RECYCLING PROGRAM GUIDELINES

The recycling program in the Towns of Esopus and Plattekill are similar in nature and in composition.  Granted they both have subtle differences but those differences are minimal.

For the sake of simplicity the recycling program components are broken into three distinct groups:

  1. Fiber (Paper, Cardboard, Newspaper)

  2. Container Products ( Cans, Glass, and Plastic)

  3. Other materials (Scrap Metal, Tires and Yard Waste)

So let’s start out with the Container Products.  Let’s look at how we need to prepare them for recycling:

Remove all lids and caps.

Remove loose labels.

Remove all left over food or other products that were contained in the container.

Then wash them. 

Now you’re ready to recycle your container products.  You can sort them according to their respective components (Glass, Cans, and Plastic).

Container Glass is just that, glass containers for food and beverage.  No bake ware, light bulbs, drinking glasses, dishes, laboratory glassware. 

Metal Cans are just that, metal food and beverage cans.  No pesticides, herbicide or solvent containers.  We ask that you remove the paper labels because the glue used on them let’s go easily and the labels become a litter nuisance on windy days.  Click on the link below to see further information on glass recycling.

Plastic is the most difficult of materials to recycle.  Both recycling programs only take plastic containers with the recycling number of 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7.  Now that you’ve got the understanding about the numbers that’s where the simplicity stops.  Only plastic containers that have a neck are suitable.  Click on the link below to see further information on plastic recycling.

PAPER RECYCLING

Most recycling programs had their roots in collecting newspapers.  Fact is that most of our paper products, newspaper, cardboard, magazines and even that ever present junk mail can be recycled.

Some paper products are recycled back into what they originally were, such as newspaper and cardboard, while things like magazines and junk mail are turned into toilet paper and paper towels.

Anyway you look at it paper is constantly being turned into something.  From the front page of the local newspaper to the egg carton that protects your eggs in the supermarket, paper is always a constant in any recycling program.

Both programs separate paper into three groupings:

  1. Newspaper

  2. Cardboard
  3. Magazines

The specifications of each are pretty simple:

Newspaper:

If it comes with the newspaper then it gets recycled with the newspaper (except for the plastic bag used to keep the paper dry on rainy days).

Cardboard:

Any type of heavy card stock product except for wax coated ( usually found in vegetable packing such as broccoli), and wet pack cardboard ( such as beer or soft drinks that can be placed into coolers or refrigerators for keeping cold).

Magazines: 

This one is pretty wide open and includes such things as office paper, junk mail, catalogs, magazines (of course!) holiday wrapping paper, soft cover books and hard cover books (covers must be removed and discarded).

OTHER MATERIALS FOR RECYCLING

For lack of a better category this one sums up the remaining items of the recycling programs.  Materials such as scrap metal, lead acid batteries, tires and yard waste are included here.

For the most part recycling is free except for items such as tires and scrap metal.  The reasons that fees are assessed to these items is purely economic.

Tires are a nuisance and their disposal is transportation and handling dependent therefore the price to dispose of them.

SCRAP METAL RECYCLING

Scrap metal fees are the wave of the future.  The days of the old scrap metal pile at the dump are soon to go the way of the old town dump.  Motor oil, refrigerant oil, washing machine transmission oils and many other acids and corrosives come into play and when placed on the ground they will seek their way into the ground water.  So at a transfer station like Plattekill (where fees apply for scrap metal disposal) scrap is trucked away in containers.  This containerization and transportation of the scrap eliminates the potential for environmental harm.  So again transportation and handling come into play.

TIRE RECYCLING

Tires are one of the hardest items to get rid of, yet they possess such a bounty of recoverable resources.  Composed of petrol-chemical materials these items will someday become a new “Black Gold”, but today they're a nuisance.  Transportation and handling are the true cost generators in the disposal of this product.  Both transfer station only accept tires from autos and light trucks up to 20” in diameter.

YARD WASTE RECYCLING

Ever constant in our yards are growing plants, trees and other flora.  As these things grow, die or just need to be maintained the disposal of this material needs to go somewhere.  At the Plattekill transfer station these materials are made into recovered resources, landscape mulch and top soil.

Bush and wood wastes such as limbs should be cut in lengths no longer than 4 to 6 feet.  Their diameter should not exceed four inches.  These dimensions allow for the material to fit into the grinding equipment at the site that will turn the products into mulch.

Grass and leaves are composted into top soil and starting in late spring 2007 this product will be available for sale at the Plattekill transfer station.