A while back I went on a tour at the Santa Cruz Resource Recovery Center. On the tour we learned more about there recycling program! I recently finished my training to be a Save Our Shores Sanctuary Steward and was able to organize a time for a group of us to go and check out where all of our hard work cleaning up the beaches ends up. During our training, Leslie O’Malley, a past steward and now Wast Reduction Assistant, came and presented on the City of Santa Cruz’s recycling program and went over what they recycle and what goes into the dump. Wanting to learn more, we headed out to Dimeo Lane and checked it out!
Here are some interesting things I learned that I think we should all know about!
Recycling can be confusing and some times it can be hard to figure out what container certain items go in! Stick to your basics, paper, metal, glass, and plastic. It's always recommended to check your local city's website to find what they are able to recycle. Below are basics which are the main focus at the Santa Cruz Resource Recovery Facility.
Above is a super important part of any recycling center! This is where pickers take out anything that they are not in capacity to recycle and any pieces that could jam the machine. Things like hangers, long pieces of plastic, or any kind of hand plastic strapping. Then the machine lifts the lighter pieces like paper up and over to another conveyer and the heavier pieces continue down another conveyer to one last set of pickers. Everything goes by super quick so they cant separate everything. One problem they are now having at this facility is with there paper bails. They typically send them to China but now is no longer accepting due to them having too much plastic within the bails. Now they are having to run the paper through their facility twice to get it up to standards, causing them more time and money spent on the hope of selling them to have recycled in another recycling location or country.
