Recycling Tables

Tables are a challenge to recycle because they are usually comprised of multiple material types. A single table can be comprised of wood, compressed wood, metal, plastic, and glass.

So how does E-Cycle handle this? Well as with most things in recycling there is up front hand dismantling. A table with a wood top, metal legs, and plastic siding would be handled in the following manner. The first step would be to get the metal legs off of the table. They would be unscrewed if possible. The metal would then be put into a metal pile to be bailed and sent for smelting. The table top would be inspected to see what kind of wood it is. There are wood types that are reusable and will be taken "as is" and created into something else. There are other wood types that will be chipped down into mulch. The worst wood type is compressed wood. This is due to the fact that it has other chemicals mixed into it. The only solutions for compressed wood is landfill cover or waste-to-energy. E-Cycle endorses both methodologies.

Once the wood is separated from the legs it will then be stripped of any plastic siding and metal screws. If there is plastic its type will be determined. It will then be bailed for smelting. If there is a glass table the first step will be to see if there is a reusable purpose for it. Glass can be very challenging to recycle. Smelters want a very clean glass. If it is "dirty" they will want 10-100 tons of it. This way they can make it for a certain purpose. Otherwise it can be broken down to be mixed into concrete. Tile or granite will be shredded down to either be used as land fill cover or concrete mix.

As one can see there is a lot of work to keep your old table out of landfill, but it’s definitely worth it! If you have any other questions or want to schedule a pick up