Most people are familiar with the concept of recycling in the year 2023. If you're not, you have likely seen the phrase "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" and the many billboards that discourage wastefulness. The majority of municipalities in Lancaster County collect the carefully sorted bottles and boxes that sit on the curb when trash day arrives. But where do these recyclables go once we set them out?

Privately contracted haulers pick up the trash and recyclables from the street. These trucks bring their loads to the local waste management facility, where the waste is combined into larger heaps to make transportation easier and minimize the number of trucks needed. However, not all townships offer collection for recyclables, meaning that things like cans and bottles are thrown into the trash unless they make their way to a waste management facility by other means.

Solanco resident Wendy West lives in an area where recycling is not required, and her recyclables do not get picked up every week. Instead, she collects items like boxes and glass jars in her garage, loads them into her car once a week and delivers them to a drop-off location in Oxford. "I'm choosing to do this extra step because I want things that can be recycled to be recycled, but I'm concerned that they're going in the trash," said West.

Once the collected waste is compiled into larger groups, it is transported by a waste management organization to a processing center. At the processing center, the waste is fed through several machines that sort the items. After the items are sorted, they are compressed together and finally shipped to a buyer who will use the raw materials to make new items such as plastic bottles. "We all want to do the right thing and recycle," said Steve Burn of the Southeastern Chester County Refuse Authority (SECCRA). "I can guarantee that all of the recycling that comes through our facility is handled and processed to be recycled."

SECCRA is a nonprofit organization that operates with the long-term management of waste in mind. "We're in it for the long haul," said Burn. "The less trash that we're putting in landfills, the better it is for the community." SECCRA services 10 drop-off locations, including the one that West drives her recyclables to every week.

Burn noted that not all plastic items are recyclable. The machines that process recyclables are designed for simple items such as cans, bottles, cardboard and paper. Items such as plastic toys and containers that are not suitable for the machine cannot be sorted and are thrown in the trash.

Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority (LCSWMA) limits the recyclables that it accepts to what it calls The Big Four. The Big Four refers to corrugated cardboard, plastic bottles and jugs, metal food and beverage cans and glass jars and bottles.