| Recently my staff and I had the privilege to visit the QRS Recycling center in New Albany, IN to see first-hand how our recycling gets sorted and shipped for future use. QRS takes all of the recycling picked up in the Urban Services District through its single-stream pick up system, and sorts it to be recycled and reused by various groups. It was a wonderful experience. First of all let me assure you that everything you put in your orange bin every week is being recycled – it is not going into the landfill. QRS employs a variety of state of the art technology and dedicated employees to make sure that our recycling gets separated appropriately, including a machine that uses infrared lights and a blower system to toss plastic bottles in the appropriate bin. What comes in as a huge pile of our recyclables ends up in neat little piles of paper, plastic, glass, and metal to be shipped to purchasers who will make new products out of the recycled materials.
| We’re working to create a short video tour of the facility so that all of you may see just how effectively it works. Until we have that ready, QRS provided us with a few tips that make the sorting easier and faster:
• Keep your recycling dry – if possible don’t put it out until after the rain has stopped (the machines work better with dry paper)
• Don’t crush your plastic bottles – even though space is an important consideration, it is easier for the people and the machines to separate out bottles if they aren’t flat
• Leave the lids on your plastic bottles – when lids are taken off they get sorted incorrectly and end up in the wrong spot
• Flatten cans when possible – when bottles get stuck inside metal cans it is difficult to get them separated out again
• Don’t put plastic grocery bags in your recycling – they aren’t recycled and make the sorting more difficult as well as can cause the materials they are mingled with to be rejected.
If you practice these tips, it will make the whole recycling process more efficient. For a complete list of what you can include in your curbside recycling pick-up follow this link http://www.louisvilleky.gov/SolidWaste/recycling/Recyclable+Materials.htm
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Check out Two Wheel Tuesdays on Frankfort Avenue and enjoy not only discounts at participating merchants but also a free seminar on how to keep your bike running -- at Jackie Green's bike shop down by the tracks. Continue with the story to see what topics will be covered, and when 
