A number of Highland Park resident have approach members of the Environmental Commission as to why the borough does NOT recycle. Other resident say they do not recycle because they see the “recycling” thrown into the back of the garbage trucks to be sent to a land fill.
In the past Highland Park separated paper, plastics, metal, and glass separately. Highland Park now collects all of the recyclables in the same truck and takes it to a recycling center. This is termed “commingling.” Highland Park uses Colgate Paper Stock Company, 12 Industrial Drive, New Brunswick for it recycling. The company is about 70 years old and started in NY city. The company has about 60 employees.
Members of the Environmental Commission, Council President Hersh, and employees of HP DPW and New Brunswick DPW recently had a tour of the Colgate recycling center in October It is a very impressive operation. More than 200 trucks with recycling arrive every day. The company operates 24 hours a day/seven days a week. They are closed for Christmas and New Years
The process starts by the trucks being weighted to determine the weight of recyclables that are being delivered. The truck then dumps their load onto the floor of the plant. Large uploader tractor transfer loads of the recyclables on to a conveyor belt and they are machine sorted by size – cardboard and paper is remove first. They have employees who remove non-recyclable plastics and trash from the conveyor belt, plastics are separated into 2 categories, further down metals and aluminum cans are separated, then glasses. Each of these different materials goes down a different processing line. and get further separated. There are two types are aluminum cans A and B which are further separated. Glasses are separated by color: green, brown, and clear. All of these separate materials are formed into 2000 pounds rectangular bales, which have dimensions of about 8 x 8 x 10 feet (see Figures ). The baling machine are huge and cost about 2 million dollars each.
The plant has system to detect high temperatures, fires and has a fire suppression system.
One surprise about the recycling plant was how clean It is and the building does not smell.
Colgate sells these recycled materials to companies worldwide.
The company rejects about 1% of the material delivered to them.
Some surprises – pizza boxes if only slightly soiled can be recycled, as well as aluminum foil and aluminum plates (such as for pies, cakes).
Request from Colgate: remove the hard plastic tops of water bottles, Snapple bottles, etc.
Yes, Highland Park is recycling – Plastic 1 and 2, aluminum cans, cat food cans, steel cans, newspaper, paper, cardboard. This recycling helps save the environment, saves money as recycling is cheaper than landfill disposal. So HP residents please take the time to recycle. It helps everyone.
