Single-Stream Recycling Comes to Parsippany

Thanks to the recent Town Council decision to re-up with recycling firm Green Sky Industries, new things are on the horizon for Parsippany residents. One of the new services Green Sky will provide to the township in the new year is access to one of the hottest "green" trends in New Jersey: single-stream recycling.

According to Greg Schneider, director of the township's Department of Public Works, his staff is busy and the present recycling plan is going well.

"As well as we've got it in the minds of residents to recycle--which is a good thing--it creates a bigger workload. There are so many more bottles and cans, more cardboard... There's not as much paper, because people are reading the computer. So that's a negative because we make money when we sell our recycling. We have our hands full, but that's good."

Of course, better is better than good.

"We've been wracking our minds in this department, trying to find ways to make things better," Schneider said. "A couple of months ago, we came up with the thought that maybe single-stream recycling is the way to go."

Single-stream seems to be the new darling of the recycling world. A host of Morris County municipalities have moved to adopt the plan, which takes the responsibility of separating materials out of residents' hands. Those nearby towns include Morris Plains, Denville, Netcong, Mendham Township, Wharton, Boonton Township and Rockaway.

"It makes things super-easy for residents," Schneider said. "I don't want to say that it's completely different, because it isn't. People will still recycle the same material, but now they simply put everything together."

The operative word here is "simple," he said.

"The public will react to something that makes recycling simpler," Schneider explained. 'I have a milk carton in my garage. I have a garbage can for bottles and cans. I have a section for cardboard. I have this, I have that. Junk mail ends up in the garbage most of the time, because I don't have that  additional bin for it.' And so forth and so on."

Schneider noted as an aside that the department does accept junk mail with regular paper, but many residents, he said, don't realize they can recycle it.

"We're heading in the direction of having one can, and you can put whatever [recyclable material] you want in it. Open the garage door. See newspaper? Put it in there. Bottles and cans? Throw 'em in there," he said.

Schneider makes an exception for big pieces of cardboard. 

"Big cardboard I still would like to capture, because that is my most valuable commodity," he explained. "We're making almost $140 a ton for cardboard, which is far and above [what the town receives for] anything else we collect. It's a very lucrative revenue generator."

He said residents will not be forced to treat cardboard differently, but added that he hopes they will separate out the cardboard in the interest of raising money for the township (and perhaps offsetting some tax increases in the future).

"Cardboard probably won't fit in the can anyway," Schneider said, "so we're happy to pick it up at the curb."

The public works director said the idea has its downside as well. Because residents no longer have to separate bottles from paper from cans anymore, that means the staff at Green Sky will handle that task--which means the price received per ton will go down.

"Where we were capturing $80, $75 for paper a ton, what we're going to do now is have a price closer to $40 a ton," he said, noting that if single-stream encourages a greater number of citizens to recycle, the sheer volume of recycled items collected, separated or not, could make Parsippany more money overall.

Schneider added that bottles and cans, on their own, aren't the best money makers in general.

"We get $5 per ton," noted Schneider's administrative assistant, Marge Woelk.

"In the past, we used to have to pay to get rid of bottles and cans," the director said. "We haven't found a good use for bottles and cans yet, although that gets better and better each year," Schneider said. "The combination is what makes money for us."

Ultimately, he said the goal is to make $40-$45 per ton on recyclables grouped together. The exception will be cardboard separated from the rest of the resuable refuse, which Schneider said will likely get in the neighborhood of $140 per ton.

"If our residents cooperate and participate, this could end up being lucrative," he said. "Our goal is twofold: saving the environment and saving the taxpayers some money."

Schneider said another advantage of moving toward single-stream recycling and increasing the number of accepted recyclable items is that it will reduce the amount of solid waste produced in Parsippany households. He said this was good news for landfills and a good way to ease the burden on the person who carries the family trash out to the curb each week.

The deal, of course, is also good news to Green Sky, which, under the name Zozzaro Brothers, took care of Parsippany's recyclables.

"I'm glad we will continue to work with Green Sky. They've handled our recycling for about nine years," he said. "Good company... Always on the up and up."

The move to single-stream recycling has been a slow one for businesses,  the director said. "Green Sky is a great resource for this," Schneider said. "The company even has certified teachers that I can use to send to the schools to do talks on recycling. And the project generates revenue."

As of now, Schneider said the plan is for Parsippany DPW workers to prepare for single-stream recycling, which will be phased in around the start of the new year.

"We are one of the few towns in Morris County that handles its own garbage and recycling," he said. "If other towns are doing single-stream, my hand is kind of forced. We don't want to be behind them at any cost. Luckily, the man above me--the mayor--jumped on this and embraced it sooner than I expected."

Which means that before long, recycling will become a much easier proposition. Schneider said an official start date will be announced within the next few weeks.

"It goes back to what I was saying earlier," said Schneider. "Single-stream will make residents' lives a little easier. It obviously helps the environment. And it could make the town some money. I don't know how you beat that."