how to recycle

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How To Recycle Everything Wrong

December 1, 2009 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | 1 comment

Recycling is not all that tricky, but some people waste a lot of time doing stuff they shouldn’t. For example below are some surefire ways to recycle incorrectly…

recycle wrong

  • Crush all cans carefully – waste o’ time. Nowadays you don’t need to do this step. Recycling centers take un-crushed cans happily.
  • Toss greasy and food ridden cardboard into the recycling bin. Sadly, this can mess up an entire load of recyclables. Recycling center machines are fit to take on grease and grime. If you’ve got sticky, messy, greasy paper you need to toss it not recycle it.
  • Don’t sort the recycling – some recycling centers will sort if you don’t but others will just toss bins full of mixed goods which does no one any good. Set up a home recycling center and sort your recyclables.
  • Be a perfectionist about food in jars – the machinery at the recycling center will zap that excess mayo or peanut butter out of a jar. In fact, if a lemon is stuck in a beer bottle or you can’t remove food from inside a narrow container you can still recycle it.
  • Fail to recycle glossy paper – most recycling facilities do take old magazines and other glossy paper now. Check to be sure, but don’t just assume you can’t recycle it.
  • Recycle before you re-purpose – recycling actually uses a fair amount of energy. IF you can re-purpose an item first, you should.
  • Toss anything into the bins – many items need to be recycled in a different manner than your recycling center can deal with. For example, toys and dishes and the like should go to the thrift store, CFLs need to go to a CFL specific center, hazardous waste is a whole other issue, and food can be composted. Don’t recycle willy nilly.

And the number one best way to recycle wrong – don’t bother at all – who cares if you trash the planet?

Are Pay-As-You-Throw trash programs fair?

November 6, 2009 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

As of 2006, the last time the EPA took down stats, about 7,095 communities were participating in Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) programs. PAYT programs are unit pricing or variable-rate pricing programs for trash disposal. Basically, residents are charged for the collection of their solid waste, i.e. what ends up in their trash can instead of a flat rate. For one thing this creates an economic incentive to recycle and so far programs like this result in communities that recycle more and trash less.

However, one common argument I’ve heard is, “Are these programs really fair?” In my opinion they are, because if we don’t charge people for larger amounts of trash, someone has to pay for it, which means even if you recycle diligently, you may still be subsidizing your neighbor’s trash by means of taxes. IF your community has a good recycling program in place, that’s easy to manage, it seems fair to me.

Plus of course excess trash harms the planet, so it’s tough to argue that programs like this suck – they do encourage recycling.

Problems that may make the program unfair:

Communities that have bad recycling programs in place. It’s impossible to get people on board with recycling when it’s nearly impossible to manage. For example, in New Mexico I had to make special trips, in my car, simply to recycle. Here in Oregon, it’s terribly easy with curbside pickup weekly.

Rural communities where the cost of curbside is prohibitive. The EPA notes that this is an issue in some communities but some have changed to monthly vs. weekly recycling pick-up which has worked well.

Too little education: Recycling, like any task is a learned task. People aren’t born knowing how to discard of their recyclables properly and plenty of communities don’t make this easily accessible public knowledge. I mean, when was the last time you saw a good deal of how-to-recycle commercials on television, or got some mail about it? Rarely. In fact, I live in one of the so-called greenest places in the U.S. and I meet people all the time who have no clue about recycling. I think that of all the unfair arguments, this one is the most valid. As a country, we really need to push for greener education initiates that are also accessible to everyone.

What do you think? Are PAYT programs a great way to encourage recycling or just a way to get more money out of a community?

How to make recycling easier for your kids

July 26, 2009 in Children & Babies, Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

Recycling should be a family affair but to kids, especially young ones, it can seem super complicated. Which recyclables go in which bin, which stuff is actually recyclable vs. trash, and which items can be reused or donated before you recycle.

How to help:

  • First crank up a dialogue with the kids – talk about recycling objectives for the home. They may not get all of it in one sitting, but eventually small conversations start to add up in their thirsty little brains.
  • Make a poster – set up a handy poster with visuals of typical items your home uses – i.e. cans, glass jars, paper, and so on. Have the kids help with this project. You can search old magazines for images to use on your poster.
  • Label your bins – once you have your home recycling center set up, make sure to label to bins with text for older kids and pictures for younger kids.
  • Make it meaningful – plan a trip to your local recycling plant so your kids can see their actions in well, action.
  • Make sure they understand reuse vs. recycling. For example, their old toys and book would go into a reuse/donate bin but an old used up piece of art paper should be recycled.

Are you involving your kids in the recycling process?

Where you can recycle CD & DVD cases

May 7, 2009 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | 1 comment

CD and DVD cases are a nuisance. You can cut them out of your world entirely by going with digital music and renting movies, but because I know some folks won’t give up buying CDs and others love their movies, here are some ideas about how you can recycle the cases. This is also a great space saver. You can consolidate all your discs into a folder, and ditch the bulky cases.

WHERE TO RECYCLE YOUR DISC CASES:

Some people want your old cases. In fact, some people LOVE them for projects, art creations, and other ideas. Sign up on Freecycle or Craigslist and offer your cases up for free.

You can ask around the neighborhood. Local libraries, schools, computer shops, and other non-profit organizations may be able to use your cases.

Most cities now have recycling centers that take old cases. Don’t just set them on the curb though. Recycling CD and DVD cases are different than recycling water bottles, paper, or tin foil.  Ask your local center IF they allow curbside pick-up. If not visit  visit Earth 911 – they have an easy and fast form you can fill in and it will locate you a center that takes old cases off your hands.

ACT Recycling accepts old CD cases and other computer media.

Recycle Your Cell Phone

December 16, 2008 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

Most people I know don’t even have a home phone anymore. Many folks have cells only nowadays. While cell phones are smaller, thus create less waste than a big standard phone, they still do create a lot of waste. Especially when you consider their short life span. While you may have had a big cordless home phone for years and years, typically folks go through a new cell every one to two years.

Some studies note that about 65,000 tons of landfill waste is created by cells alone – each year. Some of this waste is toxic too – from mercury and lead that cells can have.

You can cut down on this large number by using your cell until it’s lifespan is over and or recycling it.

Where to recycle your cell phone:

Collective Good

Check with Earth 911

Call To Protect

Phones 4 Charity

Sprint Project Connect

Recycling for Charities

Don’t forget that the places above may be able to help you recycle all kinds of cells – from pda phones, to Blackberry, to camera phones, to Trio to your basic cell.

10 Easy Reuse Ideas for Organizing Your Home

October 12, 2008 in Green Your Home by Jennifer | 1 comment

A green home is good. A green organized home is fantastic. Here are 10 simple ways to reuse stuff you already have in order to get organized. Trust me, with the holidays coming, it’s best to organize now.

  1. Take old wastebaskets; you know the ones too grungy for the house, and use them for storing long rolls of wrapping paper. No one will see it, because a mid-size garbage can fits neatly into the back of most closets.
  2. If you’ve given up clothes pins for an energy efficient dryer, you can spray paint the pins pretty colors and use them to hang pictures and your little one’s artwork. Simply hang a string across one wall. This makes changing your art decor fast and easy.
  3. Make your own reusable lunch bags out of old tablecloths. Very cute, and the perfect way to organize lunch outings.
  4. Old laundry baskets can be used for storing toys or out of season clothing. If you do use them to store clothes be sure to place clothing in a garbage bag first.
  5. Quit buying overpriced Tupperware. You can reuse sauce jars, butter tubs, and more for snack and left-over storage. Small yogurt cups are perfect for kid sized snacks.
  6. Reuse bubble wrap (start saving during the holidays) for protecting produce. Line your produce bins in the fridge with bubble wrap and you won’t have to deal with bruised fruit anymore.

    7. Read the rest of this entry »

At Home Recycling – What You Can’t Recycle

September 13, 2008 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | No comments

When recycling at home, it’s smart to know what is recyclable, but just as important to know is what’s not. Sometimes placing non-recyclables in a bin can get a whole bundle of actual recycling goods tossed, because not all facilities have the time or inclination to sort.

Sorting recyclables is something you need to do at home, before your recycling bins are picked up and emptied. Following are some items you don’t want to toss in your recycling bins…

Wet cardboard can jam recycling sorting machines at recycling facilities and may mess up an entire load of recyclables. It’s better to allow wet cardboard to dry before placing it in your bin. Also, covered recycling containers or bins with slotted covers can protect your cardboard from getting wet curbside.

Plastic lids on juice containers, jelly jars, soda, and more cannot be recycled. These lids are made of a different sort of plastic than the bottle itself. Remove all lids so that your bottles don’t end up being trashed by the recycling facility.

Special items like batteries, old car parts, computers and more can’t usually just be stuck in a recycling bin and carted off. These items need to be specially handled. Most of the time facilities are available that can recycle special items, but you’ll need to look for a specific local recycling center.

Stuff you think you can’t recycle – but can: Recycled items don’t have to be soapy clean. Rinsing your jars, cans, and bottles in water is good enough. If you say add a lemon to a bottle of tea or beer, and you can’t get it out, it’s still ok to recycle. You don’t need to crush cans (as people did in the past) and you also can leave labels on.

To learn more about recycling at home read; What Can & Can’t be Recycled

Home Building Recycling Tips

August 31, 2008 in Green Building by Jennifer | No comments

green home buildingIf you’re building or remodeling your house, there are plenty of ways to practice smart recycling practices as you build…

Buy from material suppliers who commit to zero (or at least less) packaging – do pipes really need packaging?

Use materials from recycled sources first, before moving on to buying new building products. You can find plenty of reclaimed or salvaged home building materials. Wood is a biggie resource that you can often find recycled.

Always return new, unused materials to your supplier.

Buy local – this is a big issue if you’re going to need to return an item. One, shipping equals gas use. Two, some people find the cost of sending an item back long distance cost prohibitive.

Make sure to specify that your site is a recycling site. Set up recycling bins that are clearly marked. If you are remodeling, set up reclaimed material bins as well. Use smaller bins for items like nails and screws.

If you’re using materials and products that can’t be returned to the supplier, say a 1/2 used package, or you’ve got some reclaimed materials that aren’t going to be used, be sure to donate them to a reuse center. Someone else may be able to use your recycled or unused materials.

Also read: Eleven Recycled Houses

What Can & Can’t be Recycled

July 25, 2008 in Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle by Jennifer | 3 comments

Yesterday we looked at Getting back to Basics – Recycling in Your Community – where to learn about recycling in your community and neighborhood.

Today let’s take a look at what can and can’t (in most cases) be recycled…

recycling truck

What you can, in most cases, recycle:

Paper

Glass

Plastic – you’re limited in what plastics you can easily recycle. You honestly should not be buying plastic drink jugs and milk jugs (paper or glass is better). Overall, the best plastic tip is to buy as little as possible.

Misc garbage – clothing, old paint, computers, and batteries are just some of the misc trash you can recycle. It depends on your area, but if you contact Earth 911 you can find a place to recycle these sort of items.

Metal – tin cans, soda cans, and foil items can usually be recycled.

Things that are difficult to recycle: (difficult, as in some areas offer recycling for said items, and some may not. Also people who are creative can recycle many items.)

Aerosol cans made from combined materials.

Some juice boxes.

Squeeze plastic bottles – like ketchup. Glass is a better option.

In some areas light bulbs, broken glass and pottery, foam, plastic silverware, plastic bags, carbon paper, and more can’t be recycled. Try to limit buying what can’t be recycled in your community.