January 8, 2019
A new silent film-style public service ad from Baltimore County, Maryland demonstrates why many jurisdictions do not accept items such as plastic bags and clothing for recycling.
Produced in-house by Bureau of Solid Waste Management employees, “Tangled Up!” shows how operations are halted daily at the County’s MRF because of residents putting “tanglers” in their recycling bins. The fun, 90-second video can be viewed online at Facebook, YouTube and the County’s website.
What are Tanglers?
As most of you know, tanglers are materials such as plastic bags and textiles that get caught in the MRF equipment and must be cut out by hand, one by one, for operations to resume. At the end of each day, Baltimore County uses 10 temporary employees to cut tanglers from between a few thousand “stars” on the MRF’s five sorting screens. Watch footage of the sorting equipment at the County’s MRF becoming tangled with plastic bags and other items. If residents kept tanglers out of the recycling stream, these employees could do other maintenance.
Keeping tanglers out of the recycling stream is part of an overall effort by the County to reduce contamination. Waste management professionals across the nation can agree that reducing contamination has become more important due to China’s efforts to ban imports of certain products and tighten contamination limits on others. Baltimore County hopes the PSA will get people to think twice before they throw.
Keep Tanglers Out of the Recycling Stream
Baltimore County asks its residents to reuse, upcycle, donate or properly dispose of tanglers in a trash can instead of placing them in the recycling bin. Local retailers often accept plastic bags for recycling. Residents are encouraged to visit abagslife.com or plasticfilmrecycling.org to find plastic bag recycling drop-off locations nationwide. In addition, people can use online tools such as donationtown.org or Baltimore County’s Reuse Directory to find places to donate clothing, linens and other items that are not accepted for recycling. For tangler upcycle projects and reuse ideas, residents can search Pinterest and follow Clean Green Baltimore County on Facebook.
If tanglers are a problem for your jurisdiction, feel free to share Baltimore County’s PSA with your customers. Contact Jeanette Garcia Polasky at jgpolasky@baltimorecountymd.gov for more information.
Blog provided by Jeanette Garcia Polasky, Communications Specialist, Baltimore County Bureau of Solid Waste Management
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