Feature Friday – Did You Know That?

Host: Sean C O’Rourke

Guest: Paul Zambrotta

“There is no such thing as ‘away’. When we throw anything away it must go somewhere.”  Annie Leonard

I’m not a terribly nostalgic person, but have to admit, this episode took me back to show and tell in grammar school.

Have you ever heard the term wish-cycling?  No, not the practice of wishing for the same thing each time you blow out birthday candles.  This is the practice of throwing an item into a recycling bin in the hopes it can be recycled.  While the intention may be good, in practice, this act of hope has real negative consequences – it can turn good recyclables into trash.

My next guest on Did You Know That? is Paul Zambrotta, Chief Operations Officer (COO) at Hi-Tech Resource Recovery, Inc. & Scholes Street Recycling Corp., and Director of Safety at Mr. T Carting.  Paul’s grandfather, Tom Toscano (aka, Pop), started Mr. T Carting with one truck in 1947 and the family of companies has grown with the city to better address waste and recycling efforts.

The chat with Paul is broken into two segments.  First, we discuss the overall status of the recycling business and market, with an emphasis on where we, the consumers, are falling short on proper recycling.  The real fun begins with part two, where Paul and I go through many common household items to determine what can go into the recycling containers and what should hit the trash.  I think you may be surprised by some of his answers.

To learn more about Paul and his work, check out his LinkedIn profile, CLICK HERE

To learn more about plastic recycling, visit Waste4Change by CLICKING HERE

Music: “Urban Drummers” by Mike Kirin via. Artlist