Page 58 - Plastics News September 2024
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BUSINESS NEWS
sort materials,” Bailey said. “These things also typically just fall off in the
truck or in the system,” Bailey added. “In many
The effectiveness of trackers has been under ways it shows that the recycling system is work-
debate for years, especially in the electronics re- ing properly if that material gets kicked out,
cycling industry. Recently, several “tracker tests” because it’s seeing it as a contaminant,” she
have received mainstream media coverage, with added, but that’s not something the consumer
items placed in recycling bins ending up in land- necessarily understands.
fills or storage facilities, and some also ending
up overseas. If people want to know if recycling is working,
Bailey suggested reaching out to a local MRF,
An APR press release added that “it makes as many are happy to do tours and explain the
sense that some people might try to find out systems.
for themselves whether their local recycling pro-
grams are, in fact, working,” and while a tracker “Please don’t trust those tracker things, please
“makes for an interesting experiment,” the re- don’t do your own tracker,” Bailey said.
sults are not accurate.
“I appreciate that people are curious and they
Bailey said that the first issue is that a tracker is want to know,” she said, but “there’s nothing like
“this big clunky thing that’s taped on the side.” seeing a MRF actually processing and sorting
the 20, 30, 40 tons an hour of recyclables.”
Material with an electronic tracker on it will likely
be sorted out by optical sorters, AI or human APR is also hosting a virtual MRF tour with Eure-
workers, as it will be treated not only as contam- ka Recycling on Sept. 11, Bailey added, for those
ination but as a threat to worker and machine who can’t access a MRF in person.
safety. If attached to a lightweight material, the Source – Plastics Recycling Update
tracker might also make the material too heavy
to be moved by air jets.
58 60 PL September 2024
PLASTICS NEWSASTICS NEWS
September 2024
