County Now Collects Nos. 2 and 5 Plastics at Drop-off Locations

NOTE: The following was provided by Orange County Solid Waste Management. For more information, call 968-2788 or e-mail recycling@co.orange.nc.us.

Orange County now collects “rigid plastics” at its recycling drop-off sites and solid waste convenience centers.

Rigid plastics are plastics that are not bottles. Collection is limited to the resin types High Density Polyethylene HDPE No. 2 and Polypropylene No. 5. These include a broad range of plastic items, such as:

• Yogurt tubs
• Stadium cups
• 5-gallon buckets
• Cat litter buckets
• Milk crates
• Plastic trash cans
• Broken recycling bins
• Plant pots larger than 1 pint
• Plastic storage totes and their lids
• Plastic lawn furniture
• Child pools
• Broken plastic sleds
• Other plastic toys

The rigid plastics may be placed in the bright purple bins now located at the county’s solid waste convenience centers and 24-hour recycling drop-off sites. They cannot be collected in the county’s curbside recycling program or in recycling cart sites at apartment complexes and businesses. The plastics must be clean and free of food residue and dirt.

Rigid plastics do not include:

• Plastic bottles — Recycle these separately at drop-off sites, at the curb or apartment complexes.
• Plastic bags — Recycle these at local groceries.
• Styrofoam
• No. 1 clear, plastic, clam-shell take-out containers and salad boxes — Discard these in the regular trash.
• Any other plastics nos. 1, 3, 4, 6 or 7

The Orange County Solid Waste Management Department will take rigid plastics to a different recycling market than the Materials Recovery Facility that currently accepts the county’s commingled bottles, cans and jars which are picked up through residential curbside collections or from recycling carts at apartment complexes and businesses. The rigid plastics will be transformed into pipe, flower pots, buckets and other industrial or consumer goods.

The labor necessary to sort rigid plastics from other recyclables often outweighs their value. Because of this, the county is asking residents to sort the plastics at drop-off sites. This will help the county receive the best value for the materials and prevent what would be considered contamination from going to the Materials Recovery Facility.

An estimated 4,000 tons of plastics in Orange County’s waste stream are not bottles or plastic film. While not all of these plastics will be accepted by the rigid plastics program, this program will expand the recycling opportunities available to Orange County citizens, further reduce the amount of material buried in the Orange County Landfill and reduce fossil fuel consumption for new plastic products.

For more information and images, visit the county’s web site: www.co.orange.nc.us/recycling/rigidplastics.asp