There are lots of common misperceptions and myths that float around about recycling. It’s time to dispel some of these myths.
One that comes up is that materials collected in recycling bins are not actually recycled but are instead sent to the landfill.
While there are anomalies in which recycling is accidentally or temporarily sent to the landfill, the vast majority of the time, the recyclables in a given bin are taken to designated building docks, where this stream is sorted from the landfill stream and moved to the appropriate receptacle. Those are emptied by our vendors, Papillion Sanitation and DataShield. These materials are taken to either Firstar Fiber or Nebraskaland Recycling, which are local material recovery facilities that accept recyclables.
At the Omaha campus, the green recycling bins and the triple-bin systems currently collect bottles, cans and other recyclable items. All corrugated cardboard (boxes used for shipping) and standard cardboard (sometimes referred to as paperboard) also can be recycled on campus. Cardboard should be flattened and placed between paper recycling bins and the wall or at the designated location in your space. To ensure HIPAA and FERPA confidentiality compliance, paper is placed in a blue desk-side container, large blue bin, locked gray (sometimes beige) bin or locked cart, and that paper is shredded and recycled by DataShield.
The process for collection of metals and rigid plastics at locations on the main campus starts with both landfill and recycling streams being collected from designated bins by Environmental Services. Clear poly-bags are used so that EVS can see which bags are landfill and which are recycling. The bags are taken to the appropriate dock, sorted by visual inspection and placed in the respective 96-gallon toters provided by the vendors. EVS policy does not allow staff to physically reach into bags to retrieve items, because it’s a safety risk. When contamination of the recycling stream does occur, with either biohazard or landfill waste, EVS staff are trained to make the determination at the dock as to where the recycling bags should go. When contamination does occur, the general rule of thumb is “if in doubt, throw it out.”
If recycling materials are placed in a landfill container, it may indicate that the EVS staff determined the bag was contaminated. Other site-specific issues might include space constraints for recycling toters, dumpsters and/or compactors at the dock. Some locations outside the Omaha campus have additional issues that may result in recycling material being sent to the landfill temporarily due to construction projects or renovations, and work is being done to address both short- and long-term barriers.