12 Recycling Do’s and Don’ts
What kind of paper can be recycled, and what can’t? Where should you take your old electronics? And can pizza boxes be recycled? Make sure you are recycling correctly with these 12 handy tips from the Domestic CEO.
Most people agree that recycling is good for the environment. And when we have a choice between sending something to a landfill or having it recycled in to a new and wonderful product, most of us would likely want to prevent it from clogging a landfill, too.
The challenge is that many items we send to recycling plants actually end up in a landfill, anyway. So to make sure that you are sending the right stuff to be reused, I have compiled a list of the top Dos and Don’ts for recycling.
Do: Check for Local Requirements
Not all recycling plants are set up to handle the same items, so check to make sure what can be collected in your area – specifically, which plastics can be recycled.
Those little numbers on the bottom of plastic items may not seem like a big deal to you, but sending items that are not meant to be recycled wastes manpower, because the unusable items need to be manually removed.
Do: Separate Your Items (When Required)
Some cities require that trash items be separated into specific bins. Typically, all paper recyclables go together, with plastics in another bin, glass in another, and metals in another.
So be sure to separate your items correctly – if your city requires it. Where I live, we are allowed to toss everything into one large recycling bin, which is very convenient, but that is not the case everywhere.
Don’t: Bag Your Recycling
Plastic bags can clog the sorting machines in a recycling plant, which then take time and money to unclog. Fight the urge to bag your recycling, and simply dump it from your bin into the collection bin, instead.
Do: Recycle Plastic Bags Separately
Just because plastic bags shouldn’t go in to the main recycling bin doesn’t mean they aren’t recyclable – they just have to be processed separately. Most grocery stores have special bins for all your clean, empty plastic bags, so collect them at home and take them in on your next trip to the store.
Don’t: Recyle Food
Food is compostable, but not recyclable. Make sure your food cans, bottles, and containers are clean of all food residue before putting them in to the recycling bin.
Do: Remove the Grease
You may have heard that pizza boxes aren’t recyclable. This isn’t quite true. Cardboard pizza boxes are recyclable, but the grease from the pizza is not.
The recycling process involves soaking paper products in water to turn them into a pulp. Any grease from pizza boxes and other food containers separates from the paper and contaminates the pulp (much like how oil separates from water.)
So if the top of your pizza box is all greasy and cheesy, but the bottom is clean as a whistle, you can tear it apart, then toss the oily half in the trash, and the clean part in the recycling.
Don’t: Put Trash In the Recycling
Just a few pieces of non-recyclable garbage can make the recycling plant deem an entire load as “trash.” This means that even if your neighbors separate their recycling perfectly, but you decide to be lazy and just throw all your trash into your recycling collection bin, you may be ruining all their efforts.
So play by the rules, and you’ll help your entire neighborhood stay green.
Do: Separate Your eWaste
Electronics and other eWaste items can be recycled, but typically in a separate, secure collection area away from regular recyclables.
If you aren’t sure where to find an eWaste recycling facility, you can check your city’s waste services website, or call around to local office supply stores, which often have collection boxes on site for public drop-off.
Just be sure to triple check that you’ve wiped your information from any electronics you want to recycle before taking them in.
Don’t: Recycle Toxic Containers
Most plastic bottles are recyclable, unless they were holding toxic stuff. Those bottles need to go in the trash, and more often than not, they are supposed to be disposed of using hazardous waste procedures.
A few items that are on the “do not recycle” list include:
- Paint cans (including spray paint)
- Oil jugs
- Antifreeze jugs
- Pesticide containers
- Some household cleaning bottles
Check your local plant’s rules for more specifics. But for the most part, if you would call poison control if your kid or dog ingested the contents of a particular container, you shouldn’t put it in the recycling.
Don’t: Put Yard Waste In the Recycling
If you are a homeowner, it may be tempting to fill up your recycling and garbage bins with tree trimmings and grass clippings after a big yard cleanup. But just like food isn’t recyclable, neither is yard waste.
If you have more yard waste than can fit in your trash bin, bag it and set it aside for the next week, ask a neighbor if you can borrow some of their trash space, or call your city to arrange a bulk trash pickup. There are lots of options to get rid of yard waste – but the recycling bin isn’t one of them.
Do: Recycle Junk Mail
Most junk mail can go straight into the recycle bin. In fact, most mail can go right in after you read it, too. If you have items that you want to shred, check with your local recycling rules to see if they allow shredded paper in the bin (some cities do, others don’t.)
Do: Try and Reuse Items That Are Not Recycleable
There are some items that just can’t be recycled. For example, if paper has been dyed or coated, it may not be able to be processed again, because the color or plastic coating can’t be removed. Most wrapping paper is not recyclable (unless it is specifically marked as such), and tissue paper is almost never recyclable, either.
But even though these types of paper aren’t recyclable, they are reusable. Flatten, fold, and save nice wrapping and tissue paper, and reuse them as much as you can before throwing them out. No one will know the difference, and this one step can save you loads of trash – and a few bucks at the same time.
Remember, the first DO when it comes to recycling is to check to make sure you know what items are accepted at your local collection facility. Once you know what to collect, follow the dos and don’ts from this list, and your local recycling plant’s rules, to make sure that you are helping to keep as much away from the landfill as possible.
Until next time, I’m the Domestic CEO, helping you love your home. Share your recycling tips and more with me on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Images of recycling bins and person separating recycling courtesy of Shutterstock.