Be a Recycling Champion

Article By Shay K. Flowerday

Have you ever wondered what happens to your recycling once you drop it in the bin? Whether you have curbside recycling at home or take your recyclables to a community collection site, these resources go through a fascinating journey to be recovered and made into something new!

All recyclables are taken to a Material Recovery Facility (MRF). Once unloaded from the truck, they are laid on the floor of the MRF. A front-end loader then scoops and loads them onto a conveyor belt.

The first step along the conveyor is presorting. Here, employees remove items that cannot be recycled.

Remember, these items do not belong in the curbside recycling bin: plastic films/bags, holiday lights, electronics, and anything with batteries!

Next, machines help sort two-dimensional items such as cardboard, newspaper, paperboard, and paper using an optical screen. Flat cardboard boxes are considered two-dimensional, while unflattened boxes are three-dimensional and won’t be sorted correctly.

Reminder: always flatten your boxes so they can be recycled properly!

Three-dimensional items continue down the conveyor belt. This includes plastic and cans. Plastics are sorted by type using computer and robotic technology, while aluminum is separated from tin cans using a large magnet.

Once the recyclables have been sorted, they are baled and sold to end markets, which will reprocess the materials.

Are you a proud recycler? Let’s take the next step to support recovered resources by purchasing products made from recycled materials! Items with recycled content will indicate how much recycled content they contain (e.g., 100% post-consumer paper, made with recycled plastic).

Want to see what we’re talking about? Visit this QR code for a video on where your local recycling goes.