Thank you for this informative article [A Recycling Crisis in Providence Drives 2026 Changes by Emily Smith].
There was a brief throw away line in one of the early emails from the City when announcing the advent of these new bins that caught my eye—that the old bins would be recycled. I would love to have more detail on that because most of us who are interested in recycling understand that plastics of all shapes, sizes and types are nearly impossible to recycle. This number of bulky, heavy cans is an enormous amount of material. Often we can’t even pay other countries to take our bundled plastics away. So, it ends up in the landfill, either ours or someone else’s, to further pollute the environment.
Is the plan to use one of those controversial high heat incinerators that burns medical waste and other nasty stuff, giving off noxious gases and leaving a greatly reduced–as in cooking, meaning much more intense –end product, highly toxic, that goes who knows where? One such company tried to get itself a spot somewhere here in RI a couple of years ago and met with a lot of resistance from climate activists. If incineration is the plan, where would that happen?
It also would be interesting to know the total cost to “recycle” the old?
Jessie Kingston
Providence
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