Megan: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.
We’ve heard some rumors that here in Providence, most of our recycling goes straight to the landfill! We were wondering if that’s true, and if so, why?
We have Alina Kulman and Molly Magid from our Possibly team to answer this question. Welcome Alina and Molly
Alina: Hi Megan!
Molly: Hi!
Megan: So what Molly, what did you find out?
Molly: The short answer is, yes. About 60% of Providence’s recycling goes in the dump.
Megan: But why?
Alina: If we put things in the blue bin that don’t belong there- like plastic bags or other trash- they contaminate the entire truck load of recyclables.
Molly: Krystal Noiseuax from Rhode Island’s recycling center, says that contamination can get pretty bad.
Krystal: There are times when the load comes in and it’s so heavily contaminated you can’t even identify it as regular mixted, recycling just totally ruined.
Molly: Providence sees this happen a lot. Last year, the city had to throw away more than two thousand five hundred truck loads of recycling.
Megan: Alina, Does this happen to recycling from other cities and towns in Rhode Island? Or just a problem in Providence?
Alina: we were curious about that too, so we asked Krystal for the data on rejected recycling loads, sorted by town.
Krystal: Providence has the highest contamination rate and gets the most loads rejected. There’s probably a half a dozen other cities and towns that have them with some regularity. And then we have plenty of cities and towns where it’s never happened to them.
Alina: There are actually 12 towns that had a 0% contamination rate last year, meaning none of their recycling loads were rejected.
Molly: One in particular caught our interest: Central Falls.
Megan: Didn’t Central Falls go bankrupt about a decade ago?
Alina: Yes, but that might actually explain why it’s so good at recycling.
Molly: when a recycling load is rejected by the recycling center, the town is fined $250. That’s expensive for any city, but devastating for one with financial troubles.
Alina: So, in 2014, Central Falls created an inspection program where inspectors follow the route of recycling pickup. If a bin is too contaminated, the homeowner has to pay a fine.
Megan: And that helped them clean up the city’s recycling?
Molly: Yes. Providence now has a recycling inspection program too. And Pawtucket might have a similar program in the near future.
Megan: Thanks Molly and Alina!
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