Recycling

Valley Stream ‘recycles right’

By Peter Belfiore

This year Valley Stream embarked on a new effort to increase its recycling efficiency by switching to a dualstream recycling system.

Operating on a biweekly basis, sanitation workers now alternate between collecting plastics, glass and metal one week, and paper and cardboard the next. It was an effort, village officials said, to save the village money as well as protect the environment by cutting down on recyclables that are inadvertently sent to landfills.

The change was a response to major disruptions in the international market for recyclable materials after China stopped cheaply accepting the world’s, paper, glass metal and plastics.

With the increased price in recycling, and certain plastics and papers no longer cost-efficient to recycle, recycling firms are now more likely to dump remaining items they still do recycle into landfills if they are mixed with unrecyclable materials, and pass the increased costs on to the municipalities they contract with.

“Recycling is not just a Valley Stream problem; it’s a nationwide problem,” Sanitation Department Supervisor Brian Leavey explained to residents during a Q&A session for residents in December. “A lot of recyclables are getting thrown into immiscible solid waste, and it’s going into landfills, and that’s not fair for that to happen . . . the best way to rectify the problem is to do things through dual stream and making sure we are throwing the right items in the [recycling] bins.”

Peter Belfiore/Herald Above Photo: Village deputy treasurer and Waste Transfer Station Coordinator David Sabatino explained to residents how to identify items that are still currently recyclable at a Q&A in December. THE DO’S AND DON’TS OF RECYCLING IN VALLEY STREAM

Do: • Make sure recyclables are clean and dry. • Make sure that cardboard and paper items are tied up using • • • twine. Recycle plastic containers marked No. 1 and No. 2. Recycle tin and aluminum cans, trays, foil and bakeware. Recycle glass jars and bottles. Don’t: • Leave cardboard outside in rainy weather for more than a • • • day. Recycle plastic containers marked Nos. 3 through 7. Recycle Styrofoam, plastic wrapping or plastic bags. Recycle wire hangers, cables, cords, rope, curtain rods or • • • tools. Recycle pens, markers or plastic mats. Recycle appliances such as microwaves or toasters. Recycle waxed cardboard such as paper cups or cereal • boxes. Recycle coated paper or cardboard such as pizza • boxes. Recycle containers of toxic liquids such as herbicides and pesticides, even if empty.

Instead, use the Town of

Hempstead’s Stop Throwing

Out Pollutants, or STOP program.