LET'S TALK TRASH!! Advanced Disposal Talks to Go Green Northbrook's Team RUBI

 Left to right: Lew Cohen, Captain of Team RUBI [Reusable Bag Initiative], Ben Dykstra, Area Manager, Advanced Disposal, and Doug Gerleman, Founder and Facilitator of Go Green Northbrook. Dykstra holds a GGN 5' x 5" car magnet for his automobile. The cost is $1 for Go Green Northbrook members/$5 for non-members. Why not buy two [to start] -- one for your car; one for your refrigerator. 

Last Wednesday, March 5, Ben Dykstra of Advanced Disposal joined several members of Team RUBI at the Northbrook Public Library to explain details about Northbrook's "Life Cycle of Trash." Advanced Disposal recently won the bid to collect Northbrook's trash and recyclables. With the change in trash disposal companies, Northbrook now has new trucks, new pricing, new residential carts, and new types of collection services.

ALTERNATIVE FUEL TRUCKS & MORE
Let's start with some of the basics we learned about trash during the meeting. First, check out one of the new alternative fuel trucks that cruise our streets these days [see below]. You may have already noticed that they're quieter. That's the difference between the sound of a diesel engine [before] and one that runs on compressed natural gas [after]. The compressed natural gas also costs less.

Until a year ago, one truck would pick up both garbage/trash and recyclables. Unfortunately, sometimes the trash side would fill up and the trash overload would get mixed in with the recyclables on the other side. Advanced Disposal's new truck system dedicates separate vehicles to haul trash and recyclables. This actually reduces the number of trucks on the streets because pick up is more efficient -- a cost savings you may not have considered.

 

Now that you can see the size of these trucks, here are some statistics to ponder. According to Advanced Disposal, each one of us creates an average of six truck loads of waste/recyclables a year. That's 3/4 of a ton. Or 4 pounds daily. During a lifespan of 82 years, that adds up to 60 tons of waste.

If we can each reduce our individual trash amount by even half a truckload a year, then a full load, perhaps even make it to two loads, the cost savings to the village will continue to increase, not to mention the positive impact you will have on the environment. 

For many families, the new, more environmentally friendly, cost effective service has reduced their bill by over 30% in some instances. Even more when people can take advantage of the senior citizen 10% discount [call 847-272-4145 to sign up]. 

Another way Northbrook residents can lower the cost of their garbage pick up services and be environmentally responsible is to utilize the once-a-week curbside pickup, instead of opting for twice-a-week. 

Right now there are approximately 10,000 households in Northbrook. Of those households, 2000 utilize twice-a-week pick up. Another 500 have also opted for back door service. If just 200 people switch from twice-a-week to once-a-week, the impact on the environment would be reduced and pricing for pick up could improve even more. Keep in mind that the amount that residents pay is based on the amount of time the trucks are on the road and the number of loads they have to carry. Less is less in this case.

For the residents who chose twice-a-week back door pick up for its convenience alone, perhaps it's time to consider the extra fuel costs for that service. The trucks keep running while the drivers take the time to go to the back door to retrieve the cans, then take them back. Just switching to twice-a-week curbside service would be a meaningful and helpful first step. Once-a-week curbside -- even better. But one step at a time.

RECYCLING

According to Advanced Disposal, 30% of Northbrook's trash is recycled. Needless to say, we could do better. 

After the garbage trucks finish their routes, they take their loads to a transfer station [Northbrook's is on Shermer Road]. At this point there are four possible options: take the trash to 1] a landfill or 2] a waste-to-energy plant [not available for Northbrook yet] or 3] a compost service [for lawn debris, leaves, grass, and other plants] or 4] a recycling center

While Advanced Disposal will accept large cardboard boxes for recycling, without residents having to cut them down, they don't accept pizza boxes. Here's the problem we learned about -- pizza leaves greasy stains, which render the cardboard contaminated and unfit for recycling. It's that simple. Maybe somebody will invent something to degrease the grease at the recycling center. Or maybe the pizza makers will figure out a way to keep grease off the pizza boxes.

Good news -- tetra paks are acceptable for recycling.

Bad news -- the worst of the worst problems remain those single use plastic bags. DO NOT PUT SINGLE USE PLASTIC BAGS IN THE GARBAGE OR YOUR RECYCLABLES. The ONLY way any of those plastic bags can be recycled at this time is when local villages require the stores which distribute them to take them back. After collection, they are returned to companies which make single use plastic bags for recycling into more single use bags -- at considerable cost.  Because of the backlash against the manufacturers of single use bags, the bag manufacturers take them back so their industry won't be put out of business by groups like Go Green Northbrook. They are willing to do this even though it's more expensive to put used plastic bags back into the manufacturing process than it is to manufacture them from scratch.

Just a thought -- use reusable bags.

THE NUISANCE CONTINUES

If you put those single use plastic bags in your trash they often blow away from landfills. Then end up in rivers and streams and finally, larger bodies of water. Surely you've heard about the island of plastic bags in the Pacific Ocean that's twice the size of Texas. How many of those bags are yours?  

DON'T TRY TO RECYCLE THEM

If you put those plastic bags into your recycling can, they will be thrown into the trash by the recyclers. And still end up in landfills. And continue to blow away. And end up in our waterways.

Have we mentioned using reusable bags? Not to be alarmists, but you may want to consider these other statistics before you accept or use another plastic bag.

Two words: REUSABLE BAGS

Here are the ten steps in the typical recycling process:

1. Trucks arrive from Northbrook and dump their load of mixed recycling onto the floor. A front loader moves the load onto a conveyer belt.

2. Workers remove film, non-recyclables, and bulky items by hand.

3. Cardboard is removed by a screen that propels it into a holding area. Smaller objects drop through the screen to be sorted at another point.

4. Another screen separates objects by dimension. Paper goes one way. Everything else goes another.

5. Non fiber contaminants in the paper sort are removed manually.

6. A magnet removes steel cans.

7. A special separator removes aluminum cans and foil from the conveyor.

8. Glass bottles and jars are screened and shattered.

9. An optical or manual sorter separates plastics by type.

10. Crushed cans, broken glass and bales of aluminum and plastic are all sent to manufacturers as raw materials.

LANDFILLS

In the past, landfills have been used as the main solution for the disposal of garbage/refuse/trash. Do you know the difference between a dump and a landfill? Read about the difference and more, HERE.  Space availability and tighter regulatory controls mean that Illinois will need to replace the use of landfills with an alternative in the foreseeable future. 

Europe doesn't have landfills. They don't have the land to spare. Read this New York Times article about how their methods of converting trash to energy are not only more efficient than ours, but more far more useful HERE. Politics, the Not-Invented-Here-Syndrome, and corporate interests have kept European solutions out of the USA. But, don't kid yourselves, this is our future. Our children's future at least, since the change is about 20 years away.

Meanwhile, you can learn how landfills in this country have been utilized to turn trash into energy by capturing the methane created by the decomposition HERE.

In addition, you can use a search engine to discover the number of companies which are converting closed landfills -- like Northbrook's -- into sources of wind energy or, like this one in New York, to solar energy HERE.

Wouldn't you like to live off the grid?

To see what goes into creating a landfill, check out this very detailed, educational diagram on the Advanced Disposal website HERE:

For a colorful diagram that shows the Life Cycle of Trash, from pick up to transfer station to landfill, waste-to-energy plant, composting or recycling, click HERE:

To appreciate the amount of work it takes to sort recyclable waste at the recycling centers, we think you will find this diagram is very helpful, especially for children. Click HERE.

One last reminder -- don't forget to use your reusable bags.