Solid Waste & Recycling E-News April 2023

Did You Know?
Have You Recycled Right Today?
Your Recycling Does Get Recycled
Where Does My Recycling Go?
Come see us at Earth Evening!
Climate Action Plan Survey

Americans use 100 billion plastic bags a year. Help reduce plastic bag consumption

Have You Recycled Right Today?

In honor of Earth Day, Orange County Solid Waste is promoting proper recycling practices through the “Have You Recycled Right Today?” campaign. Become a more confident recycler by reviewing the following resources and tips:

Resources

Review the Recycle Right flyer with your household to freshen up on accepted items in Orange County. Hang it on your fridge, near your recycling cart, or somewhere that’s convenient to reference.
Download the Orange County NC Recycles App to search for specific materials and get collection reminders. If an item isn’t depicted on the Recycle Right flyer, look it up in the A-Z Guide before putting it in the recycling cart.
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @OCNCsolidwaste for more content!

Review the common Do’s and Don’ts of Orange County recycling:

While some items aren’t accepted in single-stream recycling carts, they can be recycled separately at the Waste & Recycling Centers:

**Your Recycling Does Get Recycled**

With increasing information regarding the effectiveness of the recycling industry, especially plastic recycling, residents and businesses have asked what happens to their recycling after their blue cart is picked up, or if it even gets recycled. Orange County residents and businesses can be assured that their material is recycled into new products. Recyclable material is not landfilled, incinerated, or shipped to unverified domestic or overseas markets.

Another common concern is whether plastics actually get recycled, specifically, the concern that only 9% of plastic is recycled. This statistic may not mean what you think. 100% of plastic is not created to be recycled. For example, Americans use half a billion drinking straws every day and 50 billion coffee cups every year. Neither of these materials are accepted at the Materials Recovery Facility Orange County uses, nor at many other recycling facilities across the U.S. (source: www.earthday.org).

Orange County encourages residents and businesses to recycle accepted materials to prevent landfilling of recyclables and support Orange County’s waste reduction goal.

Where Does My Recycling Go?

Orange County’s single-stream recycling and corrugated cardboard is taken to Waste Management’s Materials Recovery Facility in Morrisville, NC. Materials are sorted and sold to different manufacturers, many of which are in the Southeast, helping to offset the costs of processing recyclables. Below are some of Waste Management’s main customers for Orange County’s materials:

Plastic Mills

KW Plastics Recycling Division – Troy, AL
Envision Plastics – Reidsville, NC
Unifi – multiple locations in NC

Fiber Mills (Corrugated Cardboard and Paper)

Pratt Industries – Conyers, GA and other locations in the U.S.
Georgia Pacific OSB Plant – multiple locations in NC and the U.S.
National Gypsum – Charlotte, NC

Steel and Aluminum Mills

Nucor Steel –Cofield, NC and Darlington, SC
D.H. Griffin Co. – multiple locations in the Southeast
Wall Recycling – multiple locations in NC

Glass Mills

Strategic Materials, Wilson, NC

For a comprehensive directory of recycling companies in the Southeast, please explore NC DEQ’s Recycling Markets Directory https://recyclingmarkets.deq.nc.gov/. Please note, this is a list of all companies in the Southeast region; recyclables collected in Orange County are not sent to all of these locations.

Come See Us at Earth Evening!

Orange County will be attending this year’s Earth Evening, hosted by the Orange County Department of Environment, Agriculture, and Parks & Rec. The event is on April 28^th, 2023 from 6-8 PM at the River Park and Farmers Market Pavilion. Come talk to our education team about recycling and composting, and grab some cool swag!

Check out https://www.orangecountync.gov/1710/Visitors-Bureau for other Earth Day events happening in the County this month.

Climate Action Plan Survey

Orange County has set a goal of using 100% renewable energy by 2050 to address the climate crisis. To help Orange County reach its goal, they are developing a climate action plan and need your input!

Orange County Sustainability invites the community to share feedback through the on-line community survey. Your feedback will help inform and prioritize strategies for tackling climate change. For more information, please visit www.orangecountync.gov/ClimateAction.

Can't Get Enough Trash Talk?

Listen to OC Solid Waste Representatives the second Tuesday of each month from 8:15 am to 8:45 am on the ‘3-D News’ on local radio WHUP 104.7 FM, over the air and streaming online. Visit this link to listen online. If you missed the show, you can listen online since shows are archived for a month after airing.