by Casey Holcomb

Evan Ballard at the recycling bins outside the Service Station. Photo by Samuel Perry.

Norman residents have shown they care what happens to their trash. Seventy-two percent of Normanites voted for curbside recycling, and the percentage of participating households  has been unusually high since the program began last year.

However, a large gap remains in the waste being recycled in Norman. While businesses are able to recycle cardboard for a fee, Norman has no commercial recycling services for plastic, glass, or aluminum. Some Norman Citizens, including workers and business owners, would like these services expanded. But with the state of the world economy, the value of recyclable materials has been in steep decline, making it increasingly difficult for municipalities to exchange the recyclables for cash.

One Norman citizen who would like to see an expansion of the city’s commercial recycling services is restaurant-worker Evan Ballard. Ballard, who works at the Service Station Restaurant & Club, has initiated his own work-place recycling program for the restaurant. He set up separate disposal bins to collect, sort, and store the bulky one-gallon plastic containers and number ten cans the restaurant would otherwise have to throw away.

“There’s a lot waste in restaurants. I just saw how much stuff was getting thrown out, and this is something I can do help,” Ballard said. Due to his efforts, hundreds of recyclable containers are now diverted from landfills each month.

When his makeshift recycling bins are full, Ballard transports the plastic packaging materials to his own curbside or to one of Norman’s recycling centers. The work is not without difficulty. Glass can be dangerous to carry in large quantities, and it can take many trips to transport the large amount of restaurant waste.

Ballard finds the process personally rewarding, but he would still like to see separate, commercial-sized recycling dumpsters reserved for glass, plastics, and other materials to put alongside the Service Station’s cardboard dumpster.

“I think [the City] probably has the capacity to do it,” said Ballard.

Some  local businesses owners are also interested in seeing commercial recycling services expanded to include glass, plastic, and aluminum. Ryan Robinson, co-owner of Blu Wine Bar and Coach’s Brewhouse, is optimistic that the City and business community can work together to improve recycling services. Robinson said more businesses would participate in recycling if the services were available and subsidized by the City.

“The dream scenario would be a sort of curbside pickup, like you have with residential,” Robinson said.

The high volume of waste can be burdensome for businesses looking to expand their recycling efforts. Storage and transportation are costly and impractical without a citywide program.

“Many states are way ahead of us in providing services to businesses – I think immediately of the West Coast states,” said Lyntha Wesner of Norman’s Citizens Organized to Recycle the Environment. For example, Washington County, Oregon’s Recycle at Work program provides a number of services to facilitate business waste-reduction and recycling, in addition to commercial recycling pick-up. These include on-site evaluations, free technical assistance, and free desk-side recycle bins.

However, the economic downturn has decreased the likelihood of expanding services.

“Since last October the value of recycled products has dropped dramatically,” said Ken Komiske, Norman’s Director of Utilities. “This has really hurt many communities and pushed many recycling efforts back several years. Our recycling efforts remain the same, but the process for expansion has dimmed for a while.”

Recycling efforts are suffering world-wide.

“China has been the leading market for recyclable materials. However, China stopped buying them. The Port of Los Angeles is being overwhelmed by plastics waiting to leaving the country,” said Brian Figgins, coordinator for Mustang Recycles and treasurer of the Oklahoma Sustainability Network.

But while the City’s services are likely to remain limited in the immediate future, Robinson and Ballard are hopeful that other solutions are within range for small businesses.

“I think it’s catching on,” said Ballard. “I’ve been doing it for about half a year now, and more people at work are helping out.”

While it seems the immediate future does not promise any comprehensive, government-mandated improvements to the Norman recycling program, many dedicated activists, workers, and business owners continue to look for ways to reduce waste.

“I want to encourage people to continue to recycle,” Figgins said. “However, we need to stop using as much plastic as we do. It can only be recycled once (unlike metals or glass) and many times we don’t need it in the first place. Try to avoid bottled water. These single use items are overwhelming our recycling centers. If you don’t like the taste of your tap water, use a filter or use the large refillable water coolers. Those will save you money and help both the planet and your recycling center.”