Just no market. And what market that exists is for dual-stream. Critics of single-stream programs have said they produce too much "contamination," such as food stains and packing tape, that reduces the value of cardboard and other products. The Brookhaven program was roiled last month when Green Stream Recycling pulled out of a year contract to run the town's massive recycling processing facility in Brookhaven hamlet.
Waste Systems and Westbury-based Omni Recycling, is expected to go out of business. Green Stream, like recyclers across the country, struggled to find buyers after China earlier this year began curtailing purchases of U. The change has affected markets of all recyclables, but especially those collected in single-stream programs that cause more contamination, officials said.
Brookhaven has continued collecting recyclables this month but has sent the material to other processing plants. Town officials are weighing options for restarting the Brookhaven facility. Green Stream's decision to leave Brookhaven also affected municipalities such as Smithtown, Huntington and Southold that used the Brookhaven facility.
Those towns are in various stages of developing new recycling programs; Huntington has announced it will switch from single-stream to dual-stream recycling. Brookhaven officials said they expect some tumult as residents switch back to sorting recyclables. Town officials plan to run newspaper and television ads, and social media posts, to publicize the change. Brookhaven officials could not estimate how much the switch will cost the town.
They said the town will have to pay vendors to accept material collected by a dual-stream program, but it will cost less than disposing of single-stream material. Romaine said recyclables will be picked up in alternate weeks, with paper products and cardboard collected one week and plastics and other recyclable material collected the following week.
Recycling pickup in Brookhaven takes place on Wednesdays. After verifying their home address, residents can start to earn points by recycling and reporting it to the website. Recyclebank Northeast Vice President Beth Kean-Waddell said the program, created in , is similar to a frequent flyer program, except residents earn points by being more "green. It's a win for residents because they get to earn points and use them for discounts and coupons from hundreds of contributors.
Contributing businesses include , , , Blue Point Brewery and. Residents can use points to get discounts off a meal or earn a free admission. Recyclebank's goal is to increase incentives for people to recycle to ultimately create a world with no waste. Though a lofty goal, the Recyclebank program is already implemented in 28 states and the United Kingdom, reaching about 2.
Blue Point resident Christine Fedorys said she has been recycling for years and that she is really excited about the Recyclebank program. It not only gives incentive, but it teaches. The Recyclebank website offers helpful tips for residents to use when recycling certain products and also guides residents in identifying what is actually recyclable. Recyclebank also has an app for the iPhone or other smartphone, so residents can't forget to recycle or even go out of their way to report what they've recycled.
The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch? Register for a user account. Samantha Rupert , Neighbor. Find out what's happening in Patchogue with free, real-time updates from Patch.
Let's go!
0コメント