April 2019 - Parks & Recreation - 54

RECYCLING

Clearly identified recycling containers
at outdoor special events provide an
important message to the public about
an agency's commitment to recycle.

recyclables are skyrocketing. The Atlantic recently reported that Franklin,
New Hampshire, which was paid
$6 per ton for recyclables, has been
informed by its local transfer station
that it will now have to pay $125 per
ton to recycle, or $68 per ton to incinerate the same waste. Hundreds of
cities and towns facing dramatically
higher recycling costs are ending curbside pick-up of recycling altogether or
are simply landfilling or incinerating
their recycled waste ( " How recycling
is changing in all 50 states " ).
bins in parks, community centers
and recreation facilities.
In the 1990s, however, waste
haulers and municipal governments began to move toward
single-stream recycling. In this
method of recycling, instead of
separating recyclables, such as
plastics, glass, cardboard, paper,
metal and organic waste, at the
source into individual containers,
all recyclables are commingled in
one waste receptacle.
Waste haulers promoted single-stream recycling because it
significantly reduced hauling costs
and increased profits. Municipal
governments embraced it because
it was cheaper and eliminated problems caused by multiple-stream
waste pre-sorting, including separate containers, separate storage
and greater expense.
This mutually profitable arrangement came crashing down in February 2018 when the Chinese government, in response to growing
waste contamination and effects of
pollution, issued a proclamation,
titled " The National Sword, " a declaration that China would no longer
52

Parks & Recreation

The Impact on Parks and
Recreation

Simple, clear graphics, such as these on
East Bay Regional Park District's indoor
recycling bins, help the public easily understand what waste should go in which bin.

accept 24 classes of imported waste
and would, henceforth, only accept
those materials that met extremely
strict standards for contamination.
U.S. paper waste is, on average,
25 percent contaminated by food,
grease, glass or other materials. China's new standard for paper waste is
.3 of 1 percent contamination.
As a result, prices for disposing of

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The crisis in recycling has not yet
penetrated the consciousness of park
and recreation agencies. However,
realization will come soon as prices to recycle rise exponentially and
waste haulers refuse to take recycled
waste, except for exorbitant fees.
Beyond the impacts of current
market forces, if recycling in park
and recreation facilities is to be successful in the future, it will require
re-educating the public about what
is recyclable and what is not. Ana
Alvarez, deputy general manager
of East Bay Regional Park District
in the San Francisco Bay region,
says, " It will require a different message to the public in the future. It
will be about reducing the amount
of waste you generate, packing it
in and packing it out, and reducing
your carbon footprint. "
One problem in getting the public to recycle effectively has been
the confusing instructions on recycling bins. Alvarez agrees that
problem continues. " The public is
still confused about sorting. Even
April 2019 - Parks & Recreation

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