In my last post, I completely forgot to add to the recycling mix all the ongoing recycling we already have in place. How could I have missed mentioning all the cardboard, glass and plastic we recycle year after year? Any grocery business worth its salt has these programs in place. Whether by state mandate or industry support, large-scale recycling has been around for decades. More and more, though, businesses are getting on board with ease, made simple by a recycling industry that has developed both collection procedures and destination markets for these products.

Let’s take a closer look at the Willamette store and its amazing weekly numbers:

• Crushed Aluminum – 390 lbs
• Crushed Plastic – 165 lbs
• Squished Plastic Wrap – 150 lbs
• Crushed Glass – 7,650 lbs
• Cardboard Bales – 10,500 lbs

These numbers equal 18,855 lbs (9 tons) of recycled materials each week, 75,420 lbs (37 tons) per month for a whopping 905,040 lbs (452 tons) per year.

Let’s add that to five months of recycling and composting data we already have and that’s a grand total of 518 tons of diverted material and 315 tons of trash per year.

Next time, we’ll look at where these recycled products go and what happens to them. I’m thinking we’ll start with cardboard.

See you back here soon!

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