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Deliveries to Mecklenburg County’s Recycling Sorting Center are expected to decrease this year for at most the fourth year in succession. County officials and recycling advocates are pushing to improve, not only to solve our waste problem but also fight climate change.
Mecklenburg County’s materials recovery facility, or MRF for short, is a massive 2½-acre building off Graham Street in north Charlotte where mixed recyclables are sorted into glass, cardboard, paper and plastic. Jeff Smithberger, County Solid Waste Director, led a tour for county commissioners and members from the Waste Management Advisory Board.
Smithberger explained that these bunkers are where material is stored. Smithberger led the group up and down stairs, and across gantries amid whirring machines.
“There’s a conveyor system at the bottom. He explained that when it comes to processing materials, these materials will be put on the conveyor belt and then get bail up.”
Smithberger stated that between 370 to 425 tons of recyclables pass through this center each day from all over the county.
This is only one-third of the trash collected by the county and six of the six towns. It includes recyclables from Centeral Piedmont Community College and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, and some small businesses, but not large businesses.
Our recycling is contaminated by trash
Smithberger stated that some of this material shouldn’t be here and pointed to another machine.
“Everything on this conveyor will be going out as garbage. You can see where we took out a lot bags, and a lot that shouldn’t go in recycling. He said, “This will go up here, cross over under, and go into a truck that takes to the landfill.”
It’s called contamination, and it’s the main problem that county officials are trying solve. The other is getting residents to recycle.
These days, nearly one-quarter of material that comes to the MRF is trash — plastic bags, clothing, food containers and other types of plastic that aren’t on the county’s very short list of acceptable items. Republic Services, which runs the MRF, is paid $90 for each ton. The county then pays Republic for non-recyclable materials transportation to the landfill.
Elaine Powell, County Commissioner, chairs the Environmental Stewardship Committee of the commission. She spoke candidly about the system, saying that it needed improvement. We’ve spent a lot to create the infrastructure we need to recycle. We need people to be responsible about recycling and only recycle recyclable items.
Amy Aussieker, the sustainability group’s executive director, stated that recycling is not an individual responsibility. Envision Charlotte. “So if you put all your stuff in the bin, and it’s contaminated … nobody knows it’s you that did it. It would be a great thing if we could all have individual accountability..
The city of Charlotte is managed by Aussieker Innovation BarnBelmont neighborhood east from uptown. It’s an incubator for what’s called the “circular economy” — systems and processes to reuse recyclable materials. She said it’s a good model for cities like Charlotte.
Mecklenburg is an average place, but officials are looking for improvements
The county is close to the national average for recycling one-third of all waste. However, it is still below the EPA’s 50% national goal. Because municipal landfills are the country’s most important, the EPA set this goal. Third-largest human-generated methane source, a greenhouse gas which contributes to global warming.
Powell also wants to see recycling numbers rise.
Powell stated that “We have a very strong infrastructure, but we’re working to improve it.”
“And then, we’re working to improve education for residents in Mecklenburg County. There are many areas that we can improve upon and which have higher expectations.
The county produces videos, has a recycling website — WipeOutWaste.com — and a recycling telephone information line. But contamination is still a problem.
Smithberger stated to the county commission’s environmental committee last month that county research shows customers are still confused.
“They want a system they can understand. “That’s the biggest thing people gave us feedback on,” said he.
Some recyclables cannot be recycled here.
He said that the county is unable to recycle everything that is recyclable. Yes, it takes glass, cardboard, paper (including junk mail), metal cans, cartons and juice boxes, and plastic containers — with necks only.
However, many other recyclables are not on the county list. This includes shredded paper and plastic takeout containers.
It’s partly due to the limitations in the sorting equipment. Smithberger stated that the county will spend $10million later in the year on new equipment to allow it to take more types of recyclables.
It’s not just technology. According to Jenna Jambeck, an environmental engineer professor at the University of Georgia, the changing markets for different types of recyclables has caused turmoil in the recycling industry for years.
Jambeck explained that technically recyclable and feasible to recycle are two different things.
Big market changes
Recycling costs have risen, while the value of some recyclables has declined or disappeared completely. Some communities have stopped completely recycling glass. Mecklenburg County accepts it but has to pay to truck it to the nearest glass processor in Wilson, 3½ hours away. Some isn’t recycled at all. Instead, it is ground to sand and spread at the Foxhole landfill in the county.
Jambeck stated that a major market disruption occurred in 2018, when China stopped imports of recyclables. Most of the solid waste was going into landfills.
Jambeck stated that the U.S. was importing 50% of its plastic scrap to China for reuse. “And when the import ban was implemented, we didn’t have the same ability to do secondary sorting on the material and the market wasn’t the same.”
The sorting center in Mecklenburg County has been affected by the downturn. The county reduced the number of recyclables it accepted as markets became less competitive or too expensive. According to county figures, the MRF has seen a decline in recyclable deliveries since at most 2019. Tonnage was 2.4% lower in 2021 than it was in 2019, and it is expected to drop another 3.6% in 2019.
Smithberger claims that the number of people working from home is also falling as the pandemic subsides.
The larger debate about recycling
Even though county officials are looking for ways to improve recycling in their area, experts are still debating whether the current system is effective. Greg Monty, who runs a technology research center at North Carolina A&T State University, blames rising costs.
“I believe recycling is no longer a big money-maker. He added that he thinks that’s a part of the reason why interest is falling.
Monty noted that only a tiny percentage of plastic bottles end up being recycled. He said that recycling plastic bottles is not an option. Reusing plastics is a way to reduce the quality of the plastic. It’s becoming harder and more difficult to make the plastic you need.”
Amy Aussieker from Envision Charlotte stated that we need to rethink all aspects of the recycling system.
She stated that “Given the current recycling system, it’s really difficult to move that needle.” “I believe there will have to be a radical shift in how we recycle to really move this number. It’s not possible to fix it right now because we don’t have the mechanism.
She said that one mechanism could be wider adoption of the circularity concepts being studied at the Innovation Barn.
There are many demonstration projects that include crushing glass that can then be used in concrete and gardening, as well as recycling plastic for building materials and composting food waste. The composter produces fly larvae that can be used to feed a small fish farm. This provides water rich in nutrients for hydroponic farming operations. The hydroponics laboratory grows lettuce that is sold to local restaurants.
Aussieker concludes that ultimately, we have to be smarter, use less, and reuse more.
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