Harter’s given approval to end collection of some plastics for recycling

Those recycling in La Crosse and Onalaska will need to sort plastics a little bit more now.

La Crosse’s Board of Public Works approved Monday a request from Harter’s Quick Clean Up to stop collecting #3, #6 and #7 plastics with the other recyclables.

Those plastics should just be thrown in the garbage now. But Harter’s will still use them for something, besides accumulating in a landfill, says Matt Harter.

“Thankfully here in La Crosse County, we are able to use them as waste-to-energy, instead of putting them in the landfill,” Harter said.

since there’s currently no market to sell them, according to Harter, those three types of plastics have been going to the French Island incinerator all along.

The only real change is that now they’ll go right in the garbage starting at your home.

Harter has no doubt many will continue to put those plastics — and all sorts of other non-recyclable stuff — into the recycle bin.

“Our industry’s kind of come up with the term ‘wish-cycling,'” Harter said. “Some people just throw it in the recycling bin and think it’s going to be recycled just because they put it in the recycling bin. Well, that’s not the case.”

Harter says no longer having those three types of plastic in the recycling stream will keep recycling sustainable overall in La Crosse.