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The information
contained on this website is about curbside recycling
as it relates to municipal solid waste programs, and
more particularly it is about residential curbside recycling.
Residential curbside recycling is a strategy dedicated
to separating targeted materials from the
waste stream and directing those materials
into a process whereby
they can be converted into other useable products with
commercial value. However, these materials are commodities
and their value can be quite volatile. Some materials,
such as aluminum, have held their commodity value quite well
over the years. Other materials, such as plastics, are
not as stable and their commodity value has fluctuated
significantly over the years.
Lifestyle
decisions, including purchasing, reusing and recycling,
can reduce the amount of waste produced, but all waste
material must be disposed of in an environmentally safe
manner. The choice of disposal method is a function of
many economic facotrs including the price and availability
of land, the cost of energy and the distance from generation
point to disposal point. Environmental factors such as
groundwater characteristics, potential air emissions
and population densities also influence the type of disposal.
Recycling,
whether through drop off or curbside programs, has long
been recognized as an important strategy in diverting
selected materials from the municipal waste stream. Advances
in technology have made curbside recycling more economically
viable, and the number of curbside programs continues
to grow each year.
The following
links will take you to more in-depth discussions of the
issues surrounding municipal solid waste and recycling.
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