SEATTLE (Recycling Monster): Every Friday through the end of August, Waste Reduction Assistant Caylie Soon with Santa Cruz Public Works educates curious city and county residents about the ins and outs of recycling and escorts groups through the vast recycling facility on the outskirts of the city.
Soon has a real passion for waste reduction that she discovered after going through the city’s annual Master Recycler Volunteer Training Program, which teaches city residents about waste reduction. Not too long after completing the program, she landed a gig at the Resource Recovery Center, which processes about 660 tons of material per week. For Soon, seeing the light bulbs go off in tour goers as she takes groups through the facility is one of the best parts of her job.
“Just clarifying to people that this is way bigger than just throwing something into the blue bin and thinking that it’s a magical portal,” said Soon. “There’s people here and it’s a big undertaking, so I like being able to expose that bigger picture to people.”
According to Soon, many people have numerous misconceptions about what can and can’t be recycled, and believe that if they just toss something into the recycling mix that someone else will figure it out, which she refers to as “wishcycling.”
“A lot of people think that this idea of wishcycling is OK,” said Soon. “They think that if they just put it in, somebody will take care of it or a machine will sort it out, but it’s actually way more problematic.”
At the beginning of the tour, Soon focuses on not only the three classic Rs of reuse, reduce and recycle, but the six Rs adopted by Soon’s supervisor, Waste Reduction Program Manager Leslie O’Malley. The additions of refuse and rethink (in addition to rot) are two of the most important to consider, according to Soon.
“Recycling is a tool that we have, and it’s a wonderful tool,” she said. “But we need to start thinking up that R chain and start reducing and refusing all of this in the first place.”
Soon refers to “refuse” waste reduction strategies such as utilizing reusable coffee mugs and water bottles, preparing a lunch for work using a reusable container, or using a reusable container for hot bar items at local grocery stores, and also bringing containers into the store for bulk grocery items.
“I put a tare number on my own glass jars and then use the scoop bulk bins,” said Soon. “It’s another way to say no thank you to all this packaging.”
If bringing reusable containers to the store isn’t a viable option, Soon points out that choosing products packaged in materials that are compostable or recyclable is the next best thing, but that can be tricky to determine when the presence of the universal, three-arrow recycling symbol doesn’t always mean something is recyclable in the city.
“Plastic is probably the most confusing category,” said Soon. “Don’t rely on the number or symbol anymore. That’s arbitrarily stamped on things these days and is harmful rather than helpful to the consumer.”
The tour Friday morning was attended by about a dozen county and city residents such as Santa Cruz resident Monica Hettenhausen, who brought her two children, 12 and 8 years old, to see what happens after they throw something into the recycling bin.
“I thought it would be a fun summer thing to bring my kids to, and because they know about the importance of recycling, but there’s this missing link,” said Hettenhausen. “I wanted them to see the huge machines and know all of the people that it takes to actually recycle.”
Courtesy: www.santacruzsentinel.com
