neighborhood news
Recycling
From Blue Bins to Uncertainty Part One of a Four-Part Spotlight DC Investigation by Mark R. Smith
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elinda, a resident of Northwest, considers herself a conscientious environmental citizen. Like many of her neighbors, she is troubled by climate change and the manner in which mankind has damaged the Earth. She wants to do her part to right that wrong by conscientiously recycling. Separating and placing her bottles, cans, paper and cardboard items into one of those ubiquitous blue bins that dot the city’s landscape seems like an easy way to help save the planet. However, the waste that Melinda and thousands of fellow District residents place in their bins every week with the best intentions might not be getting recycled. Funded by Spotlight DC, this four-part investigation of recycling will demonstrate how the District has failed to meet its own stated recycling objectives by sending items sorted by residents for recycling to landfills or incinerators. While much of what the city says is slated to be recycled has not ended up sorted and sold on what today is a healthy open market, guidance is offered on the website of the Department of Public Works (DPW).
Recycling Guidelines: The Reality The top link that’s highlighted in blue on that page is called The Mayor’s List of Recyclables and Compostables, which is better known as simply “The Mayor’s List.” It is available at https://dpw. dc.gov/recyclingcompostlist. Technically, all private residences and business are required to recycle as the list dictates. It contains a detailed list of what items are acceptable and which are not. The basic rundown is as follows: • Paper and cardboard, with a wide range of products eligible: They include corrugated (but unwaxed) cardboard; publications including newspapers, magazines and soft-cover books; paper bags, various office stationary and envelopes; and shredded paper. • Rigid plastic containers: beverage bottles, food containers, tubs and lids and produce containers. • Aluminum and steel packaging: aerosol cans, aluminum foil and pie pans and food and beverage containers.
Residents line up to deposit recyclables and/or trash on a recent Saturday afternoon at the Fort Totten Solid Waste Transfer Station. Photo: Mark R. Smith
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Glass bottles and jars Glass is accepted in blue bins, but goes to what’s called alternative daily cover at landfills. It isn’t recycled, since it is low-quality when collected in a singlestream system and because there are no glass recyclers in the mid-Atlantic. There are two ways in which the Mayor’s List informs the citizenry and businesses what’s desired: material type and packaging format. “It’s the simplest way to explain to the average person what’s expected to be recycled,” said Charlotte Dreizen, a former DPW employee who now works as sustainability manager for a trade association in the city. The Mayor’s List is to be reviewed for possible updating at least every two years given evolv-
ing market conditions, with the most recent changes made in February 2021. “If anything placed with recycled items is deviant from what’s on the list,” Dreizen said, “the household or business is technically not in compliance.” Compliance is big part of this issue and while the DPW has not collected as many recyclable items as intended in the blue bins, the Bowser administration is still attempting to go big to hit a diversion goal that more than a few insiders think it won’t be able to reach.
ZeroWasteDC: The Dream With a June Democratic Primary looming, Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration is talking up its eventual
“There is no such thing as ‘away.’ So, when we throw anything away, it must go somewhere. – Annie Leonard, executive director, Greenpeace USA 10
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