Grapevine - Colleyville - Southlake | May 2023

COLLECTION

PROCESSING

Plastics

Plastic bottles are compressed into bales.

Once materials are recycled, they must be processed to be reused or made into a new product, such as new bottles, gardening tools, packaging or insulation.

After nishing a drink, empty any remaining liquid until the container is dry.

Once materials arrive in the facility, paper and cardboard are separated from other recyclables.

and the consumer price index, according to city documents. The consumer price index is the average price of goods and services purchased by house- holds in a specied area. Grapevine Environmental Manager Dewey Stoels said rates were previously based on the consumer price index in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and the disposal cost that landlls charge waste companies. Stoels said further rate increases will be determined by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’s price index for gar- bage and trash, which is based on the average trash collection price seen nationally. “The cost of living, every- thing’s increasing,” Stoels said. The Amazon eect Republic Services oers trash and recycling services to about 125 North Texas cit- ies, including Bedford, Euless, Plano and Roanoke. Recycla- ble materials from Grapevine and Southlake travel to the company’s regional Recycling Center in Plano for processing. According to Jeremy Wal- ters, manager of external 237,000 tons of material kept out of landlls by Republic Service’s Plano Recycling Facility since 2019 Over 50,000 tons of residential and commercial recycling material received by Community Waste Disposal in 2022

Place in a recycling bin.

Cardboard

A delivery is received. Slice open the box’s tape; remove the purchased item, and atten the box.

Cardboard is compressed into bales and then sent to be shredded into pieces. HANNAH JOHNSONCOMMUNITY IMPACT

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when they are unsure if it can actually be recycled, which is called “wish-cycling.” These materials, such as greasy pizza boxes or shopping bags, can then contaminate good recy- clables or create safety haz- ards in the center. “Recycling is a helpful tool to help protect the planet but in order for us to maximize our eorts, we need to recycle right,” said Walters. “When in doubt, throw it out—or better yet, when in doubt, nd out.” To help residents under- stand what can or cannot be recycled, Republic’s website www.recyclingsimplied.com provides education on recy- cling basics. Southlake has a similar tool called Recycle Right that allows residents to insert the name of a material to see how it can be recycled or disposed of. Colleyville’s recycling webpage, found on the city’s website, has information on pick-up schedules, weight specications and allowed bulk trash items. Grapevine has its own app to help residents learn more

communications, the com- pany processes approximately 80,000 tons of recyclable material per year at its Plano center and has kept nearly 237,000 tons of material out of landlls since January 2019.

“It’s not necessarily Ama- zon, it’s the way the world’s going now [that] everyone’s going to boxes and shipping,” he said. “We’ve seen the mate- rial composition of our recycle center ip within the past 10 or 15 years.” Walters noted that Republic Services is looking to increase its ability to process polymer, which is a main ingredient in plastic. Plastics are often ground into akes and turned into pellets to be purchased and made into new goods. At the end of the year, he said Republic will open its rst recycling center for polymers in Las Vegas in late 2023. “Few and far between does a bottle become a bottle again,” Walters said. “Repub- lic Services is making key investments to advance the circularity of plastics.” Education is key Understanding which items can be recycled is key for the recycling industry, Walters said. He said people may throw items in the recycling bin

and recycling services is $16.91 per month. In 2024, the rate will increase to a monthly charge of $18.29. The 2022 rate was $15.79 per month. Colleyville works with Community Waste Disposal for its waste and recycling ser- vices. The city’s rst ve-year contract began in 2017 before being renewed for three years in 2020. Colleyville’s cur- rent trash and recycling rate, which began Nov. 1, 2022, is $19.48. Last year’s rate was $16.14. Colleyville Assistant City Manager Adrienne Lothery said a city’s trash and recy- cling rate can dier from other cities depending on its oered services. Along with trash and recycling, cities can oer brush, bulk or household hazardous waste pick-up. “We aim to meet and deliver on whatever the community desires in terms of their ser- vice,” Lothery said. For Colleyville, its price structure changed in 2022 for increased costs related to labor, fuel, landll charges

“FEW AND FAR BETWEEN DOES A BOTTLE BECOME A BOTTLE AGAIN." JEREMY WALTERS, REPUBLIC SERVICES MANAGER OF EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS

Recyclable materials the center processes include paper, cardboard, metal and glass. Republic’s Operations Manager Ben Ayers said the recycling industry is seeing the “Amazon eect.” About 40% of the materials Republic processes is cardboard from shipping boxes, when he said it used to be paper at that amount.

Securities offered through LPL Financial, member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advice offered through Merit Financial Group LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Merit Financial Group LLC and Merit Financial Advisors are separate entities from LPL Financial.

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