With the decision to reduce the number of public recycling bins by more than 60 in the coming months, Norfolkans and those beyond city limits will soon need to say goodbye to their favorite frog — which adorns recycling bins in the community.
Greenfiber, located at 3421 Old Highway 8, recently announced the discontinuation of its community recycling program, aimed at collecting fiber streams seen in paper and cardboard materials for integration into its cellulose insulation products. The decision comes as changes in the availability of appropriate fiber streams, debris found in the bins and on cardboard and transportation costs were cited as grounds to terminate the 14-year-old program.
Dennis Pieper, vice president of West Region Operations at Greenfiber, elaborated on the appropriate fiber streams needed for insulation production.
“The community recycling program was set up as a method to increase our intake of old newspaper, which is one of the primary fiber (stream) types that we utilize. When (COVID-19) hit, it really changed the fiber stream availability to our company,” he said, adding that company executives recorded a 40% weight decrease in the fiber streams that accelerated after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cardboard, another material collected at the recycling bins, is difficult to compact into Greenfiber’s packer trucks and has contributed to higher transportation costs, Pieper said. Debris on the cardboard — mainly tape and staples — also can hinder the insulation production process.
“When you start hauling a lot of air, it becomes very expensive,” Pieper said.
In replacement of its public recycling program, Pieper said a drop-off point at Greenfiber’s manufacturing base would be maintained around-the-clock for recyclers in the area.
“That will be permanently open to the public. We will honor that as long as we don’t get debris in with the fiber. (If) we start getting a lot of trash or debris within the fiber, we’ll probably have to change it to only being open during business hours,” he said, adding that cardboard pieces could not be larger than 2 feet by 4 feet and must be free of tape and staples.
“You cannot operate a business while losing money. … If you continue to lose money over time, then you will see a business start to falter. The good thing is that our business is very strong, and the ownership of the company expects that to continue,” he said.
Read More:Drop-off point to replace public recycling program | News
2023-07-10 15:04:00