Solid Waste E-News: May 2021

In this issue:

Did You Know?
Memorial Day – Holiday Schedule
2 NEW Food Waste Collection Sites!
Where Does Our Recycling Go? Is It Being Landfilled?
Salvage Sheds Remain Closed
FAQ from YOU
Shred A Thon Successes

Did you know: residents can recycle plastic plant pots in the separate rigid plastics dumpster at any of the Waste and Recycling Centers!

After planting in your garden or getting extra plants in the Spring, you likely have empty plastic plant pots lying around. Try reusing the plastic pots as much as possible. You can keep them with your other gardening supplies and may use them to repot plants or grow new plants. Some garden shops or sellers at the Farmers Markets may accept them back for reuse.

The plastic plant pots can only be recycled separately with other rigid plastics at the Waste and Recycling Centers. Look for the purple roll-off dumpsters labeled for rigid plastics. Pots must be free of dirt and larger than 1 pint. Other rigid plastics without metal parts such as laundry baskets, lawn chairs, and pet carriers can also be recycled with rigid plastics. Visit our website to see other rigid plastics you can recycle.

Memorial Day Holiday Schedule

Memorial Day Schedule. Monday, May 31st, curbside collection as usual, administrative office, landfill, and waste and recycling centers closed.

2 New Food Waste Collection Sites!

Orange County Solid Waste is excited to announce the County is partnering with both the Chapel Hill and Eno River Farmers Markets. Food waste collection is now available at their Saturday markets (plus Tuesday – Chapel Hill market only)! These new programs help divert valuable materials from landfills, thereby reducing methane production, supporting community-based composting and advancing waste diversion opportunities.

Drop-off food waste and other compostable materials from 8 am – 12 pm on Saturdays and from 3-6 pm on Tuesdays only at the Chapel Hill market (check hours as they may change seasonally). Everyone is welcome to bring their residential food waste and other compostable materials, to the markets to be composted. See list of acceptable materials below.
Acceptable Materials:

All food scraps (raw or cooked)
- Fruit & vegetable scraps
- Pasta, bread, cereal
- Dairy products and egg shells
- Meat, bones, and fish products
Uncoated paper products: napkins, paper towels, soiled paper food packaging (must ensure it does NOT have a ‘waxy’ liner and is 100% paper)
Flowers and household plants
Compostable food-service ware: MUST be certified compostable such as BPI-Certified Compostable or ASTM D6400 or D6868
For a more comprehensive list, visit this site.

Remove all produce stickers, rubber bands, twist ties and other non-compostable items from food before composting. Compost monitors are on site to answer questions and ensure that everything going into the bins is compostable. If you have questions about the compostability of an item, please email recycling@orangecountync.gov or call (919) 968-2788.

These new food waste collection programs are made possible by Climate Reality Orange County, the Eno River Farmers Market, the Chapel Hill Farmers Market, and Orange County Solid Waste Management. The Orange County Solid Waste Department pays for the collection and composting as part of a 21-year effort to divert food waste from landfills.

Where Does Our Recycling Go? Is It Being Landfilled?

With growing concerns and awareness of waste generation, fluctuating recycling markets, and talk of recycling being a ‘hoax’, residents have reached out to ask about where their recycling is sent after they put it in their blue cart. Orange County sends our recycling to a recycling processor. When materials are properly prepared, residents and businesses in Orange County can be assured that those materials will be recycled into new products!

The materials are not landfilled, shipped to unverified overseas or domestic markets, incinerated or otherwise improperly discarded. Most of the products are used here in the southeastern US to create new products and, in doing so, reduce landfill use, create jobs and save natural resources. For additional info, please visit Southeast Recycling Development Council (SERDC.org) or YourBottleMeansJobs.com

Perplexed About Plastics?

Plastics recycling remains complicated. By far, the best thing you can do is to reduce your overall plastic usage. Clean and empty plastics should still be included in your recycling IF THEY ARE: bottles, tubs, jugs and jars or #1 clear PETE clamshells. Black plastic has no market, so items like flower pots and TV dinner trays will not make it through the recycling process and should not be recycled in your blue cart. When in doubt, keep it out!

Two of the largest, most innovative plastics processors are in Reidsville, NC. Unifi is a processor of #1 PETE plastics and creates fibers with recycled plastics to make products such as jeans, outerwear, car seats, and curtains. Envision processes #2 HDPE plastics. They sort the plastics by color and sell the plastic pellets to companies that make flexible plastic packaging for food and beverages, as well as plastic bottles and containers.

Steel cans are sold to smelters at mini mills, like those operated in NC by Nucor. Aluminum cans are sold to smelters as well – often in nearby states like TN. They make sheet that is sold to can makers or ingots (blocks of metal) sold to other aluminum product producers. The cardboard goes primarily to feed a huge plant in Hartsville, SC that has been operating there for over 100 years and just completed an $80 million upgrade.

Where Does Our Recycling Go?

As for glass – the County has a ‘Glass On The Side’ (GOTS) program to separate glass for recycling at all waste and recycling centers and drop off sites in the County. The County is doing this because of the savings and efficiency gains from separating glass bottles and jars. The GOTS program for bars and restaurants has added 25 new sites this spring, bringing total users to 85. As of May 1, over 500 tons have been recycled separately since GOTS began in November 2019. Residents can still recycle glass in your cart and it will be processed at the Materials Recovery Facility.

Orange County pays a per ton processing fee at the Materials Recovery Facility in Raleigh where mixed recycling is sorted and sold. However, the County receives $20 per ton for separated glass brought to a processor in Wilson, NC that cleans and color separates glass. They convert it into feedstock for new bottles, fiberglass insulation, sand blasting media and reflective paint beads, largely made here in North Carolina. Another benefit is the yield from source-separating (i.e. GOTS dumpsters) is close to 100%, while the yield from single stream (curbside recycling) is reported at about 60%. However, Orange County recommends against special trips to the Waste and Recycling Centers just for depositing separated glass. If you’re headed to the sites or at least very nearby, then, by all means, bring us your bottles and jars.

Salvage Sheds Remain Closed

The Salvage Sheds will continue to remain closed for now as long as COVID 19 remains a threat to public health. This is because of the crowding that typically goes on when material is placed in or removed from the shed. The Solid Waste Department does not have the staffing to either manage crowding or to enforce mask requirements at the sheds. The Department looks forward to a time when the sheds will be able to reopen. When that time comes, we will announce the change in our e-newsletter, and on social media and the County website.

In the interim, citizens are encouraged to take usable items to area nonprofits for reuse. The clothing and shoe donation bins next to the salvage sheds are still accepting donations. Please bag any clothing and shoes that you bring before placing them in the donation bins.

Questions from the Public

These recent questions from the public provide some guidance on how to increase the amount of compostable material that can be diverted from landfills:

Q1: Is parchment paper used in baking compostable?
A1: No, parchment paper is not compostable. Although it’s similar to wax paper, parchment paper is coated with a non-stick material, typically silicone. Plain wax paper is compostable.

Q2: Plastic clam shells. I just got one yesterday from a restaurant in downtown Chapel Hill and the number is seven but it says on the container “certified compostable”. Would be okay to compost or should it be left out?
A2: Compost the clamshell if it says ‘compostable’ and is a certified compostable product labeled with ‘BPI certified’ or another certification. Recycle the clamshell if it’s #1 PETE clear plastic clamshell.
NOTE: A container is compostable if the word ‘compostable’ is written on it. Use of the word ‘compostable’ is now regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (see their Green Guides). The resin code numbering system is not the best guide to composting or recycling. The key terms on a package or cup would be the word ‘compostable’ written out or the letters PLA stamped on the container (usually just on cups or these ‘clamshell’ looking containers). PLA stands for polylactic acid, essentially a corn molecule turned ‘inside out’ to behave like plastic but actually be compostable. The letters ‘PLA’ will sometimes be accompanied by the resin code number 7, but while ‘PLA’ signifies it is compostable, the number 7 alone is not sufficient as it also is used for other resins and does not always mean PLA.

Q3: Can I recycle my old license plate as NCDOT is replacing all older NC license plates and those are made from aluminum?
A3: You can recycle your old license plate but NOT in your blue cart or single stream dumpsters. Recycle ONLY in the scrap metal dumpster at one of the five staffed Waste and Recycling Centers. Residents in Orange County dispose over 700 tons of scrap metal annually that could be recycled at Waste and Recycling Centers in scrap metal dumpsters.

Spring Shred-A-Thons Successful

For the first time since October 2019, Orange County was able to hold confidential paper shredding events on April 24 at the Eubanks Road Park and Ride lot and on May 1 at the recycling site behind Home Depot in Hillsborough. Over 1,100 participants brought 55,000 pounds of paper (about fifty pounds per car) -about 20% more than the previous average from 2019. Two events are included in the proposed 2021 County budget and if approved will be held in October. Watch for further announcements later this year.

Can’t get enough trash talk?

Listen to OC Solid Waste Representatives the second Tuesday of each month from 8:15 am to 8:45 am on the ‘3-D News’ on local radio WHUP 104.7 FM, over the air and streaming online. Visit this link to listen online. If you missed the show, you can listen online and shows are archived for a month after airing.