Thanks to Mayor Andrea Wood and Town Manager Ron Robinson, recycling has returned to Patagonia and the surrounding area.
While the location behind the Patagonia post office is the same, little else about this new recycling program resembles the County-operated program that preceded it. Most notably, patrons will actually be recycling rather than wishcycling. That will be true because the facility is fenced and town personnel and trained volunteers monitor what people bring to recycle, offering little opportunity for contamination to creep into the recycling stream.
The program makes it extremely easy for people to recycle. All recyclable items except cardboard can be mixed so there is no need for households to set up multiple bins for paper, glass, metal and plastics. And town personnel and volunteers will even unload the recyclables from patrons’ vehicles and put them in the recycling trailers. Collections will take place every Thursday morning from 8:30am–11:30am behind the Patagonia post office.
The town has contracted with Republic Services to process the recyclables at the company’s materials recovery facility (MRF) in Tucson. This is one of the most up-to-date MRFs in the country. Not only can it process plastics 1-7, but it has advanced equipment for efficiently sorting mixed materials into their respective categories, thereby eliminating the need for consumers to sort their recyclables and making the processed materials more attractive to companies that turn them into new products.
The Patagonia Recycling Task Force is assisting the town in implementing the new program by coordinating the volunteer corps that will assist in the collection of the recyclables. The task force will also play a key role in creating and disseminating messages that will help patrons prepare their recyclables in keeping with guidelines tailored to the town’s program.
Recyclables need to be clean, dry, and empty; however, they don’t need to be spotless. They need to be clean enough to avoid contaminating other materials in the recycling stream. If a load of recyclables arrives at the processing center containing 20% or more contaminants, the entire load will go to the landfill. Cans and jars should have all food removed and rinsed clean.
Lids and caps can be left on containers even when they are of different elements, e.g., metal caps on glass bottles.
Plastic bags and wraps must be kept out of the recycling stream because they get caught in the machinery at the MRF and cause expensive shutdowns of the operations. Plastic bags can be recycled at grocery stores.
In general, items smaller than a tennis ball are not recyclable. However, there are exceptions. For example, small metal pet food cans and plastic pill bottles are acceptable.
Flyers giving details on when, where and how to recycle properly are available at various locations throughout the area. More information is available by contacting Bob Brandt at Brantownb@gmail.com.