[0:01] Hello and welcome to the recycling [0:02] training. My name is Angelo and I will [0:04] be taking you through the class today. [0:06] There will be a short quiz offered at [0:08] the end of the class where you can test [0:09] your knowledge. If you're here because [0:11] your recycling carts were taken away for [0:13] contamination, you must take the quiz to [0:15] get your carts back. The quizzes are a [0:17] way of knowing that you took the class. [0:21] I want to start off with a brief [0:23] overview of all the services our [0:25] division of solid waste and recycling [0:26] provides. We service primarily 1 to four [0:29] unit residential buildings. Our services [0:32] include garbage, recycling, organics, [0:35] large item collection, and seasonal yard [0:37] waste pickup. We also offer a voucher [0:39] program where you can bring your excess [0:41] materials to our south transfer station. [0:43] If you have any questions about the [0:44] services we provide, please call our [0:46] customer service line at 612-6732917. [0:56] Now we can get into what we're all here [0:57] for, recycling. 97% of our customers [1:00] have a recycling cart. To help measure [1:02] the success of our recycling program, we [1:04] track something called the contamination [1:06] rate, which tells us the percentage of [1:08] our recycling stream that is not [1:10] recyclable. In 2023, we found an average [1:13] of just below 12% contamination, which [1:15] is up from our 9 12% in 2022, but still [1:19] well below the national average of over [1:21] 15% contamination. Our recycling is sent [1:25] to be sorted by Eureka Recycling. We [1:27] will talk a lot more about the sorting [1:29] process later. Eureka also handles the [1:31] marketing and sale of our recyclables. [1:34] Any profits that we share with them go [1:36] towards keeping the rate down for our [1:37] customers. Our education process [1:40] involves our crews inspecting the carts [1:42] prior to dumping in the truck. If they [1:44] find contamination, they will leave a [1:46] tag indicating what the problem material [1:48] was. If you get more than one of these [1:50] tags within a six-month period, a work [1:53] order is automatically generated for [1:55] your recycling carts to be removed. To [1:57] get your cart back, you can either pay a [1:59] $15 fee and get your cart back right [2:01] away, or you can wait 3 months and ask [2:04] for it back, or you can take the quiz [2:06] that's offered at the end of this class. [2:11] So, what makes something recyclable? [2:14] Well, it must be able to be collected, [2:16] so it must fit in your cart at home. And [2:18] it needs to be able to be sorted. This [2:19] is a major reason why many things you [2:21] think are recyclable are not. And we'll [2:24] go in depth on the sorting process soon. [2:26] And finally, it needs to be able to be [2:28] marketed, meaning it needs to be [2:29] economical for someone to buy it and [2:31] turn it into a new product. [2:35] Recycling is collected in your blue [2:37] carts at home and brought to a material [2:39] recovery facility or MURF. Our MURF is [2:43] called Eureka Recycling. They use a [2:45] combination of people and equipment to [2:47] sort the material into about 15 [2:49] different categories. Those materials [2:51] then get sold and shipped to end markets [2:53] where they're made into new products. [2:55] We'll talk more about what those [2:56] products are later in the class. [3:03] We're now going to go over how the [3:05] facility sorts your recycling into those [3:07] different categories because we believe [3:09] understanding how this process works is [3:11] the easiest way to remember whether [3:12] something can be recycled. [3:15] When the material arrives at the [3:16] facility, it is dumped onto a large [3:18] cement floor called a tip floor. It is [3:21] then scooped onto a conveyor that evenly [3:23] distributes the material so it can be [3:25] sorted. [3:30] Its first stop on the conveyor is the [3:32] presort house. Here there are people [3:34] manually removing items that should not [3:36] be there. This is called a negative [3:38] sort, meaning they are subtracting or [3:40] taking things out. They focus mainly on [3:43] items that will damage the equipment. [3:45] Plastic bags are the most common. It's [3:47] important to note that workers in the [3:48] presort house are instructed to remove [3:50] anything that is bagged. They will not [3:52] open the bags. This is for worker safety [3:55] as they have no way of knowing if there [3:56] is something hazardous inside of the [3:58] bag. So, it is removed and the entire [4:00] thing goes in the trash. This is why [4:02] it's best not to bag your recyclables [4:04] and simply dump them loose into your [4:06] cart at home. Other items removed in the [4:09] presort house include things like scrap [4:11] metal, pots and pans, clothes hangers, [4:14] electronics and batteries, propane [4:16] tanks, and anything that is too big to [4:18] go through the sorting equipment. [4:20] Unfortunately, not all contamination is [4:22] caught in the presort house, and plastic [4:24] bags and films are the top items that [4:26] sneak through. [4:30] After the presort house, the material [4:32] goes over star screens. These separate [4:35] out the two-dimensional from the [4:36] threedimensional objects, so your paper [4:38] and cardboard from your containers. The [4:41] paper will bounce over the top of the [4:43] screen while the containers fall through [4:45] the gaps. The photo on the left here is [4:48] what it looks like when they are clean, [4:50] while the photo on the right is what [4:51] they look like when they're covered in [4:53] plastic bags and film. When plastic bags [4:56] and film get on the star screens, [4:58] there's no longer space for the [5:00] containers to fall through. You can see [5:03] there are two workers cutting out the [5:05] bags. Every sorting facility in the [5:07] country has to shut down at least twice [5:08] a day to do this. Not only is it costly [5:10] to shut down, but it's also dangerous [5:12] for the employees who have to crawl into [5:14] the machine and cut out the bags. [5:19] The material then continues along the [5:21] conveyor where metals are sorted using [5:23] magnets and plastics are sorted by [5:26] computers and air. Magnetic steel cans [5:29] get pulled off the conveyor by a strong [5:31] industrial magnet, while your [5:33] non-magnetic aluminum is sorted by [5:35] something called an eddiurren. [5:37] It works kind of like a reverse magnet [5:39] using electromagnetic waves to push the [5:41] aluminum over a barrier separating it [5:44] from the rest of the materials. This is [5:46] pictured on the left. Plastics are [5:48] sorted using optical sorters pictured on [5:50] the right where the machine sends a beam [5:52] of light down toward the material and [5:54] then reads what bounces back telling it [5:56] what type of material it is and where [5:58] it's located on the conveyor. If it is [6:00] the material that optical sorder is [6:02] looking for, say for example, number one [6:05] plastic, it will then send a poof of air [6:07] that will send that material flying over [6:09] a barrier, separating it from the rest, [6:11] similar to the editor. People often ask [6:14] us, how clean does your recycling have [6:16] to be? And the answer is, we clean our [6:19] recyclables for the cleanliness of your [6:21] bins at home and for the people hand [6:23] sorting. However, if your recycling is [6:25] so dirty that it is too heavy for those [6:27] poofs of air to push the material over [6:29] the barrier, then it won't get sorted [6:31] properly. So, a quick rinse is fine to [6:33] keep the smells at bay, but as long as [6:35] it feels like an empty container, it [6:37] will be sorted correctly and recycled. [6:42] So, now that you have a good [6:43] understanding of how the material is [6:45] sorted, let's go through each type of [6:47] material. [6:49] The general rule for paper is that if [6:51] it's designed to come in contact with [6:52] food, it cannot be recycled. Remember, [6:56] for paper to be sorted correctly by the [6:58] star screens, it must be flat. So, make [7:00] sure you're flattening your boxes. [7:02] Non-recyclable paper includes wrapping [7:05] paper, tissue paper, napkins, towels, [7:08] and anything that goes in the freezer or [7:10] is meant to come in direct contact with [7:12] food. [7:16] Although cartons are technically paper [7:18] products, we want them to be sorted like [7:20] plastic containers. This is because they [7:22] require special processing due to their [7:24] waxy coating. So, they are bailed [7:26] separately from your typical cardboard [7:28] and office paper as they are shipped to [7:30] different end markets. This means that [7:33] you don't want to flatten them. Keep [7:35] your cartons in their original [7:36] three-dimensional shape so that they can [7:38] be sorted correctly. The same goes for [7:40] cardboard cans. Please keep them [7:42] three-dimensional. [7:46] Accepted metals are steel and aluminum. [7:48] The sorting facility can only handle [7:50] your smaller food and beverage [7:52] containers. Please do not put any scrap [7:54] metal in your recycling cart at home as [7:56] it is dangerous for both the humans and [7:57] the equipment at the sorting facility. [8:00] Aluminum foil is accepted if it's clean [8:02] and smashed into a ball that is at least [8:04] 3 in round or the size of your fist. [8:10] Plastics that can be recycled are [8:12] numbers ones, twos, or fives. These are [8:15] usually your beverage, kitchen, [8:16] bathroom, and laundry containers. You [8:18] can check on the bottom of the container [8:20] for the little chasing arrow sign with [8:22] the numbers in the middle. Please make [8:24] sure to leave out any bags, films, [8:26] styrofoam, and anything that contain [8:28] hazardous waste, usually indicated by a [8:31] caution, hazardous, or flammable label [8:33] on the container. A good rule to [8:36] remember is that if anything was not [8:37] meant to go down your drain at home, it [8:40] should not be recycled. [8:45] Remember, just because a plastic [8:47] container has a chasing arrows recycling [8:49] symbol on it does not mean it's [8:51] recyclable. Only symbols with the [8:53] numbers 1, 2, or 5 indicate that [8:55] something is recyclable. An easy way to [8:58] remember these numbers is to make the I [8:59] love you sign in American Sign Language. [9:01] And counting from your thumb, it's your [9:03] first, second, and fifth fingers. [9:06] Black plastics are the one exception [9:07] here. Remember that plastics are sorted [9:10] using optical beams. Well, those beams [9:12] cannot see black plastic because black [9:14] absorbs all light and no nothing bounces [9:17] back to the machine to read. So, it [9:18] blends in with a conveyor belt and the [9:20] machine never sees it. So, please leave [9:22] all black plastics out of the recycling. [9:27] The main thing to remember for glass is [9:29] that it must be a food or beverage [9:31] container. Meaning no empty candles, [9:33] broken drinking glasses, Pyrex, [9:36] ceramics, etc. This is because these [9:38] products have different melting points [9:40] than your food grade glass and will [9:42] cause imperfections when they're made [9:43] back into new products. Mason jars are [9:45] the one exception here as they are [9:47] considered food grade glass. [9:52] Glass is sorted by actually being [9:54] intentionally broken into very small [9:56] pieces at the sorting facility. And so [9:59] anything less than 3 in in size will [10:02] fall through the sorting equipment and [10:03] end up with the crushed glass. Glass is [10:06] sent to a secondary sorting facility in [10:08] St. Paul where the glass is sorted by [10:10] color and size and anything that is not [10:12] glass goes in the trash. The most common [10:15] small items that end up in the glass [10:17] include batteries, caps, and shredded [10:19] paper. [10:23] So, anything you put in your cart that's [10:25] less than 3 in is going to end up in the [10:27] crushed glass and eventually in the [10:29] trash. In order to keep our glass clean, [10:31] we ask that you keep your caps on your [10:33] bottles. Even though plastic bottles are [10:36] a different type of plastic than their [10:37] caps, bottles are usually number ones, [10:39] while caps are usually number fives. [10:41] They can still be recycled together. [10:43] This is because the first step in the [10:44] recycling process is to grind it up and [10:46] wash it, during which the two types of [10:49] plastic naturally separate as the caps [10:51] float and the bottles sink, allowing the [10:53] recycler to easily separate the two [10:55] different types of plastic as shown in [10:57] the video. For metal caps, you can put [11:00] them inside of an empty steel can and [11:02] pinch the lid shut. This ensures that [11:04] the cap will make it to the magnet and [11:05] get recycled along with the can. [11:10] Once everything is sorted into its [11:12] category, it is bailed up so it can be [11:14] easily transported to its end market [11:16] where it's turned into new material. [11:21] These bales usually don't have to travel [11:23] far. 95% of our recycling stays in the [11:26] Midwest and 100% of it stays within [11:28] North America. You might hear national [11:30] news stories about how stuff isn't [11:32] actually being recycled, but what's [11:34] happening on the coast doesn't always [11:35] apply to us because waste is so local. [11:38] The NPCA estimates that recycling [11:40] supports over 77,000 jobs in the state [11:43] of Minnesota alone. [11:48] So, what does your recycling actually [11:50] get made into? Well, glass and aluminum [11:52] can be recycled an infinite amount of [11:54] times. Therefore, glass can be recycled [11:56] back into glass products. And same thing [11:58] with aluminum cans. Fun fact, aluminum [12:01] cans are recycled and back on the shelf [12:03] within 60 days of you putting them in [12:05] your cart. and it only takes 5% of the [12:07] amount of energy to make a recycled can [12:09] that it does to make a new one. Paper [12:11] can be recycled about seven times. This [12:13] is because the fiber lengths get shorter [12:15] and shorter each time they are recycled. [12:18] End of life paper recycling creates [12:20] things like egg cartons where they need [12:21] to be press molded into their shape. [12:24] While technology is improving to be able [12:26] to recycle a plastic bottle back into a [12:28] plastic bottle, most plastics cannot be [12:30] recycled into equal products and are [12:32] often downcycled or recycled into [12:34] something else. For example, plastic [12:36] bottles could turn into synthetic fibers [12:38] to make clothing and carpeting. [12:42] Be on the lookout for problematic [12:44] packaging. There are currently no laws [12:46] when it comes to what packaging [12:47] producers can put on their products. So [12:49] don't believe everything you see written [12:50] on the packaging when it comes to [12:52] recycling. And remember, when in doubt, [12:54] throw it out. [12:58] The easiest way to recycle correctly is [13:00] to keep it simple. Stick to the things [13:02] that are on your recycling guide and [13:04] remember these key items. Food, [13:06] beverage, laundry, and bathroom [13:08] containers. Plastics 1, 2, and 5. No [13:11] black plastics. No paper that is [13:13] designed for food contact. Keep all of [13:16] your containers 3D and flatten your [13:18] paper products so that they can be [13:19] sorted correctly. Never put plastic bags [13:22] in recycling and nothing smaller than 3 [13:24] in or bigger than a 3 gallon pale. [13:27] Simple, right? If you're ever in doubt, [13:29] just throw it out. Unless you want to be [13:31] a super recycler, then you can find out. [13:34] The internet is your friend when it [13:36] comes to finding answers on recycling. [13:38] We have a disposal guide that you can [13:39] search for items on and you can always [13:42] email or call us with your questions [13:47] or you can join our Facebook group. We [13:49] have over 2,000 members and people post [13:51] their recycling and waste related [13:53] questions daily to be answered by us. [13:59] That concludes our class. If you're here [14:01] to get your recycling cart back, be sure [14:03] to take the quiz. That is how we know [14:05] you took the class. You must get a score [14:07] of at least 14 out of 20 on the quiz. [14:09] You can take it as many times as you [14:10] need. Once completed, you will receive [14:12] an email within three business days [14:14] indicating if you passed and when you [14:17] can expect your cart to be returned. If [14:19] you are not here to get your cart back [14:21] and would like to take the quiz for fun, [14:22] that's totally fine, too. You can scan [14:25] the QR code on the screen now or click [14:27] the link in the description of the video [14:28] to access the quiz. [14:32] Thank you very much for attending our [14:34] recycling training and please don't [14:35] hesitate to reach out with any [14:37] questions. Thanks again. Bye.