The recycling we put by our back doors or deposit at our curbs has to go somewhere. But have you ever wondered where, exactly, that is?
Fully half the paper waste produced by New York City鈥攏ewspapers, boxes, catalogs, etc.鈥攅nds up at a massive recycling plant on Staten Island.
But run by Pratt Industries, it is much more than a recycling plant; it is also a paper mill. Or as the dedication plaque by the factory鈥檚 entrance describes it, a 鈥淢illugator鈥濃�攁 paper mill and a corrugating factory under one roof.
鈥淯sually you have your paper mill in the forest where the trees are, and the box factory in the city where the people are,鈥� explained Anthony Pratt, the company鈥檚 billionaire Australian executive chairman, as we toured the facility. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like putting a car factory in a steel mill.鈥�
Department of Sanitation barges float up the Arthur Kill and pull into the plant鈥檚 barge slip six days a week, each barge dispensing 750 tons of paper trash together with the clear plastic bags they arrive in. The rest comes by Department of Sanitation trucks and private haulers.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the operation is that within a few hours the garbage鈥斺�淏ecause it鈥檚 not wet food, it鈥檚 not technically garbage,鈥� I was told鈥攈as been transformed into 100%-recycled corrugated boxes sold by clients such as 91仓库 Depot, and the white, flat boxes that your large pepperoni pizza arrives in.
鈥淭he biggest export from New York City is waste,鈥� explained Mr. Pratt, as we watched a giant clamp lift the paper waste off the barge. 鈥淓very ton of paper we keep out of the landfill saves two tons of CO2 emissions.鈥�
Another way of calculating it is that the plant, a Giuliani-administration initiative that opened in 1997, saves the equivalent of almost one Central Park鈥檚 worth of trees every day, Mr. Pratt said.
The plastic bags are separated from the paper and eventually find their way to the company鈥檚 clean-energy plant in Georgia. There, the bags are converted into steam and electricity or bailed and sold to other end users.
Be honest. How often do you throw a pizza box into the trash rather than recycle it because there is cheese stuck to the bottom? Or throw out used paper towels because they鈥檙e soiled and wet?
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