Residents urged to be mindful of guidelines as recycling issues rise
Each week, the contents of 50 to 60 Hoover recycling bins get dumped in the trash instead of into Santek Waste Services’ recycling trucks, City Administrator Allan Rice said.
Out of 26,000 households that Santek provides recycling pickup to in Hoover, these bins are considered too contaminated — either with unrecyclable items or with food and materials that can ruin products like cardboard or paper — to deliver to the Birmingham Recycling and Recovery Center (BRR) downtown, which processes goods from 25 Birmingham municipalities to be sold and reused, Santek General Manager Sam Dillender said.
The BRR charges recycling providers for the level of contamination in loads they deliver, BRR Sales Manager Leigh Shaffer said, in an attempt to cut down on the rate of unusable recyclables being brought in. Rice said the cost of these charges and changes in what can be accepted for recycling may not be seen by residents, but are part of the reason that Hoover has worked with Santek and the BRR to reduce residential recycling contamination.
“They think Santek’s cheating and not doing recycling, but in reality that cart can’t be recycled,” Rice said of the carts that don’t get recycled each week. “The cost that Santek has to pay if they bring contaminated recycling is pretty extraordinary.”
Dillender said BRR charges Santek $30 per ton for uncontaminated recyclables, but the charge for a contaminated load is $75 per ton. If a load is deemed 100 percent contaminated, the price increases to $100 per ton, Dillender said. Santek doesn’t have the manpower to do a thorough inspection or sorting of residents’ bins to reduce contamination.
“Given the costs that are associated with contamination, it drives the delivery price or the disposal price of that material up,” he said.
At the BRR, Shaffer said the facility processes 15 tons of recyclable materials an hour. From 2012-17, Hoover households recycled an average of 3,144 tons per year, with 2017 peaking at 3,775 and 2016 being the low for those years, at 2,373 tons.
Shaffer said the average contamination amount from residential recyclers is 20 to 40 percent, and all of those contaminants have to be sifted out by employees before being processed.
Hoover averages about 25 percent contamination, Dillender said, and the large size of the city means that percentage leads to a larger amount of raw unrecyclable materials.
Hoover is one of several municipalities that has worked with the BRR recently to send mailers out to homeowners, which explain not only what types of items are and are not accepted for recycling, but also proper standards to reduce contamination. The simplest way to do this is to make sure everything is “empty, clean and dry” before it is put in the recycle bin.
“Sometimes people don’t think about [the fact that] the recycling needs to be washed off,” Rice said.
Kathy Silvie, a Blueberry Lane resident, has been recycling and reusing goods since she was young and said she “abhor[s] waste.” She used to take recycling to the Alabama Environmental Council (AEC) downtown, but now that she has retired, Silvie relies on the city’s services. When she received the mailer from Hoover and Santek recently, Silvie said some of the items they don’t accept surprised her.
“If it has a plastic recycle triangle on it, I was putting it in the bin,” Silvie said. “The recycle symbol is misleading if it’s not acceptable to the recycling [businesses].”
The BRR accepts #1 and #2 plastics, flattened cardboard, paper (including junk mail, magazines and newspapers) and aluminum, tin or steel cans.
There are some common items that people assume can be recycled but cannot be picked up by Santek, such as phone books, plastic grocery bags and Styrofoam. Rice said this is not determined by the city or by Santek, but by what the BRR will accept and, more broadly, whether the resale market for a particular recyclable is strong or oversaturated.
“There’s a lot of confusion because the recycling market has changed so much,” Rice said.
Silvie said she wants to see more education for herself and her neighbors on what can and cannot be recycled through Santek’s services.
In addition to the mailed out information, Rice said Santek has also begun leaving tags on Hoover residents’ bins to explain why they could not be recycled, as well as plans for Santek employees to begin meeting with homeowners who frequently have a high contamination load.
“A lot of times, it’s just an educational process to help people understand the market,” Rice said.
Silvie also said she felt that there need to be other avenues to recycle items that Santek and the BRR cannot accept, such as glass, electronics and #3-7 plastics.
“I’m all for capitalism. If somebody can make some money on this stuff, then all the better. But if it’s just going to the landfill, then nobody is profiting,” she said. “So it’s a complete waste of time and effort if we’re over-recycling.”
Some of those options include the AEC, which accepts the same materials as the BRR plus many electronics, small engines, certain metals and wood, ink cartridges, textiles, batteries, appliances and more, though the facility is currently not accepting glass.
Residents can also recycle plastic bags at their local grocery store, and Target accepts glass recycling, while some automotive stores and mechanics will safely dispose of oil and other vehicle fluids.
Those who need more frequent pickup can take their recycling to the BRR’s community bin, located at 9 41st St. S., or to the AEC at 4330 First Ave. S.
Silvie said the people she knows are “hungry” for the right way to recycle so more of their waste can get a second — or third — life.
“It’s more than a do-good thing, it’s more than a feel-good thing. It has a purpose,” Silvie said.
Get more information about Hoover’s recycling services and pickup schedule at hooveral.org/308/Garbage-Recycling.
Accepted materials
Accepted materials by Republic Services:
► Junk mail
► Magazines
► Cardboard
► Newspaper
► Paper
► Detergent bottles
► Shampoo bottles
► Jugs
► Egg cartons (not Styrofoam)
► Water bottles
► Aluminum cans
► Paper board
► Soup cans
► Cartons
► Condiment Containers
► Aluminum Foil
► Paper Rolls
Accepted materials
Accepted materials by Alabama Environmental Council (all of the materials accepted by Birmingham Recycling and Recovery, plus):
► Small engines
► Empty propane tanks
► Corks
► Steel/mixed metal
► Copper
► Brass
► Steel cans
► PUR/Brita water filter products
► Electronics (including computers, televisions and cell phones)
► Ink/toner cartridges
► Wood
► Batteries (rechargeable, single use and auto)
► Appliances
► Textiles
► Cigarette waste
►#6 rigid plastic cups