City to residents: How close can we get to zero waste?
Winter Parkers are not recycling as much as they think they are
City leaders will double-down on a campaign encouraging residents to reduce waste — especially single-use plastics — in an effort to reduce the amount of garbage headed to the landfill. Winter Parkers will be encouraged to reuse items when possible and to recycle in a way that prevents loads from being sent to the dump rather than to a facility where they are processed to sell.
The “Zero In on Zero Waste” initiative is the next logical step in bringing more awareness to the statewide problem of “wish-cycling,” or the myth that nearly anything put into recycling bins is broken down and reused. In reality, many items that end up in the recycle bin — food-soiled containers such as empty greasy pizza boxes or plastic bags — contaminate entire truckloads of recycling, causing them to be diverted to the landfill instead of a recycling center.
“A lot of residents are trying their very best,” said Sara Miller, Winter Park’s sustainability manager. “But they are not recycling as much as they think they are.”
In 2022, Winter Park homes produced 15,242 tons of garbage, of which only 5,000 tons, or about 33%, went through recycling, composting or some other method instead of going to the landfill. That percent of recycled waste has remained relatively unchanged over the last decade even as Winter Park residents are creating 3.5% more waste, according to city records.
City officials would like to reduce the total amount of waste by 5% by 2025 and increase the amount of recycled garbage by 10% in the same time period.
Miller said residents can help do that by paying close attention to what is accepted by the recycling centers, which is printed on the city-issued bins or available at this guide published by the city. They can refuse plastic bags and single-use plastics at the grocery store, compost food waste and look for packaging made from cardboard rather than plastic when shopping for new items.
She said she knows it’s easier said than done, and she doesn’t expect every resident to adopt every change over night.
“It’s a luxury for a lot of people,” she said. “It may not be suitable for you and not everybody can do what we’re asking. It does take practice.”
Some residents may wonder if those efforts are worthwhile or if they can really make a difference as an individual when others aren’t making the effort.
“I think I look at it maybe a little bit differently,” said Commissioner Todd Weaver, an outspoken advocate for sustainability. “Our landfill has about 30 years worth of space left and everybody’s individual effort is required to make a difference. We can’t keep wasting the way we have been.”
Gloria Eby, Winter Park’s director of Natural Resources and Sustainability, included the upcoming campaign in her recent budget presentation to commissioners.
The key principles revolve around the “Five R’s,” she said in response to a question last week:
- Refuse: Say no to what you don’t need.
- Reduce: Let go of things that are no longer of use and donate or sell. It also means only focusing on necessary purchases.
- Reuse: Switch disposable items for reusable items and permanent alternatives.
- Recycle: We’ve been made to believe that recycling is the go-to solution for waste reduction. In fact, it’s number four in the list behind refuse, reduce and reuse.
- Rot: Compost your own household waste or take part in a composting program for organic waste.
Questions or comments? Email the editor at WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
Why can’t I recycle glass? I have read that it is easy to recycle.
You can recycle some glass. It depends on the item. According to the city’s guide you can recycle a glass jar in your curb-side bin, but not broken glass, which the guide says should be thrown in the garbage: https://cityofwinterpark.org/departments/natural-resources-sustainability/sustainability-division/waste-diversion-recycling/
You can recycle your glass pop bottle.
Here’s how.
1) Remove the bottle cap
2) Drink your fizzy drink till the bottle is empty
3) Replace the cap
4) Go to the store and by a CAN of pop
5) Bring it home and remove the bottle cap from your empty glass bottle
6) Open the can
7) Pour the can of pop into the empty bottle
Wala! Recycled!
What is WALA
It was surprising to learn that multi family housing; apartments, condominiums and similar, are apparently not required and as a result don’t have a recycling option. All trash goes into a single dumpster; why?
Seems we aspire to make improvements, that’s great; dealing with some of the basics should be the first step.
Our family recycling increased when the City provided larger bins for recycling. Seems a move to introduce composting could go a long way to again reduce waste.
May also be good to do a reality check on how much of what residents place in recycling bins is actually recycled and not diverted to landfills.
We need an electronic waste drop off place. We need to recycle some of the materials from all those knocked down homes including plants and trees. We need to have developers take care of their own trash and dispose of it properly instead of throwing it in the street for residents to deal with. We need to stop putting astroturf down everyplace that doesn’t have cement.
Right!
Make Winter Park a Chia-Pet!
We can do it if we try!
That will show those mangy developers.
We need an electronic waste drop off place. We need to recycle some of the materials from all those knocked down homes including plants and trees. We need to have developers take care of their own trash. We need to stop putting astroturf down everyplace that doesn’t have cement.
Believe it, or not, beverage straws can be run through the dishwasher over and over for years and years without ever wearing out. So I just wash them and put them in my car and refuse the straws. As far as grocery bags, I tell the clerks that I no longer want to be the bag lady and bring my own. When I go out to a restaurant, I bring my own old takeout container. It stays out of the trash and it saves the restaurant money. My daughter lived in a condominium complex, and it never failed that when you looked in the recycle bin there was trash there. No matter how big they made the letters on the recycle bin people still threw trash in there. The bottom line is is that people don’t care. There’s garbage all over the place. People are self-absorbed and just don’t care about anything but what they want. So good luck with trying to increase the amount of recycling.
A polymer chemist cautioned me about re-using plastics that are formulated for a single use, particularly those not intended for exposure to heat. Her comment was just because it didn’t melt in your dishwasher doesn’t mean the plastic is not breaking down into your food and beverages after being exposed to cleaning chemicals and heat that it was not designed to stand up to. Be safe and get yourself some stainless steel straws and specifically designed for multi-use meal prep quality take out containers.
I have been a strong advocate of recycling since it first became available in the U.S. To the best of my knowledge, we don’t have commercial recycling in Winter Park. Restaurants, clubs, etc. are not recycling because they tell me that they don’t have that option. So add that enormous volume to the volume that Jack Miles mentions that comes from multi-family dwellings and it could make a huge difference in landfill capacity. I question the practice of single containers vs. residential sorting because it seems more likely that more loads are contaminated by a single mistake on the part of residents who throw in food boxes.
In that regard, I wonder if those who supervise the sorting and decisions to just dump the load into the landfill really care.
It is not clear how clean used containers are expected to be, and this should be made clear. For example, is a peanut butter jar expected to be free of peanut butter? If so, then we are wasting our precious water supply for what may be futile effort.
There are organizations that attempt to get states to limit “double packaging”. (An example they have used is when a jar of jam or plastic container of cosmetics is packaged in a paper box that is unnecessary but may make a nice presentation.) Winter Park could provide some leadership in that effort.
These are some questions answered and procedures that should be refined if we are to be successful in this important effort.
Gotta chuckle over middle class+ developed world (including USA) fretting over plastic bags, straws, bottles and take-out boxes while half of the world’s population is struggling to survive. They don’t rinse out their plastic garbage before chucking it out the back door. But we do! Greenpeace finally admitted plastic recycling is a “dead end” street.
If WP was really serious about “zero-waste” they’d encourage the planting of blue spur flower as an alternative to store bought TP. Not for me, but I encourage you to give a shot and see if it works for you.
I walk my neighborhood a lot. I consistently see a lack of concern for appropriate waste disposal and recycling. Old TVs are left at the curb, cardboard boxes are left whole with styrofoam inserts, and filled plastic bags are bulging out of the top of the recycling bin. Grills, mattresses, and other large/bulky items are put to the curb during regular pickup. I have seen many items that are serviceable left next to the garbage bins on pickup days. The resident may be hoping that someone will salvage these items, but if that doesn’t occur prior to pickup, off to the dump go those serviceable items. I think our Waste Management Department should instruct the collectors to pass by bins and waste that obviously doesn’t conform to the guidelines. Everyone must participate. Garbage collection and disposal fees are the same for all residents, but the amount of waste is often disproportionate, with the wealthier residents producing much more waste.