Recycling in Yakima
Northwest Polymers – Helping to Keep Yakima Recycling Moving
Settled on the banks of the Yakima River and surrounded by 1,000 square miles of the most fertile land in the northwest of the US, Yakima is known as the one of the biggest fruit producers in the region. The city produces apples, cherries, and 75% of the nation’s hops, while it is also a designated an American Viticultural Area, so significant is wine production there too.
It seems strange that in Yakima plastic recycling should be a priority at all, but the city in sited the most heavily populated part of the Yakima Valley. Though it has 90,000 residents itself, the metropolitan area boasts more than 260,000 residents.
Yakima is one of five core cities along the Yakima River to feature residential curbside recycling services, while access to buy-back recycling services also exist. But the recycling of domestic paper, organic, glass and plastic waste is only part of the efforts being championed by the city to lessen the demands placed on landfills.
The growth of plastic recycling is linked with a growing demand for recycled plastic containers for fruit packaging. So, the major fruit processors in Yakima, recycle their unwanted plastic trays, crates and tubs, while also seeking a flow of recycled replacements for their production lines.
And that is where we at Northwest Polymers lend our expertise. Through our collection services, we gather the waste plastic and recycle into high grade plastic resins in pellet, regrind and pulverized forms, which we deliver to manufacturers. Their easy access to low cost, recycled raw materials means affordable eco-friendly containers can then be re-supplied to the Yakima processors, keeping the cycle moving.
We believe that plastic recycling, in Yakima and everywhere else, is not just a matter of disposing of plastic responsibly. It is also about providing a convenience-orientate, cost-effective and economically advantageous service to both end of spectrum.
City of Yakima recycling website
