Drexel ranks high on recycling chart

By SUSIE HATTEN
The first step the Cass County Sustainability Committee (CCSC) has taken toward its goal of promoting sustainability in Cass County is a recycling project. This project is a partnership between the CCSC and Town & Country Disposal, Inc. made possible with grant funding provided by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) Solid Waste Management District.
CCSC uses the grant funding to provide educational materials focusing on where, how, and why to recycle in Cass County. These materials are being distributed throughout the community by CCSC.
Drexel has been actively participating in the single-stream recycling for a year and a half now. On a monthly average, the people in the Drexel area bring in 1.8 tons of materials to be recycled. One month we took in an impressive 6 tons of recyclable goods.
The single-stream recycling facility is in Harrisonville, MO. The bins that we fill are taken to the facility and are emptied onto a series of conveyor belts where the recyclables are mechanically and manually sorted. An air blower and different conveyor belts separate out the paper from the heavier items. Then the remaining items pass under a strong magnet which pulls out the tin cans. Then, workers pull out the plastics and sort them into the different types. Each type is collected into large quantities, then compacted into bales and placed into 18-wheeler truck beds waiting to be delivered to the recycling plants. That is where industry takes our recyclables and makes new products for....
Read the complete story in the August 5th edition.