Princeton's Recycling Future

While traveling, I had a chance to compare some other recycling programs to ours. In Ann Arbor, MI, where I spent a couple decades, they use rollout bins for everything--one for trash, one for mixed recyclables, and one for yardwaste.

Ann Arbor was one of the early adopters of curbside recycling in the U.S., which I know because some friends started the pilot program in 1978, and got me out there heaving baled newspapers up onto a flatbed truck converted to the purpose.

My educated guess is that Princeton will sooner or later be using rollout bins like these town-wide, rather than the hodge podge assortment of trash containers and the uncovered yellow and green recycling buckets. I'm also guessing that Mercer County, which runs Princeton's recycling program, will eventually add plastics 3-7 to its list of accepted recyclables, along with aerosol cans and aluminum trays and foil. These items are recycled if you put them in the bin, but you aren't supposed to put them in because they aren't on the official list. My visit to Ann Arbor and Cleveland Heights reinforced the sense that these items are now routinely recycled by municipalities across the country, though styrofoam is often excluded due to its bulk.

It was interesting to see Ann Arbor's list of recyclables including large plastic items, like those patio chairs and laundry baskets that tend to break after awhile.

During our visit back in June to the sorting facility that Princeton's recyclables go to, I noticed these sorts of large plastics getting baled up and apparently marketed. Hopefully, Mercer County's list of accepted recyclables will eventually catch up with reality.