We just finished our last county fair in Le Center, and I have to tell you, the mini donuts, ice cream and hamburgers were as good as ever.

I would like to thank those of you who stopped by our Tri-County booth to talk recycling and disposal options, it is always great to hear your comments in person. I also enjoy playing our hazardous waste guessing game with the kids.

This gives them an opportunity to learn about proper labeling of household items and that some items can look very similar but can be very dangerous. We try to make learning fun, plus they got to win a recycled money pencil for playing.

In our last column, we talked about our dismal national plastic recycling rate of around six percent. It turned out that the US would just ship tons of plastics to foreign Counties and count it as recycling. Now we must face facts and be responsible for our waste.

The good news is that our local recycling rate in our three counties is around that 35% to 40%. Minnesota, along with California, are leaders in recycling, and it is our goal to improve on these numbers through legislation, education and making recycling more accessible, affordable and convenient.

Today, I want to have a short discussion on micro plastics. In 1967, Mr. McGuire from the movie, “The Graduate,” said it best when he said, “There’s a great future in plastics.”

So plastics has made some very large and beneficial impacts in our everyday lives by making our products cheaper, lighter, stronger, easier to ship materials, etc. Plastic has had an amazing run the last 50 years, and that industry will continue to evolve and increase on a massive, exponential scale.

This is why we need to be mindful of our use, reuse and end of life for these plastic products.

Which brings us to micro plastics; they are particles smaller than 5 millimeters. They are not to be confused with micro beads – which are also plastic but were banned back in 2015. Micro beads are still found in some products today due to loopholes in the legislation… we can talk micro beads another time.

In addition to loopholes, that same legislation does not address micro plastics or fibers. Micro plastics are found in a variety of products ranging from tennis balls, cigarette butts, glitter, wet wipes, tea bags and fleece materials. When fleece is machine washed, it can shed hundreds of thousands of tiny plastic particles in to streams and water bodies.

Local wastewater treatment facilities can only filter out about half of these fibers or particles depending on the technology used at the treatment facilities. To be fair cotton also releases a large amount of micro particles or fibers into the environment but the difference is that cotton fibers are made of cellulose, an organic material that will biodegrade in less than a year whereas fleece microfibers can last hundreds of years.

So if we do the math and factor in bioaccumulation of these micro plastics – that makes tons of micro plastics that will be around a very long time. I am not saying to throw away your favorite fleece jacket or blanket but let’s think twice if we really have to wash it again and again.

Recycling a soda bottle into t-shirts or jackets was a nice thought but now a number of manufactures are changing their products and process – while considering the end of life of these products and environmental impacts.

The new trends now are to turn that plastic bottle in to a 3D printed mini house or shed that range in price from ten to forty thousand dollars, now that’s a cool idea!

As always, contact us anytime at 507-381-9196 or you can also check the Nicollet County waste wizard for more recycling and disposal information. And make every day Earth Day.

Al Christensen is the Tri-County Solid Waste director, serving Nicollet, Le Sueur and Sibley counties. Reach him at al.christensen@co.nicollet.mn.us.

Data included is taken from the Minnesota Department of Health Daily reports. Because all data is preliminary, the change in number of cumulative positive cases and deaths from one day to the next may not equal the newly reported cases or deaths.

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