Now that Eureka's curbside collection program has been operating for a solid month we can get an idea of how effective it is at diverting discarded material from disposal at the landfill, as this is the big goal after all. So, how's it going?
September Stats:
176.6 = Tons of Papers and Containers collected through Eureka Curbside
110.1 = Tons of Papers and Containers brought into the Eureka Recycling Center drop-off yard
The astounding thing is that these 176.6 tons collected through curbside represent mostly new tonnage, materials that were previously being landfilled. We know this to be true by comparing September's drop-off yard tonnage to preceding months -- this number does not drop-off as we would expect it to if the material was just shifting over to collection at the curb. Well done Eurekans!
The downside to this successful new approach to diversion is that the piles of materials collected through curbside contain many more hazardous items th
an those collected at the drop-off. The curbside recycling is sorted at ACRC's Samoa Processing Facility using a combination of machine and human power. That's right -- people are handling the recycling, therefore it is incredibly important to keep medical sharps (needles and syringes), bio-hazards, and chemicals out of the recycling stream as these pose a real hazard for processing staff. While ACRC takes every precaution to minimize employee exposure to hazardous items, it increases the inefficiency of a system that strives to be efficient when sorting machinery comes to a standstill each time an individual syringe, I.V. bag, CFL, or even TV shows up in the material. To find out the proper disposal option for materials not accepted though curbside recycling check out www.humboldtrecycling.org, our countywide recycling guide.
