If 85,000 people each drink one bottle of water every day for seven days, how many bottles end up in the landfill?

None, if the City of High Point has its way. Each Market, when the population of the town nearly doubles, the city’s crews work 24/7 to collect plastic and glass bottles, cans, and packaging materials and process them at the city-owned Materials Recycling Facility (MRF).

“We encourage people to recycle,” says Melanie Bruton, environmental programs coordinator for the City of High Point, who notes that the city has been running its recycling program since 1995. Rather than throwing away packaging material and cardboard, exhibitors can recycle them through the city’s program. And the hundreds of thousands of bottles and cans used at Market can easily be tossed into recycling bins rather than trash cans.

About two weeks before opening day of Market, MRF crews start a daily pick-up schedule for cardboard recovery of boxes and crates used to encase furniture, accessories and other materials needed for showroom displays. These are taken to the MRF and sorted.

During Market, about 80 large green bins (shaped like bottles) are placed throughout the city for market-goers to toss their recyclable bottles and cans. Each night, city crews collect the recyclables to be sorted and recycled at the MRF.

“We recycled in excess of 350 tons of cardboard from the October Market,” says Richard McMillan, assistant director of public services for the City of High Point. The cardboard is sold, as is aluminum, plastic and glass. Number 1 plastic bottles of all colors are recycled into carpet and also clothing, t-shirts, eco-spin fabric and fleece. Glass is recycled back into glass and aluminum cans will again become an aluminum cans.