Think twice about hauling trash to dumpster

ALPENA, Mich. — It’s time to unload all the garbage piling up in your basement, but before you haul anything to the dumpster think twice about trashing it. Alpena Resource wants to recover some of it.

“If people would just stop and think — just about anything that you want to throw away is actually recyclable,” said Alpena Resource Recovery manager Stan Mischley.

A recycling solutions company — Rubicon — says product packaging contributes to a third of all waste generated in the United States. Four years ago, Alpena Resource Recovery hauled 700 bins worth of recyclable trash and the number is increasing.

“People are recycling,” said Mischley.

It takes 1,000 pounds of empty milk jugs just to turn it into one bail of plastic. When the bails get shipped out, the plastic can be refurbished into more milk jugs and food containers. You’d be surprised. Twenty-five percent of what Americans toss  in the trash can’t be recycled.

“Their main misconception is that we can recycle anything,” said supervisor Brad Mousseau. “So they throw anything into the bin, like Styrofoam.”

For trash they can’t accept, the recycling facility is willing to do something about that twice a year with Electronic Recycling Day  (April 27) and Clean–Up Day (May 4). “It makes it convenient for the residents to recycle,” said Mischley.

Mousseau said, “As far as the whole throw-away society — people get rid of it, throw it in their trash and think it’s gone. They never have to worry about it.”

Trash is never really gone, according to Mousseau. It’s just dumped in a deep landfill.

“It’s real simple,” said Mischley. “When you recycle, you don’t put it in the ground.