Guest Editorial: Recycle We Must

By John R. Clark

North Beach communities are extensively involved in recycling of solid waste. Recycling reduces waste and converts it to useful products, both very practical goals. It also reduces the size of landfills which would otherwise receive the recyclable materials and it makes waste pickup cheaper because recyclable materials can be sold by the hauler to reduce costs. Composting organic waste helps too. Judy Stull, Ocean Shores Head Librarian, remarked, “ Since recycling started I produce hardly any garbage.” 

In the North Beach area we have two systems for garbage and recycling. In Ocean Shores appropriate disposal of solid waste by property owners is compulsory. In the unincorporated communities of the County it is not compulsory, but there are ordinances against illegal dumping and littering. Le May Enterprises Inc. are our recycling honchos — they provide regular collection and disposal services for both Ocean Shores and unincorporated communities at the property owner’s expense. Alternatively, in Ocean Shores you can buy a plastic bag for $2.50 at the Police Station or Permit Center to dispose of your waste in the Public Works dumpster behind the Permit Center, a convenience for weekenders who do not need regular waste pickup.

Each Le May customer pays for both garbage and recycling, the amount depending on the number of pickups you order each month. If, for example, you ordered garbage pickup once a week and recycle every other week you would pay around $26.00 per month per residence. The rate is set in consultation with local governments. Le May provides customers with handy wheeled and covered carts, light gray for garbage, dark gray with blue lid for recycle. Call 533-1251 to order service.

The carts must be placed curbside on pickup days by 6 A.M. In Ocean Shores pickups are done on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday depending on location of the property. It is important that the carts are placed close to the edge of the road and at least three feet from other objects and five feet away from cars. Here the truck can pull up, extend its robotic arm, grab a cart with its giant pincers, magically lift the cart and dump the contents into the truck, and then replace the cart right where it was. All this takes an average of only 18 seconds per cart, according to Mike Phillips of Le May, because of the skill of the drivers who are assisted by mirrors and cameras.

Some instructions for use are printed on the lids of each cart but more detailed information is provided in Le May’s “Single Cart Recycling Guide” provided to all customers. Here you will find that sorting your materials into acceptable and non-acceptable items is very important. You can put into the recycle cart such items as all types of paper, metal and aluminum cans, and small necked plastic bottles but not such items as styrofoam, batteries, aerosol cans, oil and toxic products cans, and particularly not glass objects. Residents must haul glass objects such as beer bottles to special drop off sites — in Ocean Shores the glass drop off site is located at the Animal Impound Facility behind the “Connection” coffee shop and bookstore. Waste oil can be disposed of in a receptacle behind the Permit Center. Hazardous and toxic waste containers must be hauled by residents to Le May’s central station in Central Park. 

According to Mike Phillips, Le May’s North Beach customers are good about sorting material for recycling and there is less than 6% “contamination.”

Exclusion of glass from Le May’s recycle collection is the one deficiency that bothers Ocean Shores Mayor Dean Bunkers, who otherwise believes that “the recycle collection program works well for us.” But the Mayor worries that in spite of the ordinance making recycling mandatory, resident compliance is insufficient, so he wants to tighten up the ordinance. The statistics indicate that Le May has about 2,700 garbage/recycling customers in Ocean Shores and the City has over 4,000 residences – but many are vacant much of the time and would not likely sign up with Le May. Phillips thinks of the North Beach area, particularly Ocean Shores, as ideal for automated garbage/recycle collection, compared to Aberdeen with all its alleys and car parking streetside, etc.

For all of Grays Harbor, Le May has 30 drivers and 50 trucks available and a total of 55 employees. The recycle trucks unload at Le May’s central station in Central Park where the material is baled and shipped to a sorting and resale facility in Oregon. Here the material is unloaded onto traveling belts with workers alongside who make a final sort of the items which are then sold at a profit to remanufacturers.

North Beach residents who recycle will be happy with the thought that their efforts do pay off, both in monetary terms and in the ultimate benefit to the environment.

John R. Clark can be reached at johnrclarkx@cs.com.