Plastic #1 (PETE or PET) is usually clear and used to make soda and water bottles. It is recycled into tote bags, furniture, carpet, paneling, fiber, and polar fleece. Plastic #2 (HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) is typically opaque and picked up by most curbside recycling programs. Thi...
This plastic recycling number is often seen on food containers for carry-out items, as well as meat trays for meats packaged at a grocery store. They are accepted by some curbside recycling programs. Number 7 plastics are denoted by the letter O, or the word OTHER. As the name would ...
Plastic bags or recyclables inside plastic bags. Takeaway coffee cups. Disposable nappies. Garden waste. Polystyrene (foam) Bubble wrap. Syringes or medical waste. Dead animals. What is curbside recycling? Curbside Recycling refers to the practice of discarding items that are picked up by a waste...
Since I started this project, I’ve run across many misconceptions (including my own) about what is and isn’t recyclable. What makes the issue so confusing is that every city has its own rules about what can and can’t be placed in curbside bins. Some areas require more separation of ...
t tear with the slightest mishandling like the brown paper bags of today—even though it weighs just half as much. What it all adds up to is a paper bag that has many of the benefits of plastic. Yet it’s durable enough to reuse, recyclable in the existing paper stream, a...
Black plastic takeout container? Throw it in the blue bin. Coffee cup? Ditto. Plastic bags? Recyclable. Or are they? Most of us are guilty of throwing items into our blue bins indiscriminately, without checking to see if the items are, in fact, recyclable....
Early environmentalists soon began to realize the negative impact of plastic pollution — the material takes hundreds of years to decompose. That's when the idea of recycling plastic began to take hold. However, the first adapters of recycling didn't throw recyclables into curbside bins as we...
Glass is easy to recycle, and it’s 100% recyclable. But, there’s a problem. When they’re recycled via a curbside bin, they can smash when they’re dumped from the container into the truck. Once smashed, the glass poses a danger to workers sorting the materials. Not only that, but...
The plastic that pollutes our waterways and the ocean gyres is a symptom of upstream material mismanagement, resulting in its ubiquity throughout the biosphere in both aquatic and terrestrial environments. While environmental contamination is widespread,
How do I figure out what’s recyclable and what’s not? First, keep in mind that the acceptance of materials can vary from state to state and city. In general, paper, cardboard, and many types of plastic containers are collected by curbside recycling progra...