So, when I got home to Delaware County, I decided to investigate and this is what I found. There are several participants in the recycling process: haulers (pickup), processors and purchasers. Waste Management (hauler) on Oak Ave. (near Giant) are single stream like the other cafe members mentioned, yet when speaking to their secretary, she didn’t know what happens to #’s 5, 6, & 7 when they leave their facility. They are not the haulers for my recycling, so I did not call their processor to find out about 5, 6, & 7.

I called my boro and got the name of our hauler. Then called Suburban Waste and learned that off-the-record, we are “single stream.” NOTE: Single Stream doesn’t necessarily mean that all plastics are being used responsibly on the back end of the recycling process. Suburban gave me the name of the processor for my boro (Sharon Hill) which is Blue Mountain, located near Grays Ferry in Philly. I have called twice and left messages about learning what happens to 5, 6, and 7 once it arrives at their facility. Haven’t heard back. The bottom line is that you need to ask the right questions when calling your hauler nad/or processor and be persistent!

What I did learn from Suburban is that 95% of our recycling is sent overseas to China who buys it cheap (they can because their dollar is low and I speculate b/c of our borrowing relationship with them). There are predominantly five companies there who buy it to recycle into products. I guess what is most disturbing in all of this is that our municipalities pay to have our recycling picked up (which is an expensive, must-have service we pay for in our local taxes), only to have it bought by companies who then make money off of us when we buy “Made in China” products. Consumers who look at where things are made know that 90-95% of products are made in China. So we’re paying twice, yet the money is being split between our country and another.

Considering all the money we owe China, I’m not sure this is a wise business plan which inevitably effects more than just recycling. What I heard at yesterday’s Green Jobs for Women Workshop is that recycling is part of the “green job” movement which when it expands will create jobs that are local, not outsourced. If interested, write or call a state rep. or senator about this and encourage him/her to develop recycling processing facilities here, so we can process our own, create jobs here and keep profits in our country.

Plastics #5

Yippee!! Whole Foods on South Street in Philly is now carrying a Preserve 5 bin (Preserve Products company partners with Stonyfield Yogurt to turn #5′s into actual cool products). So now you can wash, save and carry your #5′s to Whole Foods the next time you pop in. Say bye-bye to landfill and hello to a cool mixing bowl or shaver courtesy of Preserve Products.

I Googled “Preserve 5″ and Stonyfield and found this:
www.greencupboards.com/personal-care/oral-care?mode=list&manufacturer=302

Check out www.preserveproducts.com for products in three categories.

Posted by: “greengal09″ on Delco Freecycle Cafe

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