Williston, VT
A fire at Chittenden Solid Waste District’s recycling facility on Monday night highlights the dangers of improper recycling, officials say.
The fire started at around 5 p.m. in a pile of material on the tip floor — where recyclables are “tipped” out of trucks to be sorted — of the district’s material recovery facility (MRF) in Williston, said Jonny Finity, communications manager for the district. The MRF sorts most of northern Vermont’s single stream, or “blue bin,” recyclables.
Although no staff were present at the facility, the alarm system alerted the local fire department, which put out the fire by 6 p.m., said Finity. The fire damaged an exterior wall of the building, but did not create other noticeable damage, he said. The fire department turned off the power until noon Wednesday, when operations resumed.
Finity said the district cannot determine what in the pile of recyclables caused the fire, but said “batteries are a likely suspect.” He noted that lithium batteries have caused fires at the facility before. “We cannot 100 percent control what people put in their recycling,” he said.
There are two classes of people that create problems for the employees sorting recyclables at the MRF, said Finity. “Some people don’t care at all, they’re just looking for a hole to toss their stuff in.”
Members of the second class — deemed “wishful recyclers” by the district — put items like pizza-stained cardboard boxes or pots and pans into the blue bins, hoping the facility can recycle them.
The district has been working with Casella, which operates the MRF, and the Agency of Natural Resources to better educate residents about what can — and what cannot — go into the blue bins, said Finity. Previously, the district had focused on explaining what materials, like metal and plastic, that can be recycled. The new campaign will focus on the “core items” — containers, paper and cardboard — that the district accepts, he said.
Employees of Casella Waste Systems sort plastic recyclables at the Chittenden Solid Waste District’s material recovery facility. File photo by Elizabeth Gribkoff/VTDigger“When other items are placed in a recycling bin, it not only makes the system less efficient, it endangers the workers that help to sort recyclables,” says the district’s press release.
In addition to not accepting “dangerous items” like chemical containers, the MRF cannot recycle clothing, styrofoam, plastic bags or coffee cups, according to the district’s website. Materials like batteries, tires and electronics can be recycled at other facilities.
High levels of contamination of recyclables shipped to China caused the country to ban 24 kinds of waste, which has wreaked havoc on the global recycling market. The Chittenden MRF has raised fees in response to a glutted market for recycled paper, which makes up 40 percent by weight of the district’s recyclables.
“The stuff you put in your recycling bin doesn’t just disappear,” noted Finity.