From WXXI news.

This is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Our connection this hour was made with a new study on plastic waste released just last week.

And I'm going to start this hour with a question for you.

400 million tons of new plastic was produced around the world last year.

What percentage will be recycled?

The answer an estimated 9.5%.

That's it.

And in the United States, 5%.

One of the worst offenders.

I'll read from the study now.

Researchers from Xinhua University in China said the rate of recycling had barely budged, even as plastic production had exploded, presenting a pressing global environmental challenge.

The findings, published in the journal Communications Earth and Environment, come as nations prepare to battle again over a treaty to address plastic pollution.

After the last round of negotiations failed to broker an agreement.

All of which is to say, I'm sorry that you still cannot recycle the plastic container for your strawberries and blueberries from the grocery store.

This hour, it's one of the most popular pairs of guests.

We have two people who can answer just about any question you have about what can and cannot be recycled.

We invite your questions on all things recycling, reusing, etc.

send them now.

Email us connections at Dawg connections@sky.org.

Throw them in the YouTube chat.

If you're watching on the YouTube channel for Sky news, or you can call the program toll free.

844295 talk.

8442958255263.

If you call from Rochester 263999 for answering your questions this hour.

Mike Garland, director of the Monroe County Department of Environmental Services.

Welcome back to the show to you.

It's great to be back.

Evan and Tina Stevens is a waste diversion and education coordinator for the Monroe County Department of Environmental Services.

You guys should come in with you know, like the bat signal, wearing a cape and masks and superhero costumes and everything.

Tina, welcome back to you.

Thank you.

Ivan.

Always a pleasure to be here.

Great.

Great to have you.

I already have a few questions.

We're gonna get to those that we've already collected in just a second.

Again, listeners get questions in early and often if you want to know what you can and cannot recycle.

Now, I hope I was not wrong when I mentioned off the top and I tried to do this one early, because we always get it.

My strawberry and blueberry container.

Still no, you can't recycle those things, which is still, it remains absurd to me because they're so common, and it pains me whenever I finish a set of strawberries.

In fact, I might have been accused of witch cycling last week one time, just kind of absentmindedly, because I think my brain, even though we've done these shows, my and Tina, my brain still like this should be recycled.

So I'm not thinking.

I just throw it in there and then I go, oh, but then what am I supposed to do, throw it in the garbage?

Tina, you're pretty good about reusing.

What do we do with these things?

Well, it's funny that you say that because my baby granddaughter, Nora is visiting from North Carolina, and of course, she's nine months old.

So it's fruit.

Fruit, fruit.

Yeah.

And I had all these, clamshells last week, and I looked at them and I went, man, what do I do with these?

They have to go in the trash.

We in Monroe County, we cannot accept them.

Can't do it now in other counties.

I mean, again, you can only speak for Monroe County, from what you understand about what's happening around our region.

That's also true.

is there anybody that's actually doing it around the region?

Yes there are.

Okay.

Ontario County, is their materials recycling facility is operated by Casella Waste, and they accept them as part of their program now for Rochester area or Monroe County area, residents who have Casella.

Those items will be acceptable if Casella picks up your waste and that it leads into another thing because as of last week, Casella purchased a small hauler called Ciroc.

So the folks who had you should really look at Casella list of acceptable items.

Always follow the list of what your hauler tells you.

Does anybody ever bring these containers to the eco park?

Oh yeah, they do.

Yeah.

And what do you tell them they're taking back with you?

Yeah.

Pretty much.

Wow.

Where they end up in the trash.

But we're working with them.

Who is our operator at the Monroe County Recycling Center and technology that can support those?

Well, we want to do is minimize contamination.

And that's the challenge with the berry containers.

So when you talk about contamination, Mike, you mean what percentage of stuff in that bin should not be in the bin?

That's exactly right.

And you talked about wish cycling in a few programs ago.

You talked about jerk cycling, which I thought was really funny, which people just wanted to put in there regardless if it is recyclable or not.

More of a wish cycle or sometimes.

And I'm trying not to be.

I'm trying to follow all of your rules.

Well, we appreciate that.

We know you're a dedicated environmental stewardship.

You got high marks, certainly.

No doubt.

But, you mentioned the Dirty Dozen, and that's a reminder to folks about how to recycle, right?

And it's not just about what you can recycle.

It's about what you should.

Not because contamination will lower the value of the product, the material that's process that's ultimately going to be recycled into a new product.

It can interfere with mechanical equipment.

It can shut down the entire process, and it can cause injury to the employees working in the recycling center.

So again, what percentage roughly on average, is Monroe County a been?

What percentage of what's in the bin should not be in the bin?

right now we are running about 9.8%, which is really out.

That's pretty good.

Yeah.

Nationwide it's 25%.

1 in 4 items I lost just because of this show.

I think it's because of all the appearances.

Ariel just joined the YouTube chat and said the recycling episodes of connections are basically my version of Shark Week.

So.

All right, there we go.

So much, and I see the phone ring.

And we'll get to your calls coming up here.

but be a good steward here.

And you guys, if you're watching on YouTube, you can see on the table here, they brought a bunch of stuff here.

you make it, you try to make it easy for people to have magnets and materials around the house or apartment so they can see what can be recycled.

Right?

That's exactly right.

We've got magnets right here.

Go right on the refrigerator.

I just gave one to your colleague, John Sally.

And these are good for any type of discussions that might be happening in the kitchen, or disputes or arguments about what can and can't be recycled.

This is a great place to start.

We've got a lot of key cards that are available publicly at the county, towns and village offices as well.

And we have our Alexa app and that's ask Alexa, ask Alexa, hey, let's open Monroe County Recycling free of charge.

You don't have to download it.

In fact, I think the single biggest user of our Alexa app is my own mother, Mary Ellen Cartwright, and she loves it.

She does ask me questions about recycling any more.

She goes right to Alexa and she sets the gold standard as well.

So it's one of the only.

Again, I like that I'm trying to create a list of like AI or intelligence that, you know, I don't think we'll destroy the planet.

And I helping the planet.

There we go, I like that.

That's right.

So we have to take a multi-pronged approach.

And Tina is our in-house expert in how to get that information out in multiple types of media.

So that it's effective.

And I think that's contributory to our excellent, recycling rate here in Monroe County.

And we do have a long history in Monroe County of just dedicated environmental stewardship.

One of the notes I got before the program began was a listener saying, sorry, if this gets asked every time, there is nothing that you should hold back on listeners.

If there's anything that you want to know, and there's stuff that comes up every show.

That's why I mentioned the fruit containers, pill bottle, stuff like that.

Ask away because we need to hear this multiple times to build the habit.

If you are like me and you probably spent years wish cycling those berry containers and it takes a while to break that habit.

So if you've got questions, there's really nothing that's out of bounds.

The other thing I just wanted to ask briefly about, because I was reading about this idea of, you know, kind of this international effort to figure out what to do with plastic, 5% of American plastic getting recycled is really a rough number.

And, and so part of what I was reading said another hindrance is purely economic.

It is often cheaper to make new plastic than it is to recycle existing plastic.

So just market forces there.

Mike, does that make sense?

It does make sense.

and you know, the the origin of plastic recycling came out of, of litter, right?

There was a litter issue in our community.

And now it's about recovering, valuable material that can be repurposed and it's generally petroleum based.

So, but again, here in Monroe County, we have great, compliance as it relates to plastic recycling.

So all right, well, let's start with a question from Kim in Rochester.

Hey, Kim, go ahead.

Oh, hey, Alvin, great with your podcast and everything.

I love listening to your show, even if it's on, repeat at 10:00 at night or something.

Ten my, shout out to my girl, and this is Kim Hudson.

I miss you guys.

Oh, we miss you, too, Kim.

Anyway, the one thing that's really frustrating for me.

I mean, I try to, recycle as much as I can, and if I get a container I'm not familiar with or haven't used before, then I do look at the number.

Even though I know we don't recycle.

These are numbers, and it's very frustrating for me that I cannot read the number of times it's so tiny and sometimes you can even.

Oh, Kim, we're losing you.

But I think we got most of it, so I'm going to pick it up from here.

Kim first of all, Kim, great to hear from you.

Thank you for the phone call.

Kim's got, I think, a two pronged concern about numbers on the packages.

Number one, hard to read them.

And number two, hard to remember what they're supposed to mean.

That okay, maybe that's me putting myself under Kim's call there, but I think a lot of people feel this way.

Tina, since 2017, in Monroe County, we have not recycled by the numbers.

And I understand where Kim is coming from.

It's an unfamiliar package.

Okay, I'll just look at it and see.

Yep.

But again, a lot of times, as she said, they are very hard to see.

But what you have to remember are bottles, jugs, jars and tubs.

If it's one of those four things, it can be recycled.

If it isn't, please put it in the trash bottles, jugs, jars, tubs, bottles, jugs, jars and tubs.

And don't be like me where you're like, this could qualify as a tub that's, you know, like cycling.

so the numbers, if you're in Monroe County don't mean anything.

I don't know if you're a Casella customer.

I don't know if you're in surrounding company, counties.

What that means.

There.

Do you know offhand, Gina?

Yeah, I don't know.

I can't make Tina and Mike the expert on every county in the region.

but I think this applies in a lot of places.

If you don't live in Monroe County, just ask.

There's got to be a way for you to find out.

Because I know, Kim, your concern is shared by a lot of people.

So, Okay, I think that's a good place to start.

All right.

A few more emails here before I get back to your phone calls.

And then we're going to do the Dirty Dozen, which is always good.

email from Travis.

Okay, so no strawberry containers, but what kind of plastic can I recycle?

Can you go over a detailed list of plastic I can recycle?

Tina.

Plastic bottles, jugs, jars and, I mean, after a while, it gets it gets stuck in your head and you know what to look for.

But that's the best thing.

The best way to remember it.

And if you go to our website, Monroe county.gov/recycling, you can request a whole package of information.

We mail it out, I mail them out.

I've mailed out more than 100 in the last couple of days, so we're happy to do that.

To clarify for folks.

All right.

So Travis, I'm going to say it one more time.

Bottles, jugs, jars, tubs.

Yep.

And and Travis, you can check out the Cyclopedia, which is a PDF document on Monroe county.gov backslash recycling.

Great document that Tina created with the remarkable artwork from Chris Lyons on what can and can't be recycled and what can go to eco park bottles, jugs, jars and tubs.

Now that means, for example, sometimes you'll see like a little pull tab of plastic on, a bottle that you have, a coffee creamer, the little plastic pull tab.

Tina, that's that's not a yeah, it's got to be bigger than two inches.

Two inches.

Yeah.

Otherwise it'll fall right through into what's called the residue.

And the cap can be, you know, put back reverse into the container for sure.

but just don't have it going loose or it'll go into the waste stream.

Okay.

Bottles, jugs, jars and tubs.

Kevin wants to know, what about old soiled clothing?

The kind with stains that won't come out and can't be handed down?

Well, we accepted the eco park.

old clothing, even clothing that can't be worn.

Worn again.

It just has to be clean.

odorless.

And even if it's not wearable, it will be, recycled, repurposed in some way, shape or form.

We partner with goodwill, but there are many other outlets here in the community.

So, that was Kevin's email.

So, Kevin, two things.

Clothing and shoes is part of the 2025 Dirty Dozen.

Don't put that in the blue bin.

People put clothes in the blue bins.

They still put a lot of things in the blue bin.

I know they put a lot of things, but clothes are always like clothes.

Yeah.

Clothes.

Yeah.

There was cycling and that's okay.

We know their hearts in the right place, but, please come out to the eco park and we'll be happy to give some eco Park pro tips if they like.

Hey, so at least you can go to the eco park with clothing.

Oh, yeah.

Oh no doubt.

So that's good.

That's good.

Just not in the blue bin.

and, let me get John and Fairport on the phone next.

Hey, John, go ahead.

Yeah.

Hi.

All right.

Good.

don't want to.

Don't want to be a downer here, but, you know, listening to this, this show, so I'm the recycler in our household, and, you know, I try, like to get everyone to get on board, and my wife yells at me for pulling stuff out of the garbage.

but, it's just too it's still too complicated.

And the average person isn't going to take the time to educate themselves, the way that they have to, to to really understand what can and can't go in the recycling bin.

So, unfortunately, and to I think it has to be a situation where everything goes in and there's a piece of equipment or a way to easily sort out what will contaminate, you know, the, the rest of the good recycled materials, for it to really work.

John the realist, I don't I mean, I don't know, I'm a little more optimistic than that, but I understand John's point.

Go ahead.

Mike.

Yeah, and I do too.

Thank you, John, for that.

I it's no fun being the recycling cop at home.

I know that well.

And, but again, if you haven't tried, Alexa, I'd encourage you to do so.

you can get Alexa, you know, app on your phone.

You can you can buy a device relatively affordably.

You can ask away.

Hopefully that will make it a little bit easier or maybe even a little more fun on the home front.

Yeah.

I mean, John, we're at under 10% items in the blue bin that shouldn't be there.

When Tina says the national average is around 25%.

So it's not inevitable that that, you know, we're all just kind of can continue down that road as poorly educated consumers or just not change in our habits.

I do take your point.

But Mike, you did say that there is improving technology that sorts.

Is that right?

Well, who is our operator, the recycling center at and Emerson is always investing in, new technology for different materials to, to improve, what they're able to collect and process and then ultimately market.

So that's, that's ongoing technology.

I would say to John, you know, when in doubt, throw it out.

I know some people don't like that, but we'd rather, minimize the contamination than risk devaluing a bill that's going out to be processed and marketed.

All right.

We've got some phone lines up.

Email is a little out of control already, and we're going to get a lot.

Mike Garland, director of the Monroe County Department of Environmental Services.

Tina Stevens, a waste diversion and education coordinator for the Monroe County Department of Environmental Services.

844295 talk.

If you want to call the program toll free and have questions about recycling, what can be recycled, what cannot, what's inbounds, what's out of bounds, what to do with that stuff?

Please call the program 844295825 5 or 2 six three WXXI if you're in Rochester.

2639994 you can email the program connections at XXI.

Org you can join the chat on our YouTube channel.

Okay, so here we go with a bunch.

We're going to try to just clear out a bunch before we get back to the Dirty Dozen.

If you don't mind.

Art wants to know is wax coated cardboard recyclable?

Tina wax coated cardboard is not recyclable curbside.

What I would do is a check with your vendor and find out.

A lot of times they will take that back because it's able to be reused.

There's also a place in, I believe it's in the South that takes that wax coated cardboard and uses it to make fire starters, so those are some things that could be done with it, but you need to get it there.

I would check with whoever, like if it's bananas, let's say it's a box of bananas.

Check with your vendor.

A lot of times they'll want it back.

Let's start with this though.

Our wax coated cardboard should not go in blue bins.

That's correct.

Okay, two similar questions.

Jennifer says what is a plastic jar like a yogurt or sour cream container?

I think of glass, but I'm thinking of jars here.

And this is Mary Lou.

And around to quote says, how about yogurt containers?

Single serving.

Are they tubs or jars?

Okay.

Yogurt is tubs.

Jars generally have a screw off lid.

Think of parmesan cheese okay okay.

Those would be a jar okay.

The qualifier on a yogurt container is it has to hold up.

You cannot be able to crush it with your hands because there are yogurts.

And Activia is one of them that you can crush that with your hands.

It's almost paper like that should go in the trash.

If it's a hard sided yogurt container, clean it out and recycle it.

okay, so shorthand for yogurt is clean it out and if you cannot crush it with your hand, okay, okay, okay.

Yeah.

It's fairly rigid.

Yeah.

It's acceptable, but if you know it's flimsy and crushes easily, then trash it.

Is that most yogurt or not?

I'm trying to think.

No.

most are lots of carrots that have the hard sided ones.

Okay, there you go.

on and on we go.

Here.

this is Connie.

Film style plastic.

The kind that can be returned to the grocery store.

Is it okay to leave on plastic?

But paper labels, paper labels.

Tina.

Yes, yes.

That's fine.

There's no problem with that.

Okay.

So, Connie, that's in bounds there.

boy, lots of questions on containers.

Judy wanted to know about it.

Says my question about the tops of containers, the top on sour cream or other food tub, that, or other food that's in tubs.

They are very flat, which was the reason that strawberry containers aren't recyclable.

They get crushed too flat.

So tops of containers like the top of sour cream.

Mike.

Well, if you can keep it on the container, we'll accept it.

But generally, it should always be always lids back on.

Always.

It's the best way to assure they're going to get, recycled.

So lid back.

yeah.

Always.

Okay.

Cindy wants to know, how about tofu tubs?

She says it's more of a box.

Tofu tubs.

I don't know that I wanted out on that one.

I think that's, that's going into the trash.

If it's a really rigid plastic, depending on the size of the container.

Again, as Tina says, if it if it's rigid, it can get through the equipment and process properly.

If it's flimsy, just imagine that it's getting hung up in paper, cardboard bales and ultimately will devalue that bale when it's going out to market.

All right, Cindy, see if that answers your question there.

Send me a note if, if there's still any confusion there.

Betsy in Brighton is next on the phone.

Hey, Betsy, go ahead.

I have a question regarding the.

I know, like the court says, yogurt containers are recyclable.

What about.

Oh, boy.

Now we lost Betsy.

Boy, we're in another.

Are you still there, Betsy?

Oh, hold on a second.

I'm sorry.

Betsy, I lost you.

Go ahead.

Let's do that again.

Betsy, do the questioning.

I, I see the, the yogurt containers that are like, quartz.

I know those are recyclable.

What about the lids?

Because they're kind of flying free.

Yeah.

Put the lids back on and put those in your container.

That's the best way to assure they're going to get, recycled.

Always.

Okay.

And then any lid should be reattached to anything.

Oh, okay.

Thank you for that.

And the other suggestion that I had is the clamshell containers.

I get a lot of them because they shop at the public market, and I try to reuse them by making cookies and distributing them to my colleagues at work using the clamshells.

Excellent.

Thank you.

That's a great idea, Betsy.

And by the way, Betsy's call makes me think of my own habits with Topps.

My guess is I probably throw too many loose tops and the bins.

See, that's the two to it.

Yeah, yeah, they'll never make it through.

Yeah, I've gotten much better.

Although not perfect, as I remembered last week about the strawberry and blueberry containers from Wegmans.

I, I've got a long way to go on Topps reattach the Topps, everybody RI.

That's right.

Catch the Topps to your bottles, jugs, jars, and tubs, bottles, jugs, jars and tubs.

That's that's a refrain here on YouTube, Charlie says.

How about paper mailers with bubble wrap on the inside?

No, those are huge.

If they're paper on the outside and bubble wrap on the inside, there's no way to separate that out.

Please put those in the trash or reuse them.

Charlie.

There you go.

They should stop making those.

They gotta be a better way to do it.

Then, here's Bob, he says.

How about the foil tops from yogurt tubs?

No.

Yeah.

Go right in the trash.

Yep.

That's not recyclable.

Don't put that.

Yep.

then he says, how about those yogurt tubs without tops?

I don't I'm less familiar with that.

What yogurt are you getting that is not topped, Charlie.

Oh, that's Bob.

Bob, don't eat that yogurt.

I don't think it's yogurt.

or maybe email me back and show me a picture, because I don't know what you're talking about.

Black plastic mushroom tubs.

He says, how about those?

Oh, those are the foam equivalent.

Yeah, those can go in the trash unless you can find a reuse for them paper oatmeal containers.

That's a good question.

Those generally will have a waxy product on them.

They may have contamination in them as well too.

I'd say when in doubt on that to throw it out ten degrees.

Okay.

So yeah, my son's a big fan of the brown sugar oatmeal.

This container.

Do you get the box?

There's like 12.

Yeah.

And I think I've been throwing those.

I dump out the oatmeal from the paper.

I think I've been thrown that in the recycling.

Yeah.

But I think they have foil on the end too much.

No, it's not foil but I think it is kind of coated.

Yeah.

It's almost like a coffee cup in a way too.

Okay.

So all right.

So that's going to have to go in the trash there.

any Bob finishes with this metal coffee cans.

Is it important to include the plastic tops or not.

Metal coffee tins.

Probably this I would say.

No, in that case.

You know why?

Because the lids are mostly plastic and that's multi material.

But that that metal can definitely be recovered.

It'll be pulled off by magnet.

So I would say probably throw that lid away okay.

Boy this we're going to set a record today.

How do you guys feel.

We're barely half crank it.

We're good.

We got the rest of the afternoon.

Oh yeah Cathy wants to know about over-the-counter pills, lotions, vitamins and plastic bottles and also prescription bottles.

The brown rigid plastic.

So the, prescription bottles that are generally relatively small, they're like an orange brown color.

we do not want those in the recycling.

They're part of the dirty dozen.

in large part, they can contain of old pharmaceuticals.

They can contain personal information.

They're relatively small.

So they get hung up, in the waste stream at the recycling center.

So we want to minimize prescription bottles.

You can save those and bring them to the eco park.

Will gladly accept them or recycle them.

Just make sure there's, if there's content in them, bring them over to the pharmaceutical waste.

If they're empty, we'd recommend, you know, crossing out the personal information, but it's not necessary.

over-the-counter medications can go into the pharmaceutical disposal as well at the eco park.

And there's a number of other outlets for pharmaceutical disposal here in the community.

you know, lotions and things of that nature would empty, you know, generally empty those bottles out, wash them out, and then recycle them properly.

We have a number of questions asking us to explain what the eco park is, where it is, and how to use it.

So this is good timing for that.

Let's do that.

We love talking about the eco park.

And we're we're coming up on our, 15th year.

And it's a partnership with Monroe County.

And, one of a kind really in the country.

We went around the country, to look at different, similar facilities.

We think Monroe County's is the most comprehensive.

it's located at ten Avon Drive, not far from the airport, centrally located in Monroe County.

not entirely convenient for everyone, but the reality is, it's centrally located, and we're open Wednesday afternoons and Saturday mornings.

We know folks that are, frequent fliers at the local park would like it open more often, but we have limited resources, and we're trying to keep our expenses down and, and maximize our, collection.

Certainly.

but what we recommend folks do, you do it in an appointment.

If you're bringing household hazardous waste, that's the only item, that requires, an appointment.

everything else is self-serve.

But the best time to arrive at the eco park is, after 3 p.m. on Wednesdays and before 11 a.m. on, Saturdays.

this is a time of year that people really love to get out to the eco park.

They're cleaning out their garages, their basements.

We've got a whole host of information from electronics.

Again, household hazardous waste appliances, textiles, clothing.

we take vapes, syringes, many items, even propane tanks, which is on our dirty dozen list.

But, people that might be getting ready to camp or have been camping, this past season, they're looking to get rid of those propane tanks.

Please bring those to the eco park.

So it's a one stop drop for her to dispose of, but recoverable and recyclable material that doesn't belong in the curbside recycling.

And we definitely want to keep it out of the landfills and online.

Where can people get more information?

Monroe county.gov backslash eco park.

Or you can ask Alexa, ask Alexa, that's a great idea.

and I want to say again, we have a lot of emails on this.

So I hope that answered your questions.

But listeners, if you still have questions about what should go, the websites probably got it.

Alexa's probably got it.

But if you want to call or email, you can do that too.

We'll we'll just keep on rolling with your feedback.

I've got to squeeze in a few more phone calls before we get her only break.

And then I've got about 6000 emails that we're going to try to get in.

let's get Marcus in Bloomfield.

Hey, Marcus, go ahead.

Yeah.

Hi.

Good afternoon.

thanks for taking my call.

Appreciate you guys efforts.

And, Yeah, I was just wondering if, you know, guitar strings, like electric guitars or acoustic guitars can be recycled.

A metal, metal, metal strings are guitar strings.

Good question.

Marcus.

You will.

Excellent question.

Marcus.

Very, very timely too.

and I enjoy playing guitar.

Now for what?

What do I do with these guitar strings?

But they're a tanker.

And even though they're metal, they can get hung up, in the processing equipment and could really shut down, a processing line within the recycling center causing damage and delay.

So, unfortunately, right now for recycling string, for guitar strings, go in the trash or just try to clean them up and reuse them.

Okay.

Thank you so much.

It's hit to recycle.

Thanks, Marcus.

Marcus, thank you very much.

Play that guitar too.

We need more music.

let's get Michael in Rochester next.

Hey, Michael.

Go ahead.

Hello, Evan, this is Michael.

I have a question that is a little off topic.

I was wondering about recycling organic matter here in Rochester.

Foliage, branches, all kinds of, vegetable and fruit peels.

it would be wonderful if Rochester would be gathering these things because many people do not compost gathering these things and, processing them elsewhere.

good questions.

Michael.

Mike.

Go ahead.

thank you so much for that question, Michael.

Really timely.

Excellent question.

give a quick shout out to the city of Rochester Department of Environmental Services.

They have a pilot program, residential, food waste, organic, pilot program to collect that waste because we know, food waste, organic waste, can be a significant source of, greenhouse gas emissions, particularly methane.

So we want to minimize that naturally.

But we also want to recover the the potential on the value of that organic waste, whether it's compost or producing energy.

So there's a number of initiatives the county has underway right now.

first and foremost is an organic organics management plan, where we want to evaluate and determine the quantity and the type of material that we have here in Monroe County.

That's organics, whether it's residential food waste organics, whether it's industrial organics, whether it's yard waste, it can also include agricultural and commercial.

So we have, a plan underway right now and you can go to Monroe county.gov on the front page of of the county's website.

There's an opportunity to participate in a survey.

So it's Monroe county.gov.

And you can share your thoughts and feelings about recycling and yard waste.

Is is very important.

We manage all of the, leaves and yard waste that's collected by the city of Rochester.

And we reproduce compost for the city through a giveback program.

All right.

Great stuff.

Thank you.

There, Michael.

my colleague Chris wants to know what about paint?

My understanding is once you buy paint, you have it forever.

That's it.

Like, it's probably gonna be in your garage.

Your basement.

You're going to convince yourself you're going to use it again in the future, and you never will.

We?

There are a couple of options for paint.

First of all, our eco park requires an appointment.

Okay.

Wednesday afternoon, Saturday morning.

Limit of 30 gallons.

And you'd be surprised how much 30 gallons when you get to that basement.

Evan, how much paint and how much paint do you think the nursery need is 30 gallons of paint.

Okay, so anyway, the other option is a new program, funded by the fact that when you buy paint now, you pay a fee.

it's called paint care.

And there are Sherwin Williams stores, Ace Hardware stores throughout the county who all accept this material.

you can go to Paint Care, the paint care website, to check it out.

Okay.

And there's no appointment for that.

You could just take it right in, like you're going to the store.

Okay.

I would think it is almost malicious to put paint in your blue bin.

I mean, I don't think my colleague would be nuts enough to do that.

Let me even put it on the Dirty Dozen, because I assume you won't do that.

But call and set it up with the eco park.

You need to appointment, but you can go.

You can make an appointment online to on an online.

Online.

Okay.

and Jim had sent this the last time you all were on, and we didn't get to it.

And here he is again.

So this is this is Jim.

He says, the recycling show is always very interested in much appreciated.

We use the eco park regularly.

There is an alternative to disposal of propane tanks.

12 years after the date of manufacture, they can be requalify.

I've done this with mine.

I think they are good for another five years after requalification.

and says it was some years ago.

I don't remember the details, but my recollection is I took it to Mileage Master in Penfield.

They label them and collect them.

and so okay, so I'm wondering about I about Jim's point about requalify propane.

Tina, that is the first I've heard of that oven, but thanks for the tip.

Great tip Jim.

You can do it.

So that's something for us to look into.

Generally speaking, though, don't put your propane tanks in the blue bins.

People do that apparently.

Oh they do.

Yeah.

They're an explosion a source of explosion.

Fires for the recycling.

Very good.

Imagine.

Yeah.

What are we doing here, everybody?

You know what the big culprits are?

Those little tiny 1 pound ones.

Okay?

Not so much the big, you know, 20, 30 pound ones.

The little ones.

People think, oh, it's empty.

I'll put it in the bin.

When it goes to the truck.

The truck compacts it.

It explodes.

Okay.

That's terrible.

And we're not going to do that anymore.

Yeah, it's part of the Dirty Dozen.

But.

But apart from the requalification that Jim talks about.

Thank Jim.

What is the plan for your propane tanks?

Again welcome you to Eco Eco Park for sure.

You know Jim's point a great one.

And the reason I say that is because an eco park website, we have a search engine, so we know the eco park may not be the most convenient location or the hours of operation.

We want to point, residents in, in wherever there's an opportunity to recycle material.

So what Jim suggested for us, we'll research and and we can include that on our website as an alternative for folks.

I'm trying to get through as much of your questions as we can this hour, and this is our only break when we come back with Mike Garland and Tina Stevens from Monroe County talking about what you can and can't recycle.

We're going to rip through the full Dirty Dozen.

So you've got that knowledge, and I'm just going to come right back to your calls and emails, because there's a lot.

Let's come right back on connections.

I'm Evan Dawson Thursday on the next connections.

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And on Thursday, we meet a couple who made the painful decision to close their family winery, and they look to the future.

They'll join us on Thursday.

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Keep the questions coming on what can and can't be recycled?

What can and can't go to the Monroe County Eco Park?

Every year they put out the Dirty Dozen, the 2025 Dirty Dozen.

I'm just going to kind of go through point by point.

We've talked about some of them.

Number one, batteries, Tina and Mike, batteries.

What do you want people to know?

And you know, keep them out of the recycling bin.

Bring them to the eco park, please.

Lithium ion batteries can be a significant source of of fire, at home or through damage.

Lithium ion batteries, vape devices contain those batteries.

So, please bring those to the eco park.

Keep them out of the recycling bin.

Two propane tanks.

We just talked about that one number three foam, foam can be recycled at the eco park.

However, it cannot have food or been a takeout container or a cup or an egg carton.

We want the large pieces of packing foam that are clearly labeled with the number six.

That's all like a cooler.

A lot of times you get coolers with food packaged in them.

Those can go to the eco park, plastic.

We have talked a lot about bottles, jugs, jars and tubs is the refrain of the day.

Bottles, jugs, jars and tubs of plastic can be recycled.

The rest cannot.

anything you want to add on plastic that you pretty much whenever we get there.

Okay.

Food and liquids compost that stuff.

But recycling bin again I want to talk to the people who are putting banana peels in the recycling and the blue bin.

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

Okay.

And the other thing you have to be careful of is that everything you put in there is clean.

Because, for example, you could have, a soda bottle that was half full.

Don't do that.

Because when that soda bottle is compacted, that soda goes all over it.

It destroys your paper, it destroys your cardboard.

Everything clean, dry and empty.

And I could add to that, too.

At the county, County Executive Adam Bello included $50,000 in this year's budget for a school district food waste diversion pilot program.

So we want to get into the schools and assist in a way that they can develop, food waste diversion programs within, whether it's the classroom, cafeteria or however they want to manage that food waste by reducing either what they consume and minimizing the amount that they waste.

Okay.

Next up, number six on the list of the Dirty Dozen bagged recycling.

Yes, we see a lot of this, in a lot of places in, in like a multi-unit residential apartment complex, for example, people will put their recycling in a bag and then put it in a toaster.

Well, when that goes to the recycling center, that bag is literally just pulled out and put in the trash.

Folks at the recycling center do not have time to empty it and sort it.

It is literally in the trash.

Everything in your bin needs to be loose.

Okay, that's bagged recycling number seven.

Rope and hoses.

Ropes and hoses are a tanker.

people are, you know, well intentioned, but, it should not go in the recycling bin whatsoever.

either try to repurpose those, reuse those in some way, shape or form, or unfortunately send them to the trash.

Number eight electronics.

Electronics.

It is actually illegal for New York state law to put electronics in the trash or the recycling over the winter.

We had a a great influx of this.

For some reason we think it was the bad winter and people not being able to either get out or go to, central place to drop it off.

But please, electronics.

Never in the recycling bin.

There are lots and lots of local places that will take them, and they're all interest or excuse me, they're all listed on our website.

All right.

Number nine, plastic bags.

Collect those at home.

and you can either bring them to the eco park or you can bring them to a local retail outlet, and they'll accept those plastic bags and film.

I'm going to squeeze in Elizabeth's email about this one, since I was wondering about the different types of clear plastic bags that can be returned.

I know you don't take, these plastics, but maybe, I think she's asking, you know, maybe, you know, someone who can take them.

There's very little information or clarification of types of plastic bags.

I know some of these plastics are made of different types of materials.

And like the different plastics we put in our recycling boxes, some may not be able to be processed the same.

It's always a very confusing thing.

Before I put my Plex plastics together, and I stand there for many minutes wondering what should I do?

And I put a certain bag in.

Is it going to blow the whole thing?

So okay, bags and film, there are guidelines are well, we tell people, don't look at the numbers, but in this case I need to reference the numbers.

It's number two or a number four.

If you put your finger through it and it stretches, it can go in the recycling.

If it's crinkly or you poke a hole in it, throw that away okay okay.

All right.

That's helpful.

Elizabeth.

Thank you.

now, back to your dirty dozen.

Number ten clothing and shoes.

We talked about that.

Don't put clothing and shoes in your bin.

Right.

But go to the eco park.

You can bring it to the eco park.

You can bring them to goodwill, any not for profit.

And if you have a preferred one, all good medication, bottle, sharps and syringes.

We talked a little bit about prescription bottles.

They're pretty popular.

Idea is if you can put it on the bottles, reuse those if you can.

Sure.

Different different sources.

Save them up and bring them the eco park.

Yep.

Sharps and syringes.

Mike.

Yeah, that's a that's a really important one.

I know we've talked to that about it on prior, shows, but we've seen a significant increase in needles, sharps and syringes in the recycling bin.

Again, people wanting to they think they're doing the right thing, or maybe they're a, health care office.

It's finding a convenient way to dispose of these, but with with the uptick in, self injectable medications like Mozambique and others, we're seeing a huge uptick going into the processing facility.

It's obviously degrading the value of the material, but it's also, creating a potential harm to the operators there as well, too.

So, save them up in a, in a medical container or in a laundry basket with the proper label, and we'll accept them at the eco park.

And there's many other outlets in the community and information online.

All right, finally, number 12 of 12 of the dirty Dozen tarps and covers.

We see a lot of this, especially at the eco park.

there's basically nothing that can be done with these.

At the eco park, we have this thing called, bulky plastic.

It's bulky plastic bin.

And that is designed for, like, lawn furniture and, and children's toys, those kinds of things.

And people bring over hot tub covers and tarps.

Those things are not recyclable.

If you can't reuse them, put them in the trash.

There's your dirty dozen.

And, now back to your land of emails.

Boy.

So many.

I'm just going to hit them kind of randomly here.

Bob wants to know about extension cords.

Extension cord.

Eco Park can go to the eco park.

Do not put those in the recycling bin in the blue bin, Jeffrey says.

How clean do items have to be that I recycle?

He says.

I clean out tomato paste cans, but it is nearly impossible to get it all out.

Should I just put them in the trash?

I'm thinking Jeffrey of peanut butter jars.

So plastic peanut butter jars, which obviously it's hard to get all that peanut butter out.

Even when our golden retriever tries, there's still some left.

So what do you do with no.

No fun trying to clean up peanut butter out of the jars.

Just send it to the recycling bin and we'll take it.

We can handle it.

You're going to take it?

Yep, yep.

We cleaned out the best you can, and, we'll deal with the residue.

And so same with tomato paste cans that Jeffrey's talking about.

Yep.

Do the best you can.

Do your best.

I mean, that's goes for pasta sauce those kinds of stuff.

Clean as best you can.

Don't use all the water in the world to do it.

But just do your best and then okay, that's still inbound.

That's good to know.

But remember, even the water is recycled.

The water is recycled.

Okay.

There.

Yeah, that's good to know.

Yeah.

It's good to remember.

John says.

Can your guest address legislation that is being proposed requiring producer responsibility for packaging and how this could create incentives to reduce plastic waste and packaging and provide resources to create more markets for recycled materials.

Yeah, the extended producer responsibility is really key to any of these items that we're talking about.

it's been in place obviously for bottles for a long time.

It's in place now for electronics, right.

You can bring your electronics out to the eco park a free of charge.

we're seeing that continue.

We certainly support that.

even with vape devices.

Right.

We have a great program here in our community.

We know we're not getting it all.

we want that that responsibility to put back on the producer.

It's with paint now as well too.

So we're seeing a strong impetus and support, at a legislative level for, extended producer responsibility requirements.

Bob wants to know about glass.

He says long ago, glass was recycled in Brockport.

But is glass now in general not recycled and just sent to the landfill?

Well, glass.

And he's right.

There used to be a plant in Brockport.

There was a Clinton plant in Canandaigua as well.

And glass is so hard to recycle.

It wears down the gears of these plants.

And the one in Canada was closed and never reopened.

And that was in the early 20 tens.

So what is happening is Monroe County has a special use waiver for the glass that comes through our recycling plant.

It's called the beneficial use distinction, or a Bud, which allows us to take that glass and take it to the landfill and use it as daily cover, because by law, the landfill must be covered every day with six inches of material, and we could get soil and use soil.

But no, because we have this glass, it is now a beneficial use to be able to use the glass for that.

There are lots of things in the pipeline.

We just had a presentation from your friends at Alfred, not too long ago.

working on wine bottles.

Yes, yes, it was fascinating.

They're doing a great, great work down there, but there are lots of things in the pipeline.

We will see something in our lifetimes.

We will for sure.

No doubt.

Yeah.

It's in the works.

Is doing a great job at our recycling center.

They created a new line so they can really get the glass cleaner.

Yeah.

and so we're working on that diligently.

So, Bob, again, a lot is happening with glass that could change the answer for now.

But for now, if you're thinking about wine bottles, beer bottles, what you can continue to recycle your glass, continue to recycle.

Okay.

That's good news.

on YouTube, Roxanne says, how do I recycle shredded paper?

Putting it in loose is obviously not a good idea.

And Ariel responded to her saying, put it in a paper bag and staple it shut.

Ariel rocks.

Tina, she got it.

Hey, look what you've done.

You've trained.

Our connection's on.

Amen, Evan.

Amen.

18 years.

We're going to do this next show without Mike and Tina.

We're just going to have connections.

Listeners respond to other composers because you guys are nailing it.

so put it in a paper bag, staple it shut.

If you just put it in loose, that causes problems, right?

It becomes fatty, basically.

Yeah.

Okay.

Ed, with some question specific to city residents says how can citizens encourage the city of Rochester to have something like Monroe County's eco park?

and how can the eco park add days and hours?

He says it is a trek from the city.

It's not accessible to some city residents.

So let's start with that part.

Go ahead.

Mike.

Yeah, and we understand that challenge.

again, the eco park is centrally located.

for really all residents, and it's certainly available to City of Rochester residents.

And we've got a long standing relationship working very, very closely with the city of Rochester and the Department of Environmental Services.

They do an outstanding job.

but we are looking for ways for either mobile collections.

We've got a number of mobile collections.

happening this year, both for pharmaceuticals and but we hear that often.

Folks in the city say, hey, can you get, further into the city, with your services?

But for now, it's at the eco park.

Ed wants to know any place to leave yard debris in the city, like, as an option in most towns.

I don't know the answer to that.

Ten.

Mike.

I am not sure if they take it at Colfax Street or not.

I don't think so.

Yeah, I can't speak to that.

Yeah.

You know what?

I think the city has curbside pickup of yard waste.

I think if you call 4 to 8 5990, don't hate me.

Karen Saint Auburn, 48 5990.

Call them and ask them.

And if they and if the city collects it, we'll process it.

Yeah, we'll we'll, you know, top grain, the, any branches, trees, limbs or any, any of the leaves we'll collect, make compost from it and adds this.

Any education materials that landlords and property managers can help tenants and neighbors recycle better with?

Oh, we have a ton on our website.

We have signage.

They can, download and print off to to put above the bins.

we would be more than happy to provide you with packets of information for your tenants.

All he's got to do is reach out, McD's at Monroe county.gov.

And those emails come to me and I answer them.

So yeah, we've got posters on what what's got to go in the trash, what can be recycled, what can go the eco park Jim says.

Will the eco park accept old electrical wires and cables that were removed from my house?

Yeah.

Yes.

They sure will.

As long as it's removed by the resident, not by a contractor.

the eco park is for, residents for that type of material.

We do accept certain materials from conditionally exempt small quantity generators.

He was.

He follows up with the more specifics.

He said copper wires with insulation.

Insulation could be plastic.

Rubber or cloth.

Yeah.

Some old cables have the flexible steel jacket.

Yeah.

And aluminum cable with plastic or rubber insulation.

These aren't old Christmas lights.

Nope.

That's great.

Bring it to the eco park and recycle bin.

That has a lot of value.

Hey, what about old Christmas lights?

Those two.

Those two?

We'll take it.

Yup.

And that just came to me from from Jim's note there.

Okay.

and I, we've got Kim back on the phone.

Hey, Kim, go ahead.

Hi.

actually, I, before I ask my question, I have two comments.

One is that, with the shrouded paper that you put in the paper bag, which I've done, and then you staple at close, I also write shredded paper and big writing on the paper bag.

So it's not something the people at the eco park think they have to toss because they don't know what's in it.

Oh, is that good?

Yeah.

Kim.

That's outstanding.

Great work.

Thank you.

Okay.

And, the other thing is, I just wanted to, before I ask my question is just say, how much I appreciate and thank all the people that are involved in helping us, like myself and other people, recycle correctly.

I've learned a lot just from this show alone.

Things I didn't know.

And one thing that really, it's going to help me is the fact that you explain why you can't take certain things.

So now when I look at something, I'll say, oh, I know they can't take those.

Don't put them through it.

That's right Jim.

That's right.

Thanks again Kim.

So and and and oh.

Actually a third thought is I don't know if you go to town meetings like Brighton, Henrietta, anything like that when they have, if they have town meetings just to do a presentation, it's a good question.

Yep.

We're always happy to do presentations.

We do that in school districts.

We do that in, senior centers.

by invitation.

Be happy to by invitation.

So invite Mike and Tina.

They would be happy to see you.

Oh, my gosh, we're down to the last minute.

Last two things we gotta do.

I'm fast here.

John said good to get clarification that Casella does accept clamshells, but can you give us a definition of a clam shell?

30s or less?

Tina, plastic may or may not have an attached lid.

could it could contain takeout food, could contain salad.

any of those sorts of things is considered a clam shell.

And tell me about the school district food waste diversion going on like that real quick.

So, applications, window just closed.

I know we have five public schools that have submitted a program, and the program provides up to $5,000 in matching funds for school district, either expand or create a food waste diversion program.

So if you've got questions, comments, and you want to get involved more, get in touch with these.

What's the best way to get Ahold of either of you?

my email is Tina Stevens.

Stevens at Monroe County.

All one word.gov and m Garland at Monroe county.gov.

And they actually don't just recycle your emails.

They read them.

which is nice.

Bob says, by the way, I eat a ton of peanut butter.

The national, the natural kind.

The jars wash out easily with hot water and scrub brush or cloth.

Bob, get a dog.

All right.

So thanks very much.

Thanks for the wonderful set of comments questions.

Always great to have Tina and Mike.

You guys are the best.

Thank you, thank you.

I all always a pleasure.

And I want to say they're the public facing, but there's a lot of people who work in waste diversion, recycling, etc.

and they're never on the show.

We just want to salute you.

Thank you for what you're doing.

Sorry if we make it harder for you.

We're all trying to be better.

So hats off to all of them and from all of us at connections.

Thank you for listening and for watching on YouTube.

We're back with you tomorrow on member Support and public media.

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