The problem of recyclables – repurpose or burn?

By Rachel Zuckerman | Manor Ink

Sullivan County, NY – County residents all have to deal with their trash and recycling, and landfills are a familiar concept, but many may wonder, “Where does our recycling actually go?” Do these items go in garbage trucks to a landfill, never to be seen again? Or are they eaten by a magical trash monster to be turned into something new? Manor Ink looked into the Sullivan County recycling process, how this stream of trash is being disposed of, and what plans are being made to work toward a greener future.

The Ink interviewed Sullivan County Recycling Coordinator Kassie Thelman and she shed light on how the recycling process helps the community understand the benefits of proper trash disposal.

Currently, Sullivan’s recycling system uses the single-stream process where plastics, glass, metal and paper are collected together and hauled off to a facility in Beacon, NY, called Republic Services. The county pays them to take our plastics, metals and glass, and they in turn purchase our recycled cardboard. These recyclables are then sold to domestic and international firms who take it from there.

“We make enough on the cardboard that it can come close to paying for the recycling charges,” Thelman said.

This single-stream method is used because it makes the recycling process easier for residents – they don’t have to sort their trash at home. “We as a community could improve our participation rate, and education is the most important factor in ensuring a successful recycling program,” Thelman said. “This is true especially in the summer, with many people from the city visiting who may not be familiar with the county’s specific recycling workflow.”

Organic waste as compost

Environmental advocates Rebekah Creshkoff and Erik Feinblatt believe that it is essential to expand beyond the county’s current waste system to find alternatives to safely and thoroughly dispose of different categories of waste, specifically compostable organic matter. Sullivan’s largest source of organic waste comes from discarded fruits, vegetables and other food scraps, which can be composted for use in gardens and on farms.

Creshkoff co-founded Beyond Plastics Sullivan County with Mary Lang-Clouse and Jill Rue, and Sustainable Sullivan with Feinblatt and Sophia Medina. Sustainable Sullivan was created specifically to oppose a trash incinerator project currently proposed for the county.

The incinerator would be a power-generating furnace fueled by trash that would normally go to the landfill in what is known as a “waste-to-energy” facility. Advocates for the project believe it would be a positive alternative to the current recycling system, but Creshkoff and Feinblatt say it would come with massive environmental repercussions and would incentivize the county to increase current trash production.

Incineration not a solution

Creshkoff and Feinblatt also pointed out that Sullivan County does not produce the necessary volume of waste to operate the proposed incinerator and would thus need to import garbage to burn from neighboring counties. “If incineration becomes the default destination for our trash – requiring a volume of waste way beyond what Sullivan County creates presently – the incentive becomes to create more waste and, logically, just chuck in the recyclables as well,” Feinblatt said.

Creshkoff explained that similar facilities elsewhere send hazardous emissions like dioxins into the local atmosphere. “There is no safe amount,” she said. “These chemicals accelerate every type of cancer, accumulate in fat cells and are biomagnified up the food chain. People have been told not to eat eggs from backyard chickens in parts of France because of their high levels of dioxins and PFAS.”

In addition to the emissions of a trash incinerator, there are other risks involved. In 2023, an incinerator in Doral, FL, then owned by Covanta, a huge waste-to-energy corporation, caught fire and burned for nearly three weeks, spewing pollutants community-wide, resulting in the facility subsequently being closed.

Feinblatt believes that there is room to improve the county’s current waste system. “It all begins with a change in attitude that views waste as a resource – not as trash,” he said.