Common Recycling Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
In this blog post, you’ll learn how to prepare materials for recycling. For starters, keep food and liquid out of recycling. Remember the two adjectives: dry and clean. While it is a myth that all recycling must be squeaky clean, it is also possible for a whole load of recycling to be rejected because of the presence of a relatively small amount of food or waste.
Common Recyclables
In general, bottles, cans, paper, and cardboard can be recycled. Food containers need to be rinsed out. Food particles must be removed. You do not have to use soap if you get rid of the food. You may need to use soap if an oily residue is there. The caps of the containers are recyclable. You can affix the caps on the containers before tossing them into the bin. Pizza boxes are an example of cardboard that can be recycled, but make sure they don’t have leftover crusts, cheese, or other food inside. Flatten any boxes before placing them in the bin. You do not need to remove paper labels or tape from cardboard boxes.
common errors: plastic and paper
We have talked about what can be recycled. Now let’s talk about what can’t be recycled. Be careful what you put in your recycle bin. Just because an item has the three-pointed recycling symbol does not mean it can go in your bin. Check with your local recycling service to make sure you are not putting things in the recycling that can’t go there. A good example is glass. Some recycling businesses take it; others do not.
Styrofoam is another example of an item that typically has a recycling symbol but is typically not recyclable. In fact, whole loads of recycling may be rejected because of the presence of Styrofoam. Both Styrofoam cups and takeout containers should not go in the recycle bin.
Some types of paper are not accepted. Colored paper, shredded paper, or paper that is wet should not be recycled. For this reason, you should not put napkins or paper towels in the recycle bin. Perhaps you can use these as mulch. In addition, paper and cardboard should be free of wax or plastic coating (think drink boxes and coffee cups). Since cups with wax and plastic coatings are not accepted, it would be wise to invest in a reusable water bottle.
common errors: bags, tanglers, and more
Make sure you don’t include plastic bags in the recycling. These must be recycled separately at places that collect these bags, like Walmart or perhaps a local grocery store. Plastic bags will catch in the recycling machinery and can cause problems. They can even shut down the machines that handle the recycling stream, so keep them out of your recycling bin! The same goes for bubble wrap, bubble mailers, and plastic wraps and films like Saran Wrap. Do not bag recyclables.
There are more items that should never be recycled. Here is a list: dirty diapers, items with flexible packaging (the packaging is made from multiple materials and cannot be recycled), Tyvek envelopes, batteries, medical waste (such as needles), paint, tangling items (such as garden hoses), cups with wax or plastic coatings, aerosol cans, coated cardboard (drink boxes), household glass items like lightbulbs, ceramics, hazardous waste, and tires. Besides being big and bulky, tires need to be recycled elsewhere.
Always Check Locally
“Aspirational recycling” is when people assume things can be recycled even though they can’t. Somehow these people feel good about putting things in the recycle bin on high hopes that they’re doing the earth a favor. But if you’re not sure, don’t throw things into the recycling. The trouble these items could cause is more than recycling them is worth. Recycling is valuable, but you need to educate yourself to do a good job. The best thing to do is to check with your local recycling service to see just what the rules are in your locality.