Where our bottles, cans and paper go

CHESAPEAKE

Bottles, cans, paper.

If you remember nothing else from this story, commit those three words to memory. Mike Benedetto and the folks at TFC Recycling will appreciate it.

"Reduce, reuse, recycle," said Benedetto, owner of TFC, a Chesapeake-based company that processes 15,000 tons of recyclables a month from households throughout Virginia and North Carolina. "When in doubt, throw it out."

But don't throw out bottles, cans and paper. Those belong in those 95-gallon blue rolling bins wheeled out to the curb every other week.

Not everyone is on the same page. That's evident after a day touring TFC's 42,000-square foot warehouse that sits on 15 acres of land off Campostella Road.

After recycling trucks finish their routes, they spill their contents here. Picture heaps and heaps of trash - eh, recyclables - piled 12 feet high into a multi-colored mess. Forklifts plough the piles to keep them high instead of wide, though stray items, particularly plastic bags, often escape, especially on a windy day.

Red Coke cans, yellow Capri Sun juice boxes, green Gain detergent bottles, Big Gulp cups and a Valentine's Day issue of "Women's Day" comprise the rainbow of recyclables Benedetto estimates weighs about 500 tons.

"We process this in a 10-hour shift," he said.

Then there's all that stuff they don't process. Those spacious containers the city recently upgraded to from the smaller tubs often prove to be an extra trash can for some residents.

This stuff really is trash and includes:

n A good-looking guitar in an unzipped black case. A sticker with a goofy-faced Bill Clinton is affixed by the strings.

n A ratty garden hose

n A printer, cartridges and all

n A shag rug on top of a mat that reads "Welcome"

n A blow dryer

n A pink suitcase

n Wire

n A teddy bear, no eyes

n A grill cover and lawn chair

n A shop vacuum, drill, gas can and bird cage

Delores Bivens has worked at TFC for 13 years and has seen people try to pass off such "recyclables" as clothes, shoes, a microwave, a sink and a television.

"Someone put in a little kitten once," she said. "We've had a deer head and body."

Those are the obvious mistakes, and here's where it gets tricky. Benedetto pulls out a 5-gallon discarded kitty litter container. The tub is plastic. Recyclable, right?

Yes and no. Recyclable indeed, but not here. TFC's single-stream sorting method cannot handle certain materials, and that includes certain plastics (only plastics labeled No. 1 and No. 2), including grocery bags, along with that bag you removed your newspaper from this morning.

Some people think they're doing a good deed by bagging their recyclables, just as they do their trash before tossing it in the bin.

"Not a good idea and that's the challenge," Benedetto said. "The plastic bag isn't readily recyclable; it hurts us."

Watch the initial sorting process and you'll see eight gloved workers in hard hats and goggles eliminating the undesirables (largely plastic bags) that whiz past on a conveyer belt.

It's loud work - ear protectors are a must - and fast paced, reminiscent of the "I Love Lucy" episode when Lucy and Ethel are overwhelmed in the assembly line at the chocolate factory.

"I've got quick hands," said Darlene Sharp, who is just finishing her first month on the job. "You get used to the dust."

Food waste, like plastic bags, can also slow things down.

"The peanut butter jar is recyclable, but you need to get the peanut butter out," Benedetto said.

As for those pizza boxes, break them down as you would any cardboard box, and if you can see oil or grease residue, toss that part of the box in the trash.

Rinse your soda bottles and cans. That drop of extra soda isn't going to kill anything, but if everyone thought that way...

"No electronics, no yard waste, no flowerpots," Benedetto said. "Bottles, cans and paper."

Plain paper is the most valuable, but "Anything that tears," works, said Benedetto.

As for bottles, remove those twist caps. They're not recyclable. Again, one cap sneaking its way through isn't going to derail the whole process, Benedetto said, but if everyone thought that way...

It's a no-brainer recycling is good for the environment - if everyone recycled one-tenth of their newspapers, it would save 25,000,000 trees per year -but it's also good for the pocketbook. The fee charged by SPSA to dump waste into a landfill or incinerator is $170 a ton, one of the highest in the nation.

"The program is a win-win," Benedetto said. "The biggest misperception is people look at the cost of recycling and don't look at the alternative."

TFC Recycling picks up recyclables in Chesapeake and Virginia Beach and has a contract pending in Suffolk and a bid into Norfolk. Portsmouth does not offer curbside recycling.

"I'm not sure we can ever get to the point where we have zero percent waste," Benedetto said. "But 75 percent of what's in the trash bin is recyclable."

Vicki L. Friedman, (757) 222-5218, Vicki.Friedman@pilotonline.com