Hi-Line group hopes to make a difference

On the heels of a June that saw Seattle ban plastic straws and utensils at all restaurants, a Starbucks' announcement to ban plastic straws in their stores by 2020, and a cover story in National Geographic about the dangers of plastic, Recycle Hi-Line members, as they get older and busier, hope to get community members of all ages involved in the fight against trash that is piling up in this area.

Recycle Hi-Line is a nonprofit organization organized by local residents with the goal to bring more recycling awareness to the Hi-Line as well as decreasing the amount of recyclable items in the landfills.

Wanda Meredith, who became chair of Recycle Hi-Line a few years ago, said the organization is made up of a small group of volunteers who are mainly retired community members.

The recycling drives the group started with were small, Meredith said, adding that the group had drives twice a year, in the fall and spring, which became monthly drives on Saturdays at Pacific Steel and Recycling, which set up some bins for the day and collected the cardboard, paper and tin from the drive.

The monthly drives drew a lot of attention, Meredith said.

"The parking lot was full and the turning lane was filled with cars," she said.

She added that they tried to keep it going through the cold and the heat, and they only had to cancel it once because she was out of town and it was during a cold snap.

Pacific Steel's schedule changed, though, and it would no longer be open Saturdays, she added. It became expensive and difficult for the company to provide help to Recycle Hi-Line during the monthly drives; the last drive was in October of 2017.

The group, with the help of Pacific Steel and its new Havre manager Zane Papos, set up a 24-hour recycling center at Pacific Steel, Meredith said.

"It was the easiest way to meet everybody's needs," Papos said, adding that the company had tried the 24-hour recycling centers in other cities, such as Great Falls, and they had been successes.

Not all recyclables are the same

Though all the recycling can be dropped off at Pacific Steel, the company is not able to recycle the glass and plastic; these items are taken by Recycle Hi-Line, Meredith said.

Pacific Steel takes care of the cardboard, newspaper, shredded paper, tins and electronics - except monitors and televisions - Papos said.

The plastics #1, #2 and #5 are emptied at least once a

week by Recycle Hi-Line members and stored in a cargo trailer, Meredith said.

Items that have the recycling logo of triangular arrows

on them list the number of the plastic inside the triangle.

Plastic #1, PET or polyethylene terephthalate, includes items such as beverage bottles, food jars and some shampoo and mouthwash bottles.

Plastic #2, HDPE or high-density polyethylene, includes items such as detergent bottles, snack boxes, milk jugs and buckets.

Plastic #5, PP or Polypropylene, includes items such as drinking straws, insulated coolers and diapers.

The plastic recyclables are taken to Walmart about once a month, she added, and the store takes them and bales and ships them with theirs.

Meredith said she is very appreciative of the help Walmart gives them by helping with the plastic recycling.

"Commodity prices are very low," she said, adding that Walmart only gets about $100 dollars on a load after they have to ship it all the way to Great Falls.

When it comes to the glass, Meredith and her husband personally purchased a glass pulverizer, which is one of only a few in the state, and they try to turn the glass recyclables into a profit, she said.

After they pulverize the glass, Meredith said, they sell it to the community through businesses such as Downtown Gardens and Bob's Greenhouse.

"(The pulverized glass) isn't sharp. ... It can be used in landscaping ... it can be used in cement," she said, adding it can be used in many ways, including being put in planters.

The Northstar logo at Legion Field as well as the concessions table has the pulverized glass in it, Meredith said, and she and her husband have talked with 4-H members about possibly using the product in some of their projects.

She is hoping to find more business because they need to get rid of the glass, which takes a lot of time and expense to pulverize since the machine needs to be hand fed, she said.

When it comes to recycling, it is also beneficial for the community to dispose of the recycling in not only the right bin but also the right way, Meredith said, which saves time for the people handling the recycling and makes the whole process smoother.

Glass should ideally be clean, with the lids off, she said, adding that it is better if labels are removed, too.

When dropping off plastics #1 and #2, Meredith said, they can be bagged together but they need to be clean. Lids need to be off but can be in the same bag as the plastic.

Plastic #5 needs to be clean with the lids off, but needs to be separated from plastics #1 and #2, she added.

Cardboard needs to be put in the bin by itself, not put in bags.

And it needs to be deposited in the right place.

"Look in the bins," Papos added. "Make sure you put it in the right bin."

Trying to solve a worldwide problem

The June 2018 issue of National Geographic contained a cover story by Laura Parker titled "We made it. We depend on it. We're drowning in it. Plastic," which says that in 2015 Jenna Jabmbeck, a University of Georgia engineering professor, estimated between 5.3 million and 14 million tons of unrecycled plastic ends up in the ocean each year just from coastal regions.

"It's unclear how long it will take for that plastic to completely biodegrade into its constituent molecules. Estimates range from 450 years to never," Parker wrote, adding that this plastic is also estimated to kill millions of marine animals every year.

Plastic has become so commonplace in the world that production has increased from 2.3 million tons in 1950 to 448 million in 2015, the article goes on to say, adding that "the growth of plastic production has far outstripped the ability of waste management to keep up."

Worldwide, people are starting to respond to the growing problem of trash. Since 2014, Kenya has banned plastic bags, France said it would ban plastic plates and cups by 2020 and the United States, along with Canada and the United Kingdom banned plastic microbeads in cosmetics, the National Geographic article says.

Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Amcor, Unilever and Johnson & Johnson are some of the multinational companies who have also pledged to help the environment through recycling, reusing and changing to compostable packaging.

"Seattle is believed to be the first major U.S. city to ban single-use plastic straws and utensils in food service, according to Seattle Public Utilities," The Associated Press reported July 2.

New York and San Francisco are considering similar bans, the article says, adding that California's legislature is considering statewide restrictions.

"Plastic pollution is surpassing crisis levels in the world's oceans," Seattle Public Utilities General Manager Mami Hara was quoted saying in the article.

The ban of plastic straws and utensils is part of a citywide 2008 ordinance that required restaurants and various other food-service business to try to find compostable or recyclable alternatives to disposable products, the article says.

What can people do?

Meredith said she is happy and proud of the trash the community has kept out of the landfills because of the recycling drives and 24-hour drop-off, but there is still much to do.

People need to be aware the landfill is filling up quickly, she added.

The most important thing is to change the mind of the community, Meredith said, adding that people need to be aware of how much of a good impact recycling and being environmentally conscious can be.

Some businesses and organizations are taking charge, she said, adding that the Montana State University-Northern bookstore has started using environmentally responsible material for bagging their goods and Havre Day Activity has bins around town as well as having a partnership with Pacific Steel.

If Pacific Steel needs help storing some of their recycling, they will store it at Havre Day, and then Pacific Steel will dispose of all of the recycling together, Meredith said.

The Center for Mental Health used to have a "Green Team" which would go around and pick up recyclables for a fee, Meredith said, but the program stopped during a change of management.

She would like to see it start up again, if possible, she added.

The June 2018 National Geographic Article lists six ways people can help the trash crisis: Giving up plastic bags, skipping straws, passing up plastic bottles, avoid plastic packaging, recycling what you can and not littering.

One of the most beneficial things the community can do is get involved, Meredith said. The group is always looking for volunteers and manpower to help with everything, she added.

"We meet monthly; the third Wednesday of every month," Meredith said.

People who would like more information about the group or would like to join can visit the Recycle Hi-Line website at https://recyclehiline.org/about-us/ or by visiting their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Recycle-Hi-line-255425497909596/.