Recycle Everything – Recycling Tips

Why recycle?

You would think that the easiest to recycle items were recycle the majority of time but,.. EPA estimates for 2009 indicate that only 26% of glass containers and 51% of aluminum beverage containers were recycled.

MIT developed Trash Track to see where trash goes after you toss it.  Pretty shocking that trash from NYC went as far as South Carolina!

Garbage companies run recycling programs that take recyclable materials, sort them, and sell them to other vendors to produce revenue. The recycled materials are typically used to make new products. Paper is recycled and exported very often to China.

Single stream recycling where you can mix recyclable materials in a single bin is the best type of recycling. You no longer need to think about the material plus the collection guys have less bins to worry about. This was actually causing additional back injuries to garbage collection folks. Star Screen makes a commercial machine that helps sort out all the recyclable materials.

Here are some non obvious recycling tips from our local garbage carrier, Recology. Check with your local company to verify how they handle recycling as each local municipality has its own rules.

1) Rinsed coated milk and juice cartons. Plastic caps and plastic pour spouts must be removed before recycling.

2) No Pizza boxes. These can be composted.

3) No black plastic (even if it has a recycle symbol)- Other plastic needs to have recycle symbol with plastic number on it.  No nursery plant containers – See Recycle Plastic Nursery pots – Other hard to recycle plastics include plastic cutlery, plastic hangers, toothbrushes.

4) Recyclable metal includes:

• Aerosol and spray cans (empty)
• Aluminum cans
• Aluminum foil and trays that are clean
• Paint cans (empty or dry)
• Small scrap metal
• Steel or tin cans

5) No Toys, remote controls, ceramic cups, hangers, trash cans. Try to donate them to local charities. Reuse hangers dry-cleaning establishments.

6) Plastics that can be recycled must be numbered 1 through 7 and include:

• Clear Plastic Clam shells.
• Cups
• Detergent bottles
• Shampoo and soap bottles
• Strawberry baskets
• Yogurt containers

Aseptic Packaging aka Square boxes like Tetra Pak can be recycled.

7) Cardboard boxes like detergent ones cannot be recycled unless they are thoroughly cleaned.

Allied Waste recycles single use batteries if you place them in a plastic bag on top of recyclables.  Best Buy has recycling bins for rechargeable batteries.

Credit Earth911.com

Earth911 can help you find local battery recycling. Earth911.com has a new iRecycle iPhone App that helps you find recycling locations on your iPhone. Access to over 100,000 recycling and disposal locations for over 200 materials and get directions to them from your current location. Best of all, it is Free.

9) Wax paper, Food contaminated or dirty paper cannot be recycled, but they can be composted. Thermal fax paper, stickers, plastic laminated paper, and dog food bags cannot be recycled.

10) Aluminum ready-meal containers and catering trays, pie cases, kitchen foil can all be recycled if you clean off any and all debris.

11) Paper that can be recycled includes:

• Paperbags
• Cardboard (non-waxed)
• Computer paper, office paper
• Egg cartons
• Envelopes (plastic windows are okay)
• Junk mail
• Magazines
• Milk and juice cartons
• Newspapers
• Soft Cover Paperback Books
• Shredded paper (place in the paperbag)
• Wrapping paper (not metallic)

12) Do not recycle items constructed with multiple materials.

13) ReCork America is leading an effort to recycle wine corks such as those used in wine bottles. Dropoff locations include Whole Foods markets in Northern California and many wineries.

You could alternately compost wine corks.  Chop them up to make them decompose faster.

Harder to Recycle Items

Plastic film, especially plastic bags need to be recycled correctly. They can wrap around recycling machine parts and cause damage. Most supermarkets have bins that recycle plastic bags such as newspaper bags or shrinkwrap. (Remove any stickers) Recycle Wine Corks.

Recycling shrink wrap

Shrink wrap is the clear film that protects everything from foods to software boxes to even boats. Can you recycle shrink wrap?

Yes you can. Shrink wrap falls into category 4: LDPE Low-Density Polyethylene. So recycle it as you recycle other items. No need to throw it away.

Cellophane bags and wrap are not recyclable.

Be sure to read: Recycle tips plus Recycle Hard to recycle items

Recycle CFL – compact fluorescent light bulbs at home improvement stores or hardware stores such as Home Depot.

TerraCycle makes affordable, eco-friendly products from a wide range of different non-recyclable waste materials. Capri Sun – Honest Kids juice pouches can be recycled by Terracycle as can Candy Wrappers, Starbucks Coffee bags, Zip Loc Bags, pens, Cookie Wrappers, Colgate toothpaste, and more. Yes this is more involved, so try to get your local community or school involved.

Recycling styrofoam and Styrofoam foam containers (Even if they have a recycle symbol) is a challenge. Other packing materials can be recycled at a local UPS store. Recycle Tyvek Envelopes. Recycle Shrink Wrap. Recycle Gift Wrap and Holiday Cards. Recycle Gift Cards.

Recycle Bike Tires.

Recycle Clothes by donating them to worthy causes.

Recycle Carpet.

Cell phones and Electronics can be readily recycled or donated. Recycle Appliances.

Earth911 has recycling options for other products. Get paid to recycle.

Recycling Tetra Pak Packaging

Tetra Pak is finding its way all over the grocery store. Milk, wine, soup, and many other items are using it. It weighs less than glass and keeps products fresh. We had to look into how recyclable it is.

Tetra Pak addresses recycling and has many regions already recycling the product, including ours. We feel better about buying products using this now. Always rinse containers out before putting them in recycle bins.

Recycling Eyeglasses and Sunglasses

Got old eyeglasses laying around? Prescription changed, frame outdated, etc.. time to put the old glasses back to work with those less fortunate.

Unite for Sight helps take unwanted eyeglasses and sunglasses and distributes them to people in Africa. They find people with vision needs in the same ballpark as your glasses and gives them away. Any eyeglass, for most of these folks, is better than no glasses, even if the prescription is not exactly the same.

Lion’s Clubs also recycle eyeglasses. They have donation boxes in Walmart stores and Sam’s Clubs with vision centers.

Eco Friendly – Green Reusable Drinking Straw

Isn’t it wasteful using a plastic straw and tossing it in the garbage a little while later? Think of how many straws get tossed at fast food outlets. Many straws end up as plastic swirling in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The San Francisco Zoo does not give out straws as they are a choking hazard to animals.

Time to get green eco friendly straws. Reusable Stainless Steel Drinking Straws are available for about $2.50 each. These straws are pretty stylish too.

Recyclable Eco Friendly and Green Mailers

We received an item in the mail that was packaged in a tear proof mailer. Our first thoughts were, is it recyclable? Yes!, it was made with Polyolefin and was recyclable. U-line makes several mailers that are recyclable. Many also have recycled content. It’s great they put their url and model number on each item. They should also put a recyclable graphic on the back of the mailers.

Be sure to donate unwanted items.

To donate bicycles and related gear, visit wocinternational.org

CNBC’s Trash Inc: The Secret Life of Garbage helped remind us that garbage is everyone’s problem and needs us to be more responsible.

Recycle Plastic Nursery Pots

Recycling Plastic Nursery Pots takes some effort. Most residential curbside programs do not take nursery plant containers. Contact your local nursery and see if they take them back. Many only take back certain sizes.

Recycleworks has a list of places that take them in the San Francisco Peninsula.

Recycling by Mail

Some folks live far away from recycling centers. Think Green From Home is a service from Waste management that allows you to recycle everything from CFL’s to Batteries to Bottles by mail. Unfortunately, it does cost money to purchase a recycling kit, relegating this to probably only more dedicated green folks. $16.95 to recycle 13 CFL’s is a lot.

Get Paid to Recycle – Recycle Bank

How do you get people to recycle more? Pay them! RecycleBank gives points for recycling products. Turn these points into rewards at over 1500 local and National retailers. They record the amount your recycle through the use of a special recycling bin. The service is only available in about 20 select states right now, primarily in MA, NE, NJ, PA, VA. Request service for your area if you are not covered.

Related posts:

1. How to have a Eco Friendly or Green Christmas – Recycling Gift Wrap and Holiday Cards
2. Recycling Plastic Bags
3. How to Recycle Ziploc Bags
4. Mandalay Bay Las Vegas and Recycling
5. What to Compost, How to Compost, and Why Compost
6. Targeting “Zero” Waste or Minimizing Trash
7. Recycling Styrofoam aka Polystyrene
8. Recology New Recycling System with Composting

Posted on June 30th, 2011
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