By Ross Jacobs
Though many know this as the most wonderful time of the year, did you know it’s also the most wasteful? Atlantans produce about 4.5 pounds of trash per day; between Thanksgiving and New Years that number increases by 25%. In December alone, it’s estimated each person generates thirty-five more pounds of waste. Nationally, that adds up to an extra one million tons produced each week in the U.S. with much of that going to our already taxed landfills.
Where does this trash come from? Food waste, returned gifts, wrapping paper, cards, and decorations account for most of this extra waste. Several types of plastic packaging, mailing envelopes, shipping pillows, bubble wrap, and Styrofoam all push that number higher challenging our landfills. The 2024 holiday season is predicted to see shoppers in the U.S. spend over 240 billion online, more than an 8% increase over last year, and a record high for holiday spending. All of that online shopping and shipping adds up leading to the Most Wasteful Time of the Year.
While ‘Wish-cycling,’ aka putting materials in blue recycling bins hoping they can be recycled, is prevalent, here are a few realities about municipal recycling capabilities:
- Soft plastic shipping envelopes, bubble wrap, plastic shipping pillows aren’t recyclable curbside because they get caught in machinery designed for hard plastics.
- Chip bags, candy wrappers, cereal bags, bar wrappers, pet food bags (known as Multilayer Plastics or MLPs) aren’t recyclable curbside because they’re made of materials that are very well stuck together.
- Styrofoam isn’t recyclable curbside because it breaks into tiny pieces that are difficult to separate from other materials that get recycled separately.
One extremely convenient solution for East Atlanta and Grant Park residents to address these needs, and keep waste out of landfills is Ridwell, a service which comes to doors bi-weekly to pick-up items that shouldn’t go into our trash cans or recycling bins. They take multi-layered plastics, including shopping bags, stretchy plastic, Styrofoam, light bulbs, printer ink, batteries, etc. They partner with local Atlanta nonprofits FODAC (Friends of Disabled Adults and Children), Atlanta Mission, Chris 180, Scraplanta, and several others, to ensure these items are responsibly repurposed. As a result, Ridwell has already diverted over twenty-five million pounds of waste from landfills across seven states including Georgia.
Ridwell’s coverage area includes broad ITP (Inside the Perimeter) coverage, including East Atlanta, Grant Park, Inman Park, Decatur, Poncey-Highlands, and Avondale, while steadily expanding into more ITP areas. For more information, check out the website, www.ridwell.com, or call Ross at 770-401-7162.
