September 12, 2013
Jeff Clark
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We Can Do This This week I hustled from Indiana to Wisconsin. We are on Elogs and violations are to be avoided. I had high hopes of making it to a truck stop in Wisconsin. It would be tight. My first backup plan was to bail at our drop yard in Indian Head Park, IL. That is where I55 and I 294 meet. But, my main goal was to pass through the Chicago area in the evening and avoid the morning rush hour. I took the tollway to help insure reaching my goal. The stop and go of morning rush hour wastes fuel. So I chose the tollway. I made it to the Wisconsin line with 16 minutes left on my 11 hour clock. I could have stopped at the TA at the state line, but instead chose to truck another 2 minutes to the Wisconsin rest area. Luckily I found a parking spot, and did a walk around post trip and all was well. When I woke up in the morning I took my regular morning walk. The walk included a walk around the rest are and a detour to walk through the outlet mall long before it opened. Then I could hit the BP gas station for a cup of coffee. It was a good plan. Wisconsin rest areas include recycling bins. This one had at least 7 sets of them. So, I walked back to the truck and got out my 4 empty half liter water bottles from the day before and placed them in the recycle bin. It felt good. At the same time I realized just how bad I am at recycling on the road. My rationalization is that there just aren’t enough recycling bins on the road. In an average week I consume 24 bottles of water on the road. It would be easily overcome by just putting them all in a bag and hitting the last rest area on the way home. It is my tendency to see what changes I can make in my behavior to avoid a problem. I can do this. Many drivers spend many weeks on the road. I usually spend 6 days on the road. It would be a larger problem for the “pure” road drivers. Why don’t we see recycling bins at truck stops? Our church collects aluminum cans for recycling. There is money in that. It goes to the youth group. But, as far as I know plastic recycling is more for a common good than individual profit. So, it is an unprofitable inconvenience for truck stops. It is also the right thing to do. I would encourage drivers to politely suggest to truck stop owners that they have recycling bins. Also try to frequent those that do.
Comments (5)
Jeff Clark of Kewaunee, WI has been driving a truck for 24 years. He has been an owner operator for 11 years.
December 13, 2017
Greg Hall
January 05, 2017
PRO
Henry Albert
December 22, 2023
Team Run Smart Staff
Jimmy Nevarez
I am glad to see the extra steps you will now be taking in an effort to help reduce our impact on the environment. As Craig points out, one of the main reasons I have seen areas be hesitant to recycle is the cost. Our recycling here is single-stream, with sorting taking place at the recycling facility. Unfortunately, we don't see a credit and get charged for both trash and recycling pickup. I try to stash as much as I can that is recyclable into a bog for the end of each shift and dump it out at home in the good ol' "grey bin". It's amazing how much you can actually accomplish doing so. We have seen that we recycle twice as much a week than we throw away, usually a half bin of trash to a full bin of recycling every week on collection day!
September 14, 2013 7:41:33 AM
Craig McCue
Yes Henry, it's much more efficient for all involved. By next March there will be a large upgrade being installed in Conover, NC that will completely change the way the area recycles. Currently they are sorting at the curbside which is very expensive. By next March they will be transitioning to single stream. It's easier for the general public and more cost efficient to the collection company. The upgrade will be capable of processing 25 tons per hour of residential single stream material. When it's easy for the public and profitable for the collection company then more recycling takes place and we divert more material from our rapidly filling landfills. Take a look at the world leader in recycling systems to learn more. www.bulkhandlingsystems.com
September 13, 2013 8:18:14 AM
Recently I read something about single point recyling. This seemed to be a good idea as all of the separating happens at the landfill.
September 13, 2013 6:42:50 AM
You're right Craig-We can get truck stops to buy in.
September 12, 2013 19:42:17 PM
Way to go Jeff! Great post and I couldn't agree more. Recycling commodity prices fluctuate with the economy but currently on a $/ton basis from the most valuable to the least, the commodities rank as listed below: 1. Aluminum 2. PET which consist of water bottles 3. HDPE Natural and Colored which consist of milk jugs and items like Tide bottles. 4. Mixed Plastic also classified as #3-#7 on the containers. This consists of items such as Solo cups, margarine containers and yogurt containers. 5. ONP which is Old News Print. 6. OCC which is Old Corrugated Cardboard 7. Mixed Paper which consist of office paper, envelopes and anything else that is not news. As you can see from the list, water bottles are currently the second most valuable residential single stream commodity. So there is money to be made in recycling and it would be great if truck stops would start participating. In my local community I don't pay to have my recycled material picked up, I get a credit on my garbage bill. I do however pay to have the garbage picked up. So the more I can put into the recycle bin, the less often I need the garbage collected which lowers my bill. The refuse hauling company makes money on the recyclable material they collect. Collectively we need to push truck stops to participate if possible!
September 12, 2013 14:08:57 PM
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