News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Just toss it all together...
Gone are the days when Sisters residents painstakingly separated their recyclables -- newspaper, clear glass, colored glass, aluminum, tin...
Now we just chuck most everything in a bin together, only keeping cardboard and paper separate.
This process, called "comingling" in the trade, has given rise to some concerns among local recyclers. Does all that junk really get separated out and recycled, or does it just get dumped back into a landfill?
It really does get separated, according to Deschutes County Director of Public Waste Timm Schimke.
"At this point we're taking all that stuff and putting it on a truck and sending it to a company called Far West Fibers," Schimke said.
The company has several plants in the Portland metropolitan area, where recycling is processed.
According to Schimke, the separation is done through an elaborate system of magnets, shakers and forced air.
"There's a fair amount of hand labor as well," Schimke noted.
Workers stand along conveyor belts and pick out items for separation.
Even with all that equipment and work, it is cheaper and more efficient to seperate recycling after delivery instead of at the source, Schimke said.
Curbside and depot separation is never complete -- some colored glass always "taints" the clear glass bin -- requiring separation later in any case. Keeping different materials apart was always a problem for collectors.
"Those guys have gained a whole lot of efficiency by dumping it all in one truck," Schimke said.
Countywide, the recycling program makes a little money, as Far West Fibers pays for the materials recycled.
The Sisters recycling program costs more to run than it brings in because local depot recycling is less efficient than curbside pickup.
However, curbside pickup is difficult in low-density, rural and semi-rural areas.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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