By Melissa Larson
As of September 2019, recycling glass and plastic are no longer available for Taos consumers.
I decided to investigate – why not? I went to a recycling meeting last week and learned some things about what is happening at the recycling yard in Taos today. They are down to one employee, and the rates for recycled commodities are at their lowest in years. Old corrugated cardboard worth over $100 per ton two years ago is now below $20 per ton. Mixed paper went from $30 per ton a year ago to $0 per ton now.
The market has collapsed and for the supply to be in demand again we need to manufacture products from the materials here and not depend on other countries to sort and use all of our waste.
Friedman Recycling in Albuquerque has been the sole source for recycling in Northern New Mexico, so all the recycled materials from Santa Fe, Taos and surroundings wind up down there. Like the landfill and waste collection system run by Waste Management Company, there is a monopoly on the goods, with one collector and one buyer dictating prices.
“Glass is 100 percent recyclable. It has unlimited life and can be recycled endlessly to make new glass products with no loss in quality.” But the the national average rate of recycling glass in the United States is around 30 percent of glass consumed, compared to Europe, which has 90 percent recycling rates for glass. In the 10 states where return deposits on glass bottles are in effect, the rate of returns is 98 percent. Glass manufacturers need to have it color-sorted, for making new glass containers.
Glass bottles could be manufactured in cube shape, making them easier to transport. In the 1960s, Heineken made a brick shaped bottle, designed to be used as a brick to build walls. Even round bottles can be used to build walls, and it looks nice to see the translucence of glass bottles bringing light into a room.
There are many uses even for the mixed-color glass cullet such as we have been collecting and crushing here in Taos. That cullet, which is stored in piles around the town property adjacent to the recycling yard, could be used in aggregate to surface roads, parking lots and concrete pavement. As a base material, recycled glass enhances the performance of gravel in an aggregate mix and in some cases stands alone as a base.
Recycled glass is used to mix with asphalt, applied to roads, highways and even airport runways to make these surfaces less slippery and less prone to cracking. Reflective paint used on highways is made from glass beads formed from recycled glass. I was surprised to learn that public works was considering transporting that glass cullet to Colorado, to be used in road construction there! What about using it in Taos?
New Mexico Department of Transportation sponsored a study of the use of recycled materials for roads in New Mexico in 1996. It considered the use of recycled asphalt (RAP), reclaimed concrete pavement, plastic, rubber and numerous other waste products including glass, but only RAP and concrete pavement were being recycled. No recycled materials derived from solid waste facilities were in use at that time.
In other states, innovative recycling companies and road builders have utilized a variety of waste materials. Glass, plastic, Sheetrock, asphalt roofing shingles and tires have been recycled and reused, preventing hundreds of thousands of tons of waste from filling landfills. I called Denise Peralta, who is overseeing the Paseo del Pueblo road construction here in Taos, and mentioned that the use of crushed glass in road aggregate is approved by NMDOT. Maybe they can design the asphalt incorporating some of our locally produced glass cullet into the mix.
There are many possibilities for using waste materials in construction. We have designed Fabricks for wall construction. ByFusion uses recycled plastic compressed and fused to make an alternative to concrete block. We could build water tanks with recycled plastic melted and formed into large containers to hold water for gardening projects.
Who recognizes Earth Day, America Recycles Day and the current concern for global climate change? Why are we are going backward and under threat that recycling will be totally eliminated in favor of landfilling, for cost-saving purposes? Are we waiting for the government to save us from our unlimited consumption to waste products? When is the time for enterprising minds and capital to finance products and construction projects with these abundant materials?
Melissa Larson owns Wholly Rags in Taos.
