Excellent Letter to the Editor by Tim McCabe of South Abington. Education and new policies around how we deal with garbage, from producing less to recycling more, is how real change will occur.

https://m.thetimes-tribune.com/.../letters-to-the-editor...

Teach recycling

Editor: Recent Times-Tribune articles have noted the economic challenges presented by cross-contamination of materials in single stream recycling collection and the danger to recycling staff of rancid waste “juice” from residual liquid leaking from bottles, jars and cans.

Despite comparatively arduous household processing requirements for rinsing, sorting and dropping off items at central collection points rather than curbside, a fair number of European nations recycle well over 50% of their solid waste flow. In the United States, the amount is approximately 35%. As residents of NEPA know, we need to rely less on landfill disposal.

Locally, many people are very dedicated to recycling. I assume many others would be willing to increase their efforts if only they had better direction on what exactly is and isn’t recyclable and how properly to prepare items for collection. As it stands now, household recycling education is almost entirely haphazard.

I believe that more formal and consistent municipal provision of instructions regarding recycling is needed. Such education likely would engender a greater sense of civic responsibility toward recycling and alternatives to single-stream collection for a cleaner, more viable supply of recyclable material.

TIM McCABE

SOUTH ABINGTON TWP.