I was given few rules from the company that takes my recycling and didn't know how to avoid common mistakes. I knew that they take a bunch of my recyclable materials including plastics one through seven, cans, and paper products. When I ended up with a sheet of plastic with the number four stamped on it inside the recycle symbol, I plopped it in the bin. After two pickups, the workers seemed to be ignoring my plastic. When I asked during the following visit, the owner of the company told me, "we can take it but it'll just end up in the trash." Apparently, despite the markings, my number four piece of plastic was not recyclable in my area.It's not just some plastics that end up in the trash after getting picked up from people's homes. Cardboard, metals and other items get tossed regularly. Small measures can be taken on your end to prevent your dutifully sorted recyclables from ending up in the landfill.
- Broken glass is difficult to sort and will most likely end up in the trash so it's best to take care of it safely on your end or reuse it.
- Food stained paper products are no good! This includes pizza boxes. If the bottom of the box is a greasy, soiled mess but the top cover is pristine, toss the bottom into the trash and recycle the remainder.
- Other common paper products that can't be recycled are waxed paper and cardboard, oil soaked paper, carbon paper, sanitary products or tissues, thermal fax paper, stickers and plastic laminated paper, juice boxes, and pet food bags.
- Unless told otherwise, you do not have to remove staples from paper or cardboard that is to be recycled.
- Remove caps from bottles before recycling as they are often made from a different type of plastic and can contaminate the batch.
- Don't bother peeling labels off from metals and glass. The recycling process will due this on its own ... but thanks for the effort!
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