I will hopefully dispel rumors of what happens to your recycling. There has been some confusion because the recycling trucks look similar to the trash trucks. Well, we have just changed the color scheme to help identify the difference so at quick glance you will see the bright yellow, green and white trucks.

All of the material we pick up with the recycle trucks goes to a local transfer station where the truck empties. The trucks have two compartments, as we only do two sorts while making the pickup. This allows us to move through the streets and not cause traffic backups.

The two sorts are fiber, which is paper products, magazines and such; and the second we call rigid, which is plastic 1, 2 and 3, tin, aluminum and the three colors of glass - brown, green, clear.

Once we have enough to fill a tractor-trailer, we load the different sorts in and ship them up to our material recovery facility. There, the material is sent through extensive sorting machines and manual processes. Then the separated materials are baled and shipped to markets worldwide.

The basic program is still the same. The items need to be rinsed and clean. Through technology, we have made it easier for the resident not to sort as much but again, the items must be clean. You can leave labels on cans and bottles but there should be no residue inside. Please visit our Web site, www.wm.com, and go to the “Recycle America” tab for more information.

To learn more about recycling and waste reduction, please come out to the Green Living and Energy Education recycling fairs in Key West and Islamorada Nov. 17 to celebrate America Recycles Day. There are also lunch-and-learn events Nov. 7 and 10 at the Florida Keys Eco Discovery Center at the Truman Waterfront in Key West. For more information about these events, call 304-2064.

Remember to recycle this newspaper after reading.

Greg Sullivan
District manager, Waste Management Inc.