Using Montgomery County recycling center if work there but not a resident?

[Anonymous]

We live in Fairfax County VA but my DH works in Montgomery County.

Fairfax's recycling is horrible--they take no plastics other than certain specific plastic bottles (no plastic fruit "clamshell" containers like berries come in, no food containers of ANY type, etc. etc.).

Montgomery recycles many more types of plastics and DH could take our recyclables to the Montgomery transfer station periodically. But their website says it's for county residents only. I do understand why that's the case. But I also wonder: Is someone going to stop him and check ID or stop him because of his VA plates? I despise the thought of throwing out plastics that could be recycled, and I'm willing to clean and keep them until we have enough to drop off. We do try to buy as few items in plastic packaging as possible, but it's just not feasible to go zero plastic for us right now.

Anyone know if it's going to be an issue to drop off once a month in Montgomery or will they stop him and turn him away at a gate? (Yes, checking Arlington too--though their county website for recycling information is just abysmal and I'm not getting info I need.)

[Anonymous]

They check your ID/driver's license even if you have MD tags

[Anonymous]

Yes, I would expect them to check if you have VA plates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They check your ID/driver's license even if you have MD tags

OK, thanks to both PPs for responding. I appreciate the feedback.

Disappointing to be willing to make a drive to recycle plastics, but not be allowed. I do understand why, of course. But Fairfax's recycling sucks so badly. Here, the only plastics they take are a few types of plastic bottles. If you live in Montgomery you're very fortunate--your county takes vastly more kinds of plastic.

[Anonymous]

If your dh works in MoCo, why not just place them into recycling at his workplace rather than going to the Center?

Check out what plastics MoCo takes and then take them to work instead.

[Anonymous]

Just use your fairfax center. Just because you can drop things off doesn't mean they are all recycled. Do you know why so many recyclers go out of business? They can't handle the cost of hiring people to sort what people drop off.

[Anonymous]

I live in Montgomery County and appreciate their efforts to try to make plastics recycling happen. I believe that people (like you!) really wish it would succeed.

I am not alone in the opinion that "plastics recycling" was conceived as a lie, has never been truly viable and the (government subsidized) plastic recycling efforts exist only to give social license to the explosion in plastics manufacturing that has happened in my lifetime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just use your fairfax center. Just because you can drop things off doesn't mean they are all recycled. Do you know why so many recyclers go out of business? They can't handle the cost of hiring people to sort what people drop off. [/quote}

I think you misunderstood me. In Fairfax County, only the drink bottles and a very few other kinds of bottles will be recycled and the rest will be sorted out as unrecyclable trash. I know that already.

But Montgomery recycles many types of plastics that Fairfax does not recycle. Montgomery actually does recycle these other plastics -- they aren't going to landfills as trash, which is what happens in Fairfax County.

I know that "Just because you drop things off, that doesn't mean they are recycled." But in Montgomery, they actually are recycled, whereas in Fairfax they are not. I don't want Fairfax to waste resources sorting all my recyclables and non-recyclables. I will do that myself. I just want to recycle plastics that Fairfax does not recycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your dh works in MoCo, why not just place them into recycling at his workplace rather than going to the Center?

Check out what plastics MoCo takes and then take them to work instead.

We're trying this, but want to find out whether his office recycling will just trash anything that's not a can or plastic drink bottle. Some office complexes (at least, ones where I've worked) sometimes have contracts with private recycling firms and don't simply send recycling to the county or municipal recycling facilities. I hope his office (he only goes one day a week) uses the county recycling and we can take recyclables to his office. I'm not keen on filling an office recycling bin with other food containers though, and it's a household's weekly recycling, which is bulkier than just a day's worth of plastic drink bottles. I know. All too complicated.

It's pitiful that my own county is so terrible about recycling. MoCo is much better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in Montgomery County and appreciate their efforts to try to make plastics recycling happen. I believe that people (like you!) really wish it would succeed.

I am not alone in the opinion that "plastics recycling" was conceived as a lie, has never been truly viable and the (government subsidized) plastic recycling efforts exist only to give social license to the explosion in plastics manufacturing that has happened in my lifetime.

So...you appreciate the efforts but then say it's a lie and not viable, so, do you just trash all your plastics?

I'd love to live without all these disposable plastic containers and packaging. We try to reuse things and buy things in more sustainable packaging. But we can't eliminate it entirely.

I agree that the world needs to ramp back the plastics manufacturing in the first place, but until then -- do we just shrug and say, it's not really viable, and toss away any plastics we happen to have? Do nothing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They check your ID/driver's license even if you have MD tags

I’ve driven into that place hundreds of times and never had to show any ID or license.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They check your ID/driver's license even if you have MD tags

I’ve driven into that place hundreds of times and never had to show any ID or license.

If you enter through the truck entrance on shady grove, they almost always verify residency. Not so if you use the car entrance off 355, but I would think they would if you had out of state tags. That gate is monitored; they just don’t ask for ID (but I’ve always had MD tags).

[Anonymous]

MoCo doesn’t take clamshell containers either.