We have all heard the mantra – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The “3 R’s” are imperative actions for waste diversion considering that each person creates an average 4.6 pounds of waste per day, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. “Reduce” refers to an overall reduction in waste created, which is the best way to battle our over-crowded landfills. “Reuse” applies to using an item more than once, delaying its entry into our waste stream. “Recycling” is the process of turning a material into a raw material to manufacture a new item, rather than it becoming waste. We fill up our blue bins with these items, which are then collected by a hauler to be processed.
It is important to be informed of the items that local haulers consider recyclable. In Los Angeles, most haulers accept all kinds of clean dry paper, cardboard boxes, aluminum, glass bottles and jars, metal cans and plastics #1-7. All containers must be free of food debris otherwise they won’t be recycled.
Confusion arises when items are considered recyclable by certain haulers and not by others, such as Styrofoam®, aerosol cans and plastic bags. Visit your hauler’s website or call them to find out the materials they accept.
Items that often are not accepted include coated milk cartons, disposable coated coffee cups, broken glass other than from bottles and jars, rubber items like hoses and tires, construction materials and electrical appliances, also known as e-waste. Hazardous materials such as paints, pesticides, compact fluorescent light bulbs, chemicals and batteries must be disposed of at hazardous materials facilities, not placed in the recycle bin. Some local supermarkets now have battery recycling collection tubes. Websites such as www.earth911.org and www.businessrecycling.com provide locations where items like these can be recycled locally.
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Recycling is pretty confusing these days – especially when you look at different cities, different counties and different countries.
And I don’t think the media helps.
For example, I recently had a meeting with my local council only to find out they recycle more than I imagined. And a lot of what I’m throwing out could be recycled. If only I knew.
My suggestion is that every now and then – residents are reminded what can be recycled with a little TV ad or a note. Much like your article above.
I bet there are a lot more products on the recycle list then they thought.
Thanks for getting the ball rolling.
I definitely agree that recycling can be confusing. I work for Earth911.com where we host the nation’s largest recycling database, and we have inquiries from all over the country about how and where to recycle tons of everyday products. If you have some hard-to-recycle items, I invite you to give our database or our free iPhone app a whirl – hopefully they will make your green endeavors a little easier!