Tangled Plastic Slows Recycling Efforts
In the world of recycling, tanglers are anything that can be, you guessed it, tangled in the machines used to sort recyclables. With worldwide recycling contamination levels on the rise, it’s important that these tanglers are disposed of properly and stay out of curbside recycling bins.
In the world of recycling, tanglers are anything that can be, you guessed it, tangled in the machines used to sort recyclables. With worldwide recycling contamination levels on the rise, it’s important that these tanglers are disposed of properly and stay out of curbside recycling bins.
What’s the Problem?
Once picked up at the curb, recyclables are sent to a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) where they are sent through series of machines, magnets, hand sorters and screens to sort items by type. Many of these screens are made of rotating rubber “stars” that help move material through the system. Tanglers often get caught on these screens, slowing them down and eventually halting the system entirely. Workers are then forced to climb on top of the screens to cut this material loose. This downtime limits the capacity at sorting facilities nationwide.
Recycling sorting facilities must stop operations to clean “tanglers” like plastic wrap and rope from the machines.
What’s the Solution?
The #1 tangler that sorting facilities encounter is plastic grocery bags. While they are recyclable elsewhere, plastic bags should never be placed in your curbside bin.
It can be tempting to place your recyclables inside of a bag before throwing them in your recycling container, but chances are that material inside will not get recycled. Instead, consider re-using bags or bring them back to your local grocery store. Many stores have a receptacle right inside the front door where they accept many types of film plastic that don’t belong in your bin at home.
Workers remove plastic film material from a conveyor belt of recycled paper and newspaper.
These items can damage material recovery facilities and slow down your recycling efforts. Do not place them in your curbside recycling cart.
Common Plastic Tanglers
Other Household Tanglers
Less common, but equally as detrimental to sorting facilities are other household tanglers like:
