During the pandemic, I found the amount of recyclable material generated by my household increased exponentially, almost to an embarrassing volume. I'm not talking hoarder-level but close, to the point where I take periodic trips to the recycling center rather than put it out for pickup with the regular trash run. Stay-at-home orders issued during the pandemic created, for many of us, a shift in our daily lives from being in an office/business setting for 8-12 hours per day, to being at home nearly 100% of the time. Not unlike the Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020, waste that would have been generated on the commercial/business level shifted to the home front. American Disposal, who handles curbside trash and recycling for the Town of Middleburg and other local area towns, reports that the volume of trash and recycling in the residential market increased by more than 30% during the pandemic (they report a corresponding decrease in the commercial market). As Brandy Greenwell noted in last month's edition of the Middleburg Eccentric referring to her 2021 resolutions: "So. Much. Waste." Indeed.

Actually, what my household experienced was an increase in all types of recyclables across the spectrum. We're cooking more at home, and taking more advantage of online shopping. And many of us have found our empty nests refilled to occupancy—all contributing factors. To a lesser extent, Virginia ABC reports an 18% increase in ABC sales in 2020, contributing to an increase of glass recyclables. The most significant increase at our house has been cardboard boxes, almost to the point where I sense judgement from our regular delivery drivers. Over 90% of all products shipped in the US are shipped in corrugated boxes, which total more than 400 billion square feet of cardboard. For some reason, it feels like most of those boxes end up in my garage, making box breakdown day more of an event than a chore.

This got me thinking more about the types of materials we were recycling, but even more so about what really happens to the bins of recyclable material that we put out with the trash. I'm sure many of us have had the same thought at one point or another: are my recyclables really being treated any differently from the regular municipal waste stream that ends up in the landfill?

The term "single-stream recycling" deserves some discussion. Local waste collection companies that collect recyclable materials have all converted to single-stream recycling (sometimes referred to as "fully commingled" or "single-sort"), where all paper fibers, plastics, metals, and other materials are mixed in one container and hauled to a materials recovery facility where they are separated for reuse. Town of Middleburg residents are advised that the following materials are recyclable in this single stream:

• Polyethylene Terephthalate (PETE) and High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) Plastics. These have numerical designations on the bottom of the container: numbers 1-7 are acceptable for recycling and typically include rigid containers including jugs, bottles, cartons, tubs, trays, buckets, and bins.
• Metals, including aluminum, bimetal cans, foil, steel, and tin.
• Paper, including office magazines, newspapers, books, mail, shredded materials, and catalogs.
• Cardboard used for shipping/moving, (flattened) cereal, paperboard, frozen food

Absent from this list—glass. Recently, American Disposal stopped collecting glass bottles and jars as part of its curbside single-stream recycling program. This is primarily because broken glass mixes with other recyclable materials in the stream and drives up the cost of sorting. Also, the closest glass recycling facility is located in Baltimore, Maryland, making glass recycling with the rest of the recycling stream cost prohibitive for our area. The Town of Middleburg advises residents that glass recyclables can be taken to the Mickie Gordon Park recycling facility east of town. Conversely, Loudoun County requires waste haulers that provide curbside recycling within the county's jurisdiction (i.e., outside incorporated town boundaries) to collect glass bottles and jars for recycling as part of curbside service.

Loudoun County has also struggled with collection and sorting of glass recyclables. In an attempt to solve the issue, Loudoun County launched a pilot glass recycling program this past summer by placing purple dumpsters (they're actually pink, but you can't miss them) dedicated to glass recycling at the various county recycling centers. Locally, you can find these dumpsters at Mickie Gordon Park and the Philomont Fire Station. The glass collected in the bins is delivered to Fairfax County to be used in construction projects. Loudoun County has reported strong participation in the glass recycling program, with over 80 tons collected from July through December. Personally, I have found tossing all of our glass recyclables into the purple bins quite therapeutic.

Also missing from the list of recyclable materials are plastic bags. Here, American Disposal advises that plastic bags cannot be included in the stream of recyclable materials, nor can they be used to contain the recyclable materials that are placed curbside for pickup. They now require that all recyclable materials be loose in a recycling bin or contained within paper bags or cardboard. Recycle processing facilities cannot accept plastic bags in the recycling stream primarily because they get tied up around the spindles of the machinery at the recycling center that sorts the various types of recyclables which can cause sizable sorting delays (take a virtual tour of a recycle processing center by searching "The American Recycling Center Tour" on YouTube).

Many of the stores where we shop have brought back single use plastic bags and/or suspended the use of reusable bags during the pandemic. For the stores that permit reusable bags, we've all had to learn how to properly bag groceries ourselves. So, what to do with single use plastic bags? The Middleburg Safeway (and other Safeway stores and most grocers in general) has a plastic bag recycling depot located at the entrance of the store for the collection of all of these single use plastic bags. Safeway sends these reclaimed bags to Trex Company where they are reused in plastic decking, fencing, railing and furniture. We can also find secondary uses for plastic bags around our homes by using them to line trash cans, pick up and dispose of pet waste, and use as packing material.

In addition to limitations on glass and plastic bags, we also need to understand the items that are not considered recyclable. Generally, these including the following:

• Food or food waste
• Plastics other than bottles, jugs, or jars
• Styrofoam
• Chemical containers
• Batteries/electronics/light bulbs
• Clothing/diapers
• Medical wastes
• Scrap metal

While not an all-inclusive list, this covers the main categories. The Town of Middleburg has implemented programs to collect batteries, razor blades, and cigarette butts for recycling.

Back to the volume of recyclable material generated in my household. We've grown more aware of the refuse we generate, and in response have become more responsible in our efforts. We began by paying closer attention to what we're throwing away and segregating more carefully the recyclable materials from the trash. This has actually resulted in a significant reduction in the amount of trash we send to the landfill. Statistically, nearly 75% of the waste you create can be recycled, but recent studies have shown that less than 30% of the waste discarded in the U.S. is recycled.

My family now takes our recyclables to the Mickie Gordon Park and Philomont Fire Station recycling centers. We've also found creative uses for some of our recyclables around our property. For example, we line our raised garden beds with cardboard, which composts over the course of the season.

Recycling plastics, metals, cardboard, and paper has a wide range benefits, including energy and fresh water conservation, reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and job creation, just to name a few. For example:
• Recycling five plastic bottles provides enough fiber to create one square foot of carpet or enough fiber to fill one ski jacket.
• One ton of recycled paper can save as many as 17 trees.
• A single bale of recycled plastic saves approximately five barrels of oil.
• Recycling a single aluminum can is capable of saving enough energy to power a TV for three hours.
• It requires 95% less energy and water to recycle a can than it does to create a can from virgin materials.

Challenge yourself to reduce the amount of waste you generate by educating yourself on what materials can and cannot be recycled and the availability of various recycling options in and around your community. (Ric Woodie is an Environmental Consultant and member of the Middleburg Go Green Committee. He lives with his family just outside the town. The Go Green Committee was created through a Middleburg Town Council ordinance as an advisory body to the Town Council on environmental issues)