The self-serve recycling trailer at 18th and Williams Street in Great Bend was popular from the start but sponsors at Sunflower Diversified Services say it will have to move by the end of June.
It will be moved to Sunflower’s Recycling Center at 5605 10th St. to be available for after-hours service, said Mandy Grizzell, production manager at Sunflower Diversified Services.
Sunflower’s recycling services crew placed the 18-foot trailer on a lot across the street from the downtown Dillons store in 2018. The idea for a self-service trailer open 24/7 was suggested by the Barton County Young Professionals. Accepted items were plastic bottles, milk jugs, glass, newspapers and magazines. The largest portion of the trailer was for cardboard and this section of the trailer was often the first to fill. Boxes had to be broken down and slid into a large slot.
Recently, Sunflower announced new rules for what materials it will and will not accept. Grizzell talked about the changes at a recent Great Bend Noon Kiwanis meeting. She also explained the reason the downtown self-serve trailer is moving is because Sunflower’s lease for the site is ending.
Changes in recycling
Earlier this year, Sunflower announced it would no longer accept non-corrugated cardboard. That means it no longer accepts thin cardboard such as boxes for cereal or pancake mixes or microwave meals, snack boxes, toilet paper rolls, etc. Sunflower also doesn’t accept egg cartons, game boards or books.
Sunflower stopped accepting non-corrugated cardboard because the company it sends materials to, Quincy Recycling in Quincy, Illinois, only accepts the corrugated kind. That is heavier cardboard with three layers of paper that include an inside and outside layer. Shipping boxes and appliance boxes are typical examples.
Prior to choosing Quincy Recycling this year, Sunflower sent cardboard to the Sonoco Products Co., a paper mill that had been in Hutchinson since 1909. Sonoco closed in March, forcing Sunflower to take its recycled materials elsewhere.
Look for the triangle
It wasn’t all bad news. Grizzell said Sunflower can now accept some items that it couldn’t before, such as plastic detergent bottles.
Most people know the little triangle symbol at the bottom of plastic bottles means “recycle” but just because it has a triangle on the bottom doesn’t always mean it can be recycled locally. There is also a number inside the triangle and Sunflower accepts plastics with numbers 1 and 2, but not 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7.
The No. 1s are commonly found in plastic water/soda bottles.
There are a lot of No. 2s out there. This kind of plastic is usually colored or opaque and can be found in milk jugs and laundry detergent bottles or coffee containers.
Nos. 3 and 4 are also common but can’t be recycled by Sunflower. These plastics are found in shampoo bottles, medical plastics, some toys (including dog toys) and window trim.
Sunflower doesn’t recycle plastic grocery bags, but some of the stores that use them have bins where customers can recycle their bags.
Sunflower also accepts clear and colored glass, as well as tin cans and even clean aluminum foil and aluminum pie pans. The employees do appreciate it if people rinse the containers out first, Grizzell said.
Aluminum cans can be donated with other recycling materials or they can be sold at the Sunflower Recycling Center at 5605 10th St.
Before recycling, people are asked to rinse containers and remove the lids.
A complete list of items accepted, as well as items that are NOT accepted, can be found on Sunflower Diversified Service’s website, sunflowerdiv.com, or by clicking HERE.
Questions may be directed to Sunflower by calling 620-793-5800.
