National recycling standards now have impacted the local level in Jamestown, as Board of Public Utilities recycling collectors this week have tagged and left behind cardboard recyclables that do not meet regulations published on the BPU’s recycling calendars.

The longtime regulations state that all paper, cardboard and box board recyclables must be flattened and placed in a recycling bin or alternate rigid container or cardboard box labeled “Recycling” for collection. The calendar wording further explains that loose recyclables will not be collected.

According to James Alexander, BPU solid waste supervisor, the BPU has not consistently enforced the regulations in the past, but now most customers, instead of just a few, more frequently leave out full boxes containing other items or place piles of flattened or full boxes of recyclables on the ground.

Local people who purchase online items sometimes place full, larger boxes at the curb, leaving items in them such as Styrofoam and plastic bags which can’t be recycled.

“The vendors who accept our recyclables have informed us that our ‘product’ cannot be contaminated in any way,” Alexander said. “We currently pay $40 a ton, a cost which fluctuates monthly and has been as high as $80 a ton, to have our cardboard/paper/box board recyclables taken to a vendor. It becomes increasingly difficult for us to locate vendors because they cannot accept anything contaminated with other items, mud, food, grass or road salt. These are national recycling standards.”

United States companies previously shipped recyclables to China and other countries, with China accepting one-third of American recyclables. Demand there was high and shipping costs were low. In 2018, however, the Chinese government announced that it would no longer accept 24 types of recyclables, including plastic and mixed paper. Further, the Chinese government does not accept a contamination rate of greater than .5 percent, a level that American companies say is nearly impossible to meet.

The changes made in China and other countries who took American products have resulted in a severe disruption of recycling globally and have created large challenges for American recycling vendors. In turn, recycling companies have become stricter as to the condition and types of recyclables they can accept from local municipalities.

The policy means that the Jamestown BPU, in turn, must be more strict about what the type and condition of the recyclables it collects.

When cardboard is flattened and placed in a container, BPU recycling employees can see what product is at the curb without having to take time on the route to sort. In the past as a courtesy to customers, employees have stopped and broken-down boxes to fit into the five-foot-by-three-foot recycling hopper on trucks.

“Imagine if 13,000 customers leave full boxes for employees to break down and think of the time it would take for workers to complete their routes,” Alexander said. “In addition, full boxes in our trucks take up more space, requiring more than one trip to the transfer station and less time picking up recyclables on the routes. We also have problems with our packers when full boxes are crushed.”

Before enforcing cardboard/paper/box board policies, the BPU began leaving recycling bins behind if bins of plastic were contaminated. Plastic recycling vendors will not take plastic grocery-type bags, Styrofoam egg cartons or packing. Foam rubber has been placed in plastic recycling and cannot be accepted.

“The BPU Solid Waste Division strives to provide our customers with garbage/recycling services in a cost-effective manner. We work to keep recycling rates lower for our residents,” Alexander said. “BPU customers are great recyclers. We now just need to let them know what our vendors will and will not accept and remind them of our policies.”