OOPS! initiative educates locals on recycling after rise in contamination
Oops Sticker’s were introduced to help combat the incorrect disposal of materials into overflowing recycling bins. Photo by: Guy Enkh
Katie Farthing, Contributing Writer
The Central Virginia Waste Management Authority has been putting out OOPS! stickers on recycling bins for the past three years, but with the rise of improper recycling, the appearance of OOPS! stickers are increasing, according to CVWMA public relations coordinator Julie Buchanan.
Different facilities around the state may or may not be able to recycle certain materials, such as aluminum foil or shredded paper, according to Jane Hagen, the sustainability data coordinator for the Office of Sustainability at VCU.
“Recycling is just the process of collecting and then processing the material back into a new product for reuse,” Hagen said. “But depending on your locality and the material, there are different ways that both the collection might occur and the process might occur.”
Most VCU bins have a decal that clarifies what can or can’t be recycled by VCU, a concept similar to CVWMA’s OOPS! stickers. If there is no decal, the Office of Sustainability should be contacted, according to Hagen.
VCU’s recycling bins are taken care of once a week by Southeast Service Corporation Services for Education VCU’s custodial services contractor. They are taken to large containers located behind or around buildings on campus. County Waste then handles picking up and taking the recycling to the recycling center, according to Hagen.
Because of locality differences, information on what materials are recycled can be confusing or conflicting, according to Hagen.
Paying attention to the decals on bins, researching the city’s recycling program and avoiding the recycling of food-contaminated items are helpful to properly recycle, according to Hagen.
“It’s always best to focus on reducing and reusing where you can before you’re turning to recycling,” Hagen said.
The OOPS! stickers detail what objects can or cannot be recycled in Richmond. The recycling won’t be collected until the next scheduled pickup if the wrong materials are in the bin, according to Buchanan.
TFC Recycling, the company contracted by CVWMA, tagged 200 bins two weeks ago in the Jackson Ward and Carver districts. The bins contained the wrong materials for recycling, like food waste or plastic bags, so the drivers left the stickers and bins full, according to Buchanan.
There are several reasons items aren’t acceptable for recycling. Certain materials like plastic bags can cause equipment issues. Some plastics, like styrofoam, are difficult to process, and others are contaminated by food, according to Buchanan.
The OOPS! stickers are successfully getting the attention of residents, Buchanan said.
“When people see that sticker, a lot of them will call,” Buchanan said. “They’ll ask for clarification, like ‘oh I thought you took styrofoam. I know now.’ They want to do the right thing.”
However, recycling isn’t the final solution.
Plastics can be recycled effectively into things like carpets and playground equipment. However, they are not endlessly recyclable and degrade over time, according to Buchanan.
The CVWMA is a part of the U.S. Plastics Pact and works with The Recycling Partnership, in order to rethink packaging, as not all plastics can be recycled infinitely or at all, like styrofoam. CVWMA encourages consumers to make more sustainable choices in order to limit waste, according to Buchanan.
“Getting people to think about where their waste is coming from, especially the single-use items, is a challenge because we’ve been conditioned to live in this disposable society, and landfill space is not free. It’s not unlimited,” Buchanan said. “So just being better consumers is really important for the future.”
Recycling on campus can be made easy with decals listed on trash bins, but due to the small number of trash bins on campus, they tend to get full very quickly, according to Mia Moreno, a sophomore mass communications student at VCU.
“To me, plastic is all the same. I don’t know the ins and outs of plastic, but I think it’s still worth it [recycling],” Moreno said. “I just think that we need, as a community, to work on our usage because recycling is effective, but what’s better than to just not use it at all?”
Check into your localities’ recycling requirements to properly recycle. You can find VCU’s requirements on the Office of Sustainability’s website, and Richmond’s on the CVWMA’s website.
