Collingswood widens effort on plastics

By LAVINIA DeCASTRO Courier-Post

If Collingswood has its way, there will be fewer milk and orange juice caps in the landfill.

The borough recently became the first town in Camden County to offer residents a chance to recycle plastics numbered 3 through 7. That means a variety of common household items that would normally end up in a landfill -- yogurt cups, toothbrush packaging, spice bottles, newspaper and grocery bags, plastic pumps from cleaning product bottles and many others -- can now be recycled.

"Right now, my refrigerator has two cartons of milk and an orange juice and all those caps go to the landfill," borough Commissioner Joan Leonard said. "Every time you buy a yogurt container or a sour cream container, you can't put those out with the recycling."

The program is voluntary, which means residents still can't just throw these items in the recycling bin. Those interested in recycling plastics numbered 3 through 7 and even unnumbered plastics have to hold on to the items, then take them to a specially marked large trash container at the Bike Share garage on Atlantic Avenue between the Community Center and the Public Works garage.

"Right now, you can't just put it in your recycling bin and have it picked up," Leonard said. "Hopefully, that will happen in the future."

That's because the borough's contract with FCR Camden Inc. only covers plastics labeled 1 and 2.

"They don't have the market to sell it," borough Manager Bradford Stokes said. "There isn't as much of a demand out there for number 3 through 7, so they don't take it." Stokes said the borough is happy with the service the company provides.

FCR recently invested $4 million to switch to single stream recycling, which means residents can put all their recyclable materials into one bin. The move led to an 18 percent increase in recycling in the borough, Leonard said.

But even with single-stream recycling, up to six percent of what is brought in ends up at the landfill.

Collingswood wanted to give residents a chance to recycle the items the company won't take.

The items placed in the plastics collection bin will go to Omni Recycling in Pitman, Leonard said. "This is a huge step toward reducing our waste," Leonard said. "We're not where we want to be yet, but we're getting there."

The new plastics recycling effort is one of many green initiatives the borough has undertaken lately.

The borough has used a county recycling grant to offer composters and rain barrels to residents at a deeply discounted rate. Through Collingswood's bike sharing program, residents can rent a "green machine", bicycles refurbished by volunteers, to peddle around town.

A green festival recently attracted hundreds of people to the downtown shopping district and a committee of environmentally minded residents get together often to discuss possible steps to reduce the town's carbon footprint.

"Collingswood just keeps getting greener," Leonard said.

Reach Lavinia DeCastro at (856) 486-2652 or ldecastro@courierpostonline.com