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WEST BURLINGTON — Friday, April 22, is Earth Day and one aspect of Earth Day is to keep the Earth clean by recycling.

Northern Tier Solid Waste Authority in West Burlington has a recycling program in which Leigh Twoey of Wellsboro is the Recycling Coordinator of. Twoey has worked for NTSWA for 13 years and is the Recycling, Safety and Education Coordinator.

“I help establish and maintain curbside, commercial and drop-off recycling programs throughout Bradford, Sullivan, and Tioga County. I also write grants to help fund those recycling programs. The grant funding assists in the purchase of the curbside and drop-off recycling containers as well as collection and processing equipment,” said Twoey.

As Education Coordinator, she works to educate the public on how and where to recycle in our area. “I also develop informational brochures, collection calendars, guideline brochures, attend school and club events, and give tours of our recycling processing center located in Burlington,” she said.

Regular recycling with the company takes place Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon. NTSWA has recycling centers at Burlington, Blossburg and Wellsboro. The Authority also has several municipal recycling drop-off’s locations. These drop-offs are hosted by volunteers to ensure clean sorted recyclables are received. A full listing can be found on the website. Appliances accepted for recycling include but are not limited to: refrigerators, air conditioners, dehumidifiers, toaster ovens, microwaves, stoves, washers and dryers. Fees do apply to these items.

According to NTSWA, recycling can benefit humanity in five ways: to conserve natural resources, conserve energy, reduce solid waste going into landfills, reduce the potential for pollution and to save money.

“On average, NTSWA markets approximately 500 tons of recyclable material to end users every month. Not only is this volume measurable by how we are working to conserve our natural resources, but also by how much air space we are conserving in our landfill. By diverting as many materials as possible from the landfill we are extending the life of it, helping to ensure that we will have a ‘home’ for our waste for many years to come,” said Twoey.

Recycling is further sorted and baled at their processing facilities in Blossburg and Burlington after collection. Quantities are stored until there are 20 tons of any given material. Materials are then sold to end users which will either further sort the material to better meet their specifications or start to break it back down into a form they can utilize to make new products all over again, noted Twoey.

“For example: pulping recycled paper to form it back into new sheets of paper.”

Twoey says separation of materials is the “key” to recycling.

“It is the first step in the process helping to ensure that a material can be recycled. Materials that can be recycled but are mixed in with trash are just that – TRASH!”

Twoey also shared a couple tips when it comes to recycling.

• Check with your local recycling program and see what materials are accepted and how they should be prepared for collection. Recycling programs are not ‘one size fits all’ and can sometimes vary greatly in a neighboring municipality or county.

• Be sure your recyclables are clean and free of food residue. Food residue in a container, bottle or can means that item is still trash because it is not of recyclable quality.

“In the recycling industry we all abide by “if a material is not clean and properly prepared it is still trash,” said Twoey.

• Never follow the “labels” on packaging when it comes to determining if an item is recyclable or not.

“It is not accurate information relating to your local program and often the labeling does not mean what you think it does or it is on their package as a form of ‘greenwashing,’ which is an unsubstantiated claim deceiving consumers to make their product seem more environmentally friendly,” she said.

Twoey says another common misconception in recycling is the chasing arrow triangular shape often found on the bottom of plastic containers that most deem “the recycling symbol.”

“Consumers see this symbol and believe it must mean the container is recyclable. That is FALSE. It is simply a resin identification code. This is troublesome because recycling processing centers are being overwhelmed with the amount of non-recyclable plastic they are receiving. It has become such an issue that there is now talk of legislation to have it removed from packaging altogether.“

Twoey noted when recycling plastics, it is best to recycle plastics based on their container shape, not by the symbol or # on the bottom of a container.

“Recycle plastic bottles, jugs, jars and tubs. These are the types of plastics that recycle easily and are desirable by end-users. When seeing this symbol on paper products, it may simply mean that it was made with recycled content, not that it should be recycled further,” she said.

Every Wednesday, NTSWA also does electronic recycling at their Blossburg and Burlington locations from 9 a.m. to noon. Online pre-registration is required and there is a 5-item limit per appointment. Fees also apply for the items.

Twoey will have a booth at the Bradford County Conservation District Earth Day Celebration this Saturday from 10-2 at the Stoll Natural Resource Center in Wysox.

For more information on NTSWA’s recycling programs and guidelines, go to www.ntswa.org.