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Renewable Richmond

Are we a throwaway civilization? Do we see throwaway products as a way of creating jobs and sustaining economic growth? Do we think the more goods we produce and discard, the more jobs there will be? 

I certainly hope not. Solid waste disposal (i.e. garbage) is a very unsustainable way to use land and raw materials. Having a throwaway mindset means we may run out of landfills and places to put our polluting trash very soon.

In "Mobilizing to Save Civilization," Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, states that the challenge is to replace the throwaway economy with a reduce-reuse-recycle economy. The idea should be less "what do we do with garbage" and more "how do we avoid producing it."

I'm confident that the majority of Richmonders know about recycling or have contributed their trash materials to be recycled in the past. This week we will discuss the in-depth processes that is becoming more important as a simple yet essential way to lessen our environmental pull on the Earth's materials.

The Richmond metropolitan area consists of approximately 13 divisions consisting of Richmond, Ashland, Petersburg, Colonial Heights and their surrounding counties. These areas have grown in population pretty consistently throughout the years. At the same time these areas are producing more municipal and commercial waste.

It is comforting to know that recycling rates have increased along with population demographics. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has calculated the Richmond area's annual recycling rates to have increased from 44.6 percent to 46.3 percent from 2004-2006. It's wonderful to know that almost half of the products we purchase and use are being recycled! However, I think we can do better.

The Central Virginia Waste Management Authority (CVWMA) is a public service authority that implements solid waste management and recycling programs for the Richmond metro area. Formed in 1990, CVWMA has recycled approximately 510,470 tons of material from both curbside and pick-up facilities in Richmond.

I was happy to be a recent guest of CVWMA where I toured the local recycling facility in Chester. The "materials recovery facility" is owned and operated by TFC Recycling .

The other guests on our tour were with the Henrico County Environmental Compliance Task Force. They were there to observe the recycling process and possibly urge Henrico County to recycle at their government complex.

Andy Gupton, plant manager at TFC Recycling, oversees 75 employees operating the transport and operations of recycled materials. Andy noted that over 1,200 tons of material is processed every week.

As we walked to the entrance of their facility I was amazed by the mountain of what looked like trash. However, this material was recyclable and did not even have an odor. The mound was probably thirty feet tall and stretched up to fifty feet. From this point the sorting process begins.

After the incoming material gets turned over a few times it is put on a conveyor belt and escalated upwards to another belt. Here, workers sit all day and sort the material; throwing stuff in many directions according to the region of the warehouse where the materials are separated. I watched as these workers kept a keen eye, but it's inevitable that they end up missing some non-recyclables down the beltline.

Mr. Gupton states that around 5 percent of the material that comes into their facility cannot be recycled; this material either gets taken to a landfill or can be recycled by other facilities in the Mid-Atlantic Region. He stated that the allowable contamination (i.e. amounts of non-recyclable material that is included with the recycled) rate for the paper they collect is 6 percent and around 3 percent for aluminum.

An example of contamination would be including plastic bottle caps (non-recyclable) along with the plastic bottle (#1 and #2 are recyclable). The bottle cap issue is what I most hear about and is a common mistake among consumers. Most of the non-recyclable material is caught by their belt workers.

Within the recycling facility, the material is distributed in different directions by ingenious conveyor belts and magnets that separate plastic/aluminum, steel, paper and cardboard into different regions of the warehouse.

The finished products are large squared transport and storage containers that they place behind the facility. Some of them are very heavy; the aluminum container comes out weighing around 1,100 pounds. These containers are then shipped either domestically or overseas.

TFC's recycled newspaper goes to a mill in Alabama. Their aluminum goes to Kentucky and their cardboard to China. Mr. Gupton says that there is a 50/50 distribution between overseas and domestic buyers.

During our tour there were some interesting points that Mr. Gupton made with respect to what is and is not recycled at their facility. I knew beforehand that plastic bottle caps were not accepted. However, I learned something new in that shredded paper, wax-coated milk/juice cartons and shiny Christmas wrapping paper is not accepted at their facility.

Christmas is just around the corner. It would be great to show by example and reuse old wrapping paper and newspapers, or use gift bags that can be reused.

All the recycling information you need is on CVWMA's website, including how you can recycle materials such as propane tanks, appliances, electronics and yard waste. You can also sign up to get your own green bin.

Mr. Gupton stated that operations have slowed recently with the current economic situation. For this reason, TFC has had to cut back their hours of operation. However, rest assured that as long as we do our part and recycle, the materials recovery industry will always be a well employed and busy sector of the country's green economy.