A Word About Recycling with Ollie Maier

An article in a recent Resource Recycling newsletter touched on something I’m sure more than a few of us have wondered… especially those of us who grew up in a rural community. The article was titled, “How do urban and rural recycling streams compare?”

My dad, growing up on a farm during the ‘Great Depression,’ never became a member of the later ‘Throw Away’ society. That may be part of the reason I grew up believing in recycling: ‘Waste not: Want Not.’ And thus, now try to do what I can in helping others save for future generations by putting together these weekly recycling articles.

The newsletter comparison article started by mentioning “A research project in Ontario compared single-family and multi-family streams in medium-sized urban cities with single-family streams in rural programs.” Officials there hired a research firm to conduct the study.

The study was desired to help make a new recycling contract as effective and efficient as possible. The study used data from the years of 2016 through 2019.

The study showed urban areas recycled a higher percentage of fiber (paper, cardboard), 67%, than the rural areas. 64%. Additionally, the urban areas generated more fiber weight than rural areas. When comparing other things such as glass, plastic, tin, etc. used as containers, the rural areas recycled slightly more, 34% to 33%.

In the fiber area, some of the different rates of recycling was believed to be there were more newspapers and flyers in towns. It was also felt there was probably more burning of paper in the rural areas.

The study also looked at contamination. Rural areas had slightly more overall contamination than urban areas (6.76% compared to 6.61%). But the study also found the contamination was different between them.

It found the urban areas were only a little worse than rural areas in terms of wrongly placing paper in the container bins. However, they were considerably worse in putting their recycled containers in the bins used for paper.

So there it is… who recycles more. However, since the study was done in just one area, I am sure if comparisons were made in the different areas of this country, figures would not be exactly the same. And if a comparison was made to include a third group, large metropolitan cities, their numbers would be even more different.

A final note for this week, even with the virus still upon us, don’t forget to recycle all you can… and be sure to wear a mask in public areas (it’s now required), wash your hands frequently for at least 20 seconds (it’s longer than many people realize unless they time it), and practice social distancing wherever you can. Thanks.

Till next week, do have a good, safe, and healthy one.