Trash bins sit like statues near the wide,
retractable door, a film of grime over their black exterior. Although they see
the sunlight every Monday, it is not enough—the harsh winds and snowdrifts of
winter have done much damage. Juxtaposed is the recycle bin, its emerald
exterior covered with the same film of grime.
Through the rays of light that illuminate the
garage, the glass bottles at the base of the recycle bin sparkle, casting
green, blue, and murky brown reflections onto the surrounding innards. From
here, they’ll travel miles, over potholes and under overpasses, never able to
see the light inside the dark recycle truck’s bed.
Inside the glass treatment plant, there is too much
noise. Machines and conveyor belts sort the bottles by color, and powerful
streams of water wash away any impurities. Now dry, the bottles continue on the
conveyor where machines crush the glass into jagged shards that mimic a chaotic
mural. Soon, scalding liquid shapes the glass into different forms, so that new
life is restored.
Woven between the glass bottles are miscellaneous
papers—very minimal printing is on the bleached leaflets. The papers take the
same voyage as their glass counterparts, but they find new purpose within a
different recycling plant. Inside, machines separate the paper into grades and
types. Bathed in soapy water, inks, glues, staples and plastic films are
removed. Once clean, the gelatinous leaflets are mixed with water and turned
into slurry. Minerals are added to the slurry where an array of materials can
be repurposed. Compressed between heavy rollers, the slurry is spread into thin
sheets.
Peeking from behind plastic milk jugs are soda cans
in perfect condition. Their aluminum faces reflect minimal lighting. At the
treatment plant, machines sort and clean the aluminum. Bathed in scorching
liquid, the cans melt, and labels and inks are cleared away. From there, the
aluminum is shaped into ingots—large, triangle-shaped blocks. Soon, the ingots
are stretched into thin sheets, giving the aluminum greater flexibility to be
made into new soda cans and chocolate wrappers.
Perched precariously above the bottles, paper and aluminum
cans, are plastic milk and juice bottles. Their journey is the same as the
others in the lot. Products are sorted by their identification codes, printed
on the exterior resin. Massive machines shred the plastics into jagged flakes. Transported
by a conveyor belt, the plastics are washed by powerful machines to clear away
any lingering dirt, glue, sand, and grit. Now clear of impurities, the flakes
are poured into pellets—large basins that make transport to production
companies simpler.
This is not the first lot that the recycle bin has housed—it is hardly the first, and will most certainly not be the last. The materials will change, the weather will offer difficulties. Curious night animals will explore what’s inside, though they will find little of interest. While their beginnings are vastly different, their journeys after life in the recycle bin are quite similar.
*
The exterior is solid brick with a low, flat roof. Narrow
windows let minimal lighting inside, hiding the activity within, though the
muffled noise from machines is hard to ignore. Inside, massive machines, made
of shining metal, sort and clean glass bottles. Out of the nine million tons of
glass that is thrown away each year, three million tons will be repurposed into
sports turf, landscaping and brick manufacturing.
While their treatment plants are similar, the
activity inside for recycling paper products is quite different than their other
recyclable counterparts. Machines clear away any impurities—staples, inks, glues
and plastic film. Transported by conveyor belt, the leaflets are put into an
oversized, circular-shaped bin where they are mixed with water and turned into
slurry. Pressed out into thin sheets, in between powerful rollers, these
leaflets, like the other sixty-four percent of paper products recovered each
year, will be repurposed into cardboard and cereal boxes.
The aluminum treatment plant clears away any other
impurities that collect on soda cans—inks and coatings—that are erased once the
aluminum is melted. Like the other 100,000 aluminum products that are recycled
each minute, these cans will be repurposed into a variety of products,
including different types of soda cans and aluminum foil.
Plastic products are carried off to similar
treatment plants as other recyclable goods, yet their experience within the plant
contrasts to its counterparts. Products are sorted by their respective
identification codes, printed on the resin of the plastics. Powerful machines
clear away any imperfections that may have marked the exterior, and other
extremities are washed away by powerful streams of water. Out of the two- point- twelve million tons of
plastic products that have been recycled, this is hardly the last lot that the
treatment plant will harvest for repurposing into fleece or carpeting, to deck
furniture and artificial lumber.
While each recycling plant generates enough products
to repurpose an array of different materials, there are still many products
that have yet to experience the rebirth of recycling.
*
Miles away, on the outskirts of town, only forest
animals inhabit the desolate woodlands, where fallen brown and orange leaves
hide the cold earth. Snowdrifts from winter have formed along the bank of the
narrow river, though the thin sheet of ice that froze the flowing water has
melted.
Trapped within the dirt and strands of grass are aluminum
wrappers and cans that just touch the ebbing water, left from careless campers
and hikers. The wind howls, blowing a gentle breeze through the branches of
naked trees, where a plastic bag waves like a flag to a forgotten country off one
of the lower branches.
A doe and her fawns stamp down the fallen leaves and
aluminum cans to reach the water. A curious fawn stops and lowers his muzzle to
a glass bottle that casts a blue hue onto the silt, and touches his nose to the
cold glass. Disinterested, he follows his mother the rest of the way to the
water.
The forest and the creatures that inhabit it are no
stranger to the peculiar objects that take up space within their home—glass bottles,
aluminum cans and plastic bags—and from the careless campers and hikers that
come annually, surely more of these disturbances will appear.
Works
Cited
“How Plastic Recycling Equipment Works.” Thomasnet. Thomas Publishing Company. n.d.
Web. March 16, 2014
Pulley,
Brenda. “Recycling Facts &
Stats.” Keep America Beautiful. Keep
America Beautiful Inc. Web. March 18, 2014
Recycling-guide. n.p.
2003. Web. March 16, 2014
“What
Happens to Recycled Items?” Savemobile. n.p.
2003. Web. March 18, 2014
This is informative and descriptive, Megan. Who knew recycling was such a complex process? (Not me, obviously.)
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