A recent letter to the editor regarding the lack of recycling containers compelled me to write a response in support of Mr. Khanlian efforts.
But a little history first.
As a former regulator from the NJDEP, the state’s struggle to increase recycling in New Jersey is an ongoing effort. The Mandatory Source Separation and Recycling Act, first signed into law in 1987, requires all citizens of New Jersey to recycle. The act also requires townships like Moorestown to make arrangements to collect recyclables from residences. It does not, however, require the township to collect recyclables from commercial establishments.
Each commercial establishment must by law make its own arrangements for the collection of recyclables from their property. The township of Moorestown does not have the legal requirement to provide recycling containers on Main Street or on township fields.
So what is the alternative?
First of all, businesses that sell goods in recyclable containers must include a receptacle to collect empty recyclable containers. You see great examples of these at WAWA and CVS. When you are frequenting the many retail establishments in our community see how many have made the same effort to collect recyclables despite selling products in recyclable containers. You see poor examples of this at Moorestown Mall and other stores, often there’s no container for recyclables.
I challenge you to go one step further. Take a peek inside the recycling containers at WAWA, CVS or anywhere else you find a recycling container and what will you find?
Invariably you will find someone has placed trash in the container meant solely for recyclables. And unbelievably in spite of the wonderful efforts of WAWA and CVS to encourage and make it easy for people to recycle, you will also find someone has thrown a recyclable into the trash despite the adjacent recycling container.
And what is the end result? If a container for recyclables is contaminated with trash, the entire contents, recyclables included, are thrown in the trash. Even bottle caps should be removed and disposed before recycling the bottle. It’s just not cost effective for a business to separate trash from the recyclables.
And, believe it or not, not every container or item bearing a recycling symbol means that it is recyclable in Burlington County. Only specific items are recyclable. Just because an item bears a recycling symbol doesn’t mean that Burlington County has a market for that recyclable. Filling a recycling container with items that the county cannot recycle contaminates the entire container.
For guidance see Burlington County Recycling Office’s webpage at: www.co.burlington.nj.us/DocumentCenter/View/3474 for a listing of what can and cannot be recycled.
So what’s the answer to the Main Street and sports fields lacking recycling containers?
Certainly adding recyclable containers to existing trash receptacles would help but only if we the people take the time to consciously use them and to use them properly.
Wolf Skacel
