“Star Light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight.” This nursery rhyme from the 1800s resonates in today’s recycling world. It’s a phenomenon called “wish-cycling.” People hope that whatever they put in the curbside bin will be recycled regardless of its composition.
Imagine your recycling bin is a magical vortex, sorting and sending all recyclables to the correct place. Open the bin, place the items in, and elves and fairies sort the items. Maybe leprechauns open the trash bags and dump the contents at the materials recovery facility (MRF), then pick out the non-recyclables. What a wish it would be to have recycling sort itself.
In reality, trash bags are not opened and sorted at the MRF. The tipping floor, where haulers dump truckloads, is extremely dangerous, and with only about fifty-four employees at the entire Avon Waste Management facility, such sorting is not feasible. The recycling toters provided by the town are not miraculous. The onus of sorting recycling correctly is on the individual, not the bin.
RecycleSmartMA defines wish-cycling as placing non-recyclable items into a recycling bin in the hope or the assumption that they will be sorted later. Unfortunately, this does not happen. Putting non-recyclable items into a recycling bin contaminates recyclable materials, damages facility machinery, impedes sorting, and can cause an entire truckload of recycling to be diverted to a landfill or incinerator.
Examples of “wishcycling” found in Pembroke’s recycling include items such as bowling balls, hoses, Christmas lights, batteries, lawn chairs, scrap metal, bagged recyclables, clothing, floor mats, electric cords, flowerpots, bicycle rims, toys, shoes, and Styrofoam. Pembroke’s curbside recycling program does not accept any of these items. Donate, repurpose, drop off at the Wilson E. Whittaker Recycling Center (Pembroke's recycling center located at 158 Hobomock St.; free permit required), or discard items like these with the trash.
RecycleSmart MA provides clear rules and search tools for what belongs in the curbside recycling bin. Use their Recyclopedia search tool to look up specific items and find out how and where to recycle them, or whether to trash or donate them. Recycling is not difficult with the tools and advice available through the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. Instead of tossing a questionable item in the bin like tossing a coin in a fountain, check where it belongs if you are unsure.
If you are interested in having a recycling or waste question answered in a future Trash Talk article, please email Nicole Lydic at nicole.lydic@pembrokecitizenjournal.com
