You know that saying, “You don’t know what you don’t know?” Well, that’s kind of what this article is about, only in regards to recycling. I sometimes find myself unsure if I am recycling certain items correctly. I also have people asking me, “Is this recyclable?”, or “How do I recycle this?” And the truth is, sometimes I am just not sure. So, what I decided to do was to ask these questions to two of our local trash/recycling companies, “Haulaway” and “Waste Management”. I explained my dilemma, and I told them that I believed that if we knew the mistakes we were making many of us would certainly make an effort to correct them. They were more than happy to oblige, and answered all of my recycling questions. I even got to take a tour of Waste Management’s recycling facility in Denver. Now I get to share everything I learned with you so that we can all be better “recyclers” together.
First of all I have to say, touring the recycling plant was an incredible experience. I knew there were machines, but what I didn’t know was how much work is still done by hand- helping to sort through and pull out unwanted items. Of these unwanted items the one that seemed to rank high on the list was PLASTIC BAGS. People recycle their newspapers without removing the plastic bags they got delivered in, and place their recyclables in plastic bags, and some people just think plastic bags can be recycled this way. After all plastic bags can be recycled, right? Yes, but not through your residential recycling pick up. Plastic bags must be taken to a local grocery or retail stores where plastic bag recycling is offered. When plastic bags do get mixed in with your other recyclables they can cause big problems for the recycling/sorting machines. It turns out these plastic bags can get caught around the spinning shafts causing damage to the machines. If you keep your recyclable trash in a plastic bag, just empty the items out into your residential recycling can for pick up.
Another common item residents try to recycle through home pick up is SHREDDED PAPER. This too is not to be recycled through your residential pick up. Again, you might ask, “Why, isn’t paper recyclable?” Yes it is! However, much like the plastic bags the shredded paper causes damage to their machines, it clogs the machine’s wheels of operations. Shredded paper CAN be recycled through other companies like: Iron Mountain and Shred it.
Here is a list of a few other items that come into the facility that cannot be recycled there:
• Extensions cords (not recyclable and get caught in the machines)
• Garden hoses
• Christmas lights/ light bulbs
• Medical waste/syringes
• Styrofoam
• Batteries and electronics.
Check with your town government to find out when the next chemical round up or electronic recycling even will be.
And finally, things we can do to be more helpful: Take the caps off of plastic and glass bottles/jugs/jars etc. This not only helps to flatten the plastic items, but sometimes the caps are made from different material then the rest of the item. This also helps to ensure the item will be empty as well. To be helpful at the curbside: Be sure your trash cans are clearly labeled as a recycling cans, especially if it’s one you purchased yourself; put some space between the regular (landfill) trash and the recyclable trash- on separate sides of the driveway if possible. In the end, “If we all do a little it will mean a lot”. For more helpful ideas go to one of Waste Management’s sites: www.ThinkGreenFromHome.com
http://lonetreemagazine.com/recycling-how-can-we-do-it-better/
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