Curbside Recycling in Princeton

A brief letter to the editor in the Town Topic's Mailbox section last week asks the question: Why can't Princetonians recycle all plastics? I went to the Princeton recycling website, which has lots of useful information, including a link to the county website--the county being the one that administers curbside recycling in a lot of towns around here--and sure enough, it says that we're supposed to recycle only plastics #1 and #2.

That's odd, because the rollcarts used for recycling by businesses downtown, collected by Waste Management, say to recycle plastics #1-7, and if you check what's recyclable in other cities and towns elsewhere in the country and NJ, you'll find they're collecting most or all plastics.

So what gives? I researched this in 2012, and wrote an OpEd and some blog posts detailing the results. One post describes the curious controversy that developed when I published my research in a Princeton Packet OpEd. Another describes a visit to the plant where our mixed recyclables are separated out. Others can be found either by going to the pop-out "labels" section on the right of the screen, or typing "recycling" into the search box.

My research, and the reaction to it, taught me as much about people as it did about recycling. As with human-caused climate change, recycling is not inherently controversial or polarizing, but is made so when someone's ego or ideology gets caught up in what really should just be facts we can all look at and draw sensible conclusions from.

Pride in what Princeton does environmentally should not get in the way of acknowledging that there are many ways in which curbside recycling could be improved. Begin with the round, uncovered green and yellow bins. If they're stored outside, as many people do, rain makes the paper heavier, and water collects in the cans and jars inbetween pickups, providing breeding habitat for mosquitoes. Heavy winds on recycling day send paper and plastics flying out into the street, where they get washed into our waterways, and the circular bins sometimes roll out into traffic lanes, creating a hazard. If we cared about clean streets and clean waterways, might we want to do what most recycling programs do and switch to rollcarts, which are larger, covered, and don't roll around? Rollcarts also have wheels, which is an advantage for the less muscle-bound residents trying to drag their rain-soaked recyclables to the curb. All of this is in the county's hands, since it administers the program.

Like yardwaste collection, curbside recycling makes clear people's desire for simplicity. Many or most people put all types of plastic out for recycling, rather than scrutinize each plastic container for its identifying number. Similarly, the complex yardwaste collection schedule, with five zones and seasonal shifts in service, is widely ignored in favor of putting yardwaste out on the street whenever. Robocall reminders seem to be helping with the latter, but in general the best collection policy is the one that's the easiest for residents to follow.

My research showed that most of the plastics end up getting recycled, even the ones we're told not to put in. There was a rumor recently that the official policy might change to reflect that. Where there are rumors, there is hope.