My Goals

To share eco tips &
To discuss changes we can make.


Friday, June 20, 2008

Curbside Recycling Tips

I was watching Living with Ed on the Green Channel and they mentioned that we should remove caps from water bottles because, not only are they not recyclable, but the whole bottle may be tossed if the cap is left on because the workers won't take the time to take them off. Astonishing! Why? I don't know. However, it is more than upsetting to know that it may have been a waste of time for me to have recycled bottles, forgetting to take the caps off. So, take those caps off people!

Same apparently goes for the lids to glass jars, though I am unable to recycle my glass curbside. So I have to take it to a recycling center.

Don't forget to rinse the recyclables out because non-water liquids can contaminate other things in your bin, rendering them unrecyclable. Also, if you don't rinse them, they could attract ants and other bugs. Nobody wants that.

Here are some other dos and don'ts, myths and facts, tips and tricks, or whatever you want to call them, about recycling:

If you leave your open bin out in the rain, paper may become soggy to a point that it can no longer be recycled. I'm not real sure what to do about that considering that it truly rains every recycling day here lately. If I put a tarp over it, they probably wouldn't take it because the people who pick up the recycling here are not the friendliest of people I'm sorry to say.

Try and collapse any boxes so more can fit within your bin. I collect recycling from family members who don't have curbside recycling, so one bin is never enough. If your bin is overflowing, then you can purchase other bins -or- you can just throw the extras in a cardboard box beside your bin. Free and easy!

You can't recycle plastic bags along with your curbside plastics #1 and #2 though most bags are #2 plastics, because the bags get caught up in the equipment. Thus, you need to take them to Wal-Mart or other stores with receptacles for plastic bags. Of course, you shouldn't be using many plastic bags anyway. Canvas bags can be bought for $1 most places now, so there's no excuse.

Shredded paper cannot be recycled with other curbside recycling because it's too easily sorted in with other recyclables, such as glass. Instead, a good idea might be to put it into your compost bin.

On a different note, but still recycling related, thanks to Be Thrifty Like Us for their tip about saving scrap metal and taking it to the scrap yard for cash! Frugal and green--my favorite combo!

There are tons of companies who will buy plastics in bulk as well. I'm looking more into that as we speak and will post more on that soon.

You know, in my neighborhood, we're only allowed 2 bags of trash unless we want to buy tags for the others. Before we started recycling, this was a problem. Luckily, now recycling keeps us from having to buy those extra tags. Yet another way recycling helps.

8 comments:

Michael said...

Based upon your post I would say recycling wastes more of your energy than it saves.

Wouldn't your time be better spent being a productive member of society?

The only shortage that can not be replaced is minutes and hours in a lifetime.

Cheers,

callmekelly said...

If it were just me, in a world I didn't ask to be a part of, I might agree. I, however, brought a child into this world and, therefore, need to do my part to ensure that it is not a worse place when I leave it than when I was born into it.

It's not always easy to do the responsible thing, and sometimes it may seem your efforts are for not, but it doesn't change the fact that I am doing my part, for my child's sake.

Anonymous said...

Great info...Keep it up!!!



LatentPtrints: the musings of a mind that wanders.

callmekelly said...

Thanks!

Kimberly said...

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lu-n-am said...

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Anonymous said...

Nice site! I'm sure I'll be visiting again! Thanks for sharing all this information.

Anonymous said...

Great post! I love environmentally friendly blogs. And, good call, callmekelly. Not caring about the environment is just plain selfish. Keep up the good work!