“Recycle right. Recycle everywhere. Recycle all the time.” That has been one of the mantras of the local recycling program for the last few years.

Please note, we didn’t say “recycle everything,” too.

That’s because everything isn’t recyclable. While more than half our waste is, at least a third is not recyclable or compostable.

We should understand this because when the wrong stuff goes into the bin or to the recycling center, it doesn’t magically become recyclable just because we want it to. And it costs more to clean it up. Bad recycling is expensive recycling.

This last point is being hammered home by two recent developments in our own recycling efforts here in Blair County.

Frankstown Township has been forced to close their drop-off site because the trash and contamination problems have become so bad. Despite signs with clear directions (including pictures) and warning letters to offenders they have identified, overwhelming amounts of non-recyclable trash is ending up in the containers or scattered on the ground.

Meanwhile, high levels of the wrong stuff in curbside bins and business recycling containers have forced the processing centers taking our material to increase their recycling tipping fees. Once less than a quarter the cost of trash, recycling is now about half the cost of trash.

Single-stream recyclables (that’s the recycling that mixes paper and bottles and cans together) is very close to the cost of trash disposal.

While there are several factors playing into higher recycling costs, the incidence of contamination and poor quality of the recycled materials are the primary reasons.

Recycling will never be free, for we must pick it up, get it ready for market and ship it to the places that can use it. Yet despite those costs, it has usually been much cheaper than disposal.

Recyclable materials are commodities, providing important feedstocks for manufacturing of all kinds. When manufacturers make something, they need quality and consistency in their feedstocks. The world commodity market (of which recycled commodities are a subset) has long been, and continues to be, a complicated landscape under the best of circumstances.

If the quality of those commodities is compromised, manufacturers who have invested in recycled material technology will find their investments endangered.

Ultimately, manufacturers will be driven away from using recycled materials if they cannot find the reliable, consistently high quality feedstocks they need.

When curbside recycling began a quarter of a century ago, it was motivated by environmental concerns. But when wide-scale recycling became the norm, it helped push us toward recycling and reuse, instead of consumption and disposal. Recycled commodities are now an important (and growing) segment of the commodity marketplace.

So pledge to produce the best recyclables you can.

* Recycle the right stuff. (Visit www.ircenvironment.org/

collection-recycling/residential/ curbside-collection).

* Rinse out food and beverage containers.

* Keep your paper and cardboard dry.

* Flatten your cardboard (so the hauler isn’t tempted to trash it).

* Remind folks where you work, eat, shop, pray and play that they should be recycling.

Recycling remains the most common, and easiest, act of environmental stewardship performed by Americans. But it’s all for naught if we don’t all pay attention to the details.

John Frederick invites readers to visit the IRC Recycling Office’s website (www.ircenvironment.org) for more on those details. You are also urged to let your municipal officials know you hope recycling can be restored to your community.