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Single Stream Recycling.
Blue Planet offeres many types of recycling options, including single stream and source separate recycling. Single stream recycling allows most recyclables to be commingled into one collection container to be sorted at a Material Recovery Facility (MRF). This can offer major advantages over other recycling programs by eliminating separate recycling containers and allowing a streamlined collection and storage process, thereby achieving the highest possible diversion rate. Single stream recycling is a growing program and building popularity across the country.
Single Stream Recycling:
There are many different recycling solutions available within each city and state, including an ever increasingly popular, albeit confusing, solution known as “Single Stream Recycling’. Single stream recycling is defined in several different ways, including those listed here. Some service providers are offering a single stream solution as a cost effective method to recycle; however, this is not always true, or the best solution for the environment or your bottom.
Commingling at the point of generation, although a simpler method, has much lower waste diversion and recycling rates. This method includes placing recyclable materials, including office paper, beverage containers and cardboard into the same container.
There are many different reports and claims regarding the rates of recovery and contamination with regards to single stream recycling. Most resources note an average contamination rate of 37% (this is the amount of non-recyclable waste found in the single stream recycling container contaminating the recyclable material), and a recycling recovery rate of approximately 35% to 40%. The contamination found in the Single Stream Recycling reduces the recovery rates by contaminating other recyclable materials
See: Single Stream Recyclilng, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
Source Separated Recycling
Potential Revenue Stream
Source Separated Recycling:
Source separation at the point of generation, as it applies to recycling may result in higher waste diversion and recycling rates compared to single stream recycling at the point of generation. ‘Source Separation’ includes the separating of certain recyclable materials at their point of generation within each office / work space, including office paper and beverage containers (for additional information see Blue Planet’s Recycling FACT SHEET on recycling office paper and commingled bottles & cans).
Throughout each office / work space sufficient recycling containers should be strategically located at each desk, work space, lunch & break room, vending areas, mail rooms, network printer stations, and photo copy stations. These containers should be labeled with signs identifying the appropriate and acceptable recyclable materials to be placed in each container. These separated materials are then bagged and collected by your janitorial staff, and brought to your building’s waste and recycling area.
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