Recycling efforts making a difference
As the old saying goes, “We’ve come a long way, baby.” And the status of recycling today proves the old saying is true. From the days of dragging all our recyclables to a recycling center to once a month taking them to City Hall to little boxes we took to the front of our houses to today’s curbside pickup with large containers, we truly have come a long way.
After doing research and talking to people at Waste Management, we realized that we needed an update on what can be recycled curbside and, maybe even more importantly, what can’t. We’ve been recycling the same things for years and hadn’t actively thought about what we might be forgetting or what has changed.
It’s easy to forget that what can be recycled depends on if there is another business that will take our recycled materials to reuse them. And whether they can be reused often depends on the amount of work needed to recycle them. Otherwise, they just get thrown away. The ability to recycle also depends on if the markets for the recycle materials are relatively convenient.
So, it is important that we know what can be recycled in our own city. Just because something can be recycled at your aunt’s house in another state doesn’t mean it can be recycled here.
The basic recycling rules are: recycle all plastic bottles, cans and paper; keep items clean and dry; do not recycle plastic bags. The details matter also, though.
Plastic bottles, containers, food and beverage cans, paper, cardboard, paper, newspapers, magazines, flattened cardboard boxes and plastic lids all are good to go.
Don’t recycle food waste, plastic bags and film, glass, foam cups and containers, syringes or medical waste, clamshell packaging like those holding fruit and vegetables or bakery items, plastic utensils or dishes, chip bags, candy wrappers or anything wax-coated.
The list is extensive for both what you can and what you can’t recycle. We can’t list everything here, nor do you probably want to read a bunch of lists. We recommend you check out the website RecycleOftenRecycleRight.com. It has lists of what can and can’t be recycled, and was helpful to us.
Dan Darnell, New Mexico manager for Waste Management, said the company is trying to get the word out that putting food waste into the recycling container and not rinsing out bottles causes lots of problems and contaminates the recyclables, so don’t put them in your recycling bin. Also, Waste Management wants the public to understand that, if you collect your recyclables in a plastic trash bag, don’t put the trash bag in with the recyclables. Actually, you can reuse it.
And, remember gift wrapping paper is often not recyclable, which is a good excuse to use gift bags, which are both recyclable and reusable.
Recycling works and, the more we participate, the more it works. Last year, Waste Management, with the help of American communities, recycled enough material to fill 168,819 Boeing 737s. That’s amazing — and it’s a whole lot less trash for our landfills.
According to Waste Management, recycling just one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a television set for two hours, power a 14-watt CFL bulb for 20 hours or run a computer for three hours. It’s phenomenal how much difference each one of us can make.