In light of a conversation I recently had with some friends, I thought I would shed some light on the do’s and don’t's of recycling.
DO recycle these:
Glass containers
Aluminum cans, tin cans, aerosol cans, steel cans
Paperboard / chipboard
Mixed paper
Paper grocery bags (Not plastic)
Newspaper, magazines, catalogs, junk mail, phone books
Corrugated cardboard
Plastics 1-7, with the exception of 6
*All of these can be recycled. Check the materials that your community recycles.
DO:
Rinse the container before recycling it. This means milk cartons with milk residue in it cannot be recycled without a good rinse.
Sort out materials IF required by your community. (Mine, for example, does not require this, so double check.)
Get the appropriate bag or container that your community requires to designate recycling from trash.
Check out stores’ recycling policies. MAC, for example, will give you a lipstick when you return to them 6 MAC containers for them to recycle.
DON’T:
Put a wet newspaper or cardboard into recycling. Once they’re wet, they cannot be recycled.
Try to recycle used paper plates. The oils from the foods have contaminated it, making it un-recyclable.
Batteries or electronics. While some organizations do recycle these, general recycling companies do not. One organization that does recycle electronics is Earth Ecycle.
Caps. Plastic bottle caps are made of a different type of plastic and cannot be recycled. Aveda has started their own recycling campaign and is accepting these plastic bottle caps. (No, they do not have to be Aveda caps.)
Broken glass.
Sometimes colored glass. Check the rules on this for your area. It depends on the demand.
Why is this important?
Too much “mishap” recycling contaminates the whole load, defeating the purpose of your recycling altogether. So study up, and recycle.
“With the office and writing paper we throw away every year, we could build a 12-foot high wall from Los Angeles to New York City.” (Our government)
“Every day, the average American produces four and a half pounds of trash — 75 percent of which is recyclable.” (MSNBC)
Thankfully Thrifty
