trucks and barges bring up to 1000 tons of garbage for processing.

It is delivered in the same form as collected - in plastic bags. The first thing they do with them is they are driven through a special tape with large pins - they tear the packages, and they remain hanging, and the garbage begins its exciting journey.

Journey and transformation

When you look at what is being unloaded from dump trucks, it is impossible to believe that it can have a second life. It seems to be just dirty, foul-smelling waste that belongs in a landfill. But then the wonders of technology begin.

To begin with, it’s worth admitting - yes, indeed, 30% of this heap will go to landfill. Firstly, because people sort garbage carelessly, and often throw into recycling baskets what is not suitable for recycling. But also because all garbage is initially sorted by size - anything less than 2 inches (5 cm) does not pass the selection and is immediately thrown away.

"Nobody wants to buy small pieces of plastic, - says Cara Napolitano, education and public relations manager for Sims Municipal Recycling, - therefore, for example, experts advise not to throw small plastic products into recycling baskets - they will not be recycled anyway. And what to do with bottle caps, you ask. It's simple: if you want them to be recycled, DO NOT take them off the bottle. Although their plastic is different, during the final - manual - sorting, the employees of the enterprise will be able to unscrew them and send them for recycling.".

After the garbage has passed the selection by size, sorting by type begins. First, they look for metal - aluminum cans, foil, and the like. All metal can be conditionally divided into containing iron (cans, for example) and not containing (aluminum cans). The first is sorted using a magnetic tape. An example of her work is shown by Kara in the training center at the factory: 2 cans are moving along the tape, both should fall at the end, but one - from under canned goods - is magnetized to the tape, the second - from under drinks - flies into the basket.

Next, a device called the “vortex flow” comes into play. With its help, all metal products that are not magnetic are isolated. By the way, the most common type of metal that New Yorkers send for recycling is drink cans.

The most meticulous process is plastic sorting. To do this, the company uses optical devices. Using infrared radiation, they can separate plastic by type.

"Such complex sorting takes place at the plant in special containers, which can be recognized by their bright orange color. They are so smart that they can automatically determine: oh, this is polypropylene, and this is HDPE, and this is PET. The process itself is very exciting - when the camera determines the type of plastic, the device simply drops it into the right containers. This is how we sort plastic, this is how we sort cardboard and paper, which people mistakenly throw into blue containers, and not into green ones, as they should.", says Kara.

Finally, in the last step, the remaining recyclable products are separated by hand. That is, people at the plant only connect at the very end, when it is necessary, for example, to separate different types of plastic - to unscrew that notorious bottle cap, that is, to do something that smart machines themselves do not think of.

Then everything is pressed into large cubes - about two by two meters - and they are already sent for processing.

What is more difficult to recycle and what is more profitable

Despite the fact that the company processes many different products, some of them are easy to separate, and some are so difficult to process that it is still a question of whether the game is worth the candle.

So, for example, milk and juice boxes (so-called tetra-packs) consist of layers of plastic, cardboard and aluminum. For recycling, all these parts must be separated using a special device. But at the same time, plastic will definitely be thrown away, aluminum - 50 to 50, and napkins or toilet paper will most likely be made from the remaining paper. So, in fact, out of the whole big box, only its paper part will be put into action.

A completely different way for a plastic bottle. Here, 100% of the material is recycled. It is washed, cleaned, the label is removed, and then it is turned into plastic flakes, which are pressed into large cubes and sold to enterprises. More often than not, bottles become bottles or other containers again. And they can make a carpet or clothes out of them! True, in recent years it has become less and less popular.

“Because once you make a carpet or clothes out of a bottle, it won't be a bottle again. And bottles are needed all the time. On the other hand, of course, the bottle is used quickly, and the carpet can last 10 years. So this is a debatable issue, but now enterprises are less likely to decide on such complex processing,” says Kara.

Well, the main question is the price. Plastic is the most common product for recycling, but its price can vary by 5-6 times - it all depends on the type.

“For example, white HDPE costs about 66 cents per pound, which is very good. But if you look at the exact same HDPE but in color, you'll see that it's already only 10 cents a pound. The fact is that we can only make black plastic from colored plastic, so it is much cheaper,” says Kara.

So how do you properly sort your trash?

To begin with, I want to make a reservation: these tips are ONLY suitable for New Yorkers. In all other cases, you should carefully read the rules of your particular state and city, as they can vary greatly.

And if you live in the Big Apple, write down:

1. Get it at home two types of buckets for recycling: one - for plastic, glass, metal and so-called tetra-packs (we throw them into blue containers); the second - for cardboard and paper (we send them to green ones). This will greatly facilitate the life of those involved in the processing of waste.

2. remember, that in New York only bottles and cans are recycled from glass products. All other glass - glasses, cups, teapots, etc. - just throw it in the trash.

3. New York recycles ANY hard plastic. Note - hard. That is, all bags are garbage, do not throw them in the recycling bins, even if they are plastic.

4. It can be confusing why we throw away beverage cartons in blue containers, while ordinary cardboard is in green. How to check what - where? There is a simple test: if you can tear this cardboard, then it should go to the green container, if not, to the blue one.

5. Napkins, oiled paper, aluminum-coated paper are all rubbish.

6. Try not to throw very dirty items into the trash, but it is not necessary to wash them strongly - in any case, they will be washed at the enterprise, so you should not use excess water, just lightly wash it.

7. Never dispose of any lithium batteries in recycling. Once in a mountain of garbage for recycling, they can explode and start a fire. History knows many cases when enterprises burned out completely because of this, therefore, ideally, batteries should be taken to special collection points.

8. Also, do not send wires, cables for recycling (the rest of the garbage can get confused in them), needles, syringes and any sharp objects.

Well, if you want to complete your transformation and proudly call yourself a person who cares about the environment, not only sort your garbage correctly, but also buy products made from recycled materials. Look for signs in stores that say “made with post-consumer recycled content” or “post-consumer resin” or “includes PCR” - and you will be able to fall asleep with a sense of satisfaction, because you helped our planet!

At the plant itself, by the way, they conduct excursions especially for those who want to immerse themselves in the topic of waste recycling. Now, however, all places are booked right up to spring, but if you are interested, we advise you to still catch a free place when the registration opens. Stay tuned for updates on enterprise website.