Reporter's Notes: Is This Recyclable?
Say you consider yourself a top-notch recycler. You buy in bulk as much as possible, compost all your food scraps, can recite the recyclables bin allowable item list from memory. When trash day rolls around, what's in your discounted black mini-can?
According to Sunset Scavenger Spokesman Robert Reed, San Francisco residents should have nothing but "film plastics" (like plastic bags from stores and dry cleaners) and polystyrene, aka Styrofoam.
But the life of a recycling ascetic ain't easy. First of all, it means learning the rules of your particular community, since recycling practices vary depending on where you live. Probably, It means forgoing juice boxes, disposable diapers, complicated, multi-material packaging. It means you've scraped out your cat food cans ("contaminated" recyclables are often tossed). If you're a paper shredder, you've put all the scraps into a paper bag labeled "shredded paper." (Tiny pieces of paper are too hard to collect – sorters usually landfill them.) In short, you've earned a PhD in recycling. (And if you think that's complicated, consider the Japanese.)
Some experts have argued that this is all too much trouble – that instead of aiming for zero waste, we should accept a certain amount of landfilling. Others say that the more citizens recycle, the more efficient the program becomes – hence the movement toward mandatory recycling. One point that nearly everyone seems to agree on is that products on the shelves must be designed to be more easily recyclable than they are today.
Is This Recyclable?
On that note, we interviewed two recycling experts: Mark Murray, director of Californians Against Waste, and Kurt Standen (no relation, amazingly to both of us), general manager of the Sacramento Recycling and Transfer Station. We came armed with six recycling stumpers, including a rubber boot, a juice box, and that much-maligned item of transport, the plastic bag. See what Standen and Murray had to say by clicking on the images below.
Listen to the Getting to Zero Waste radio report online.
8 Comments
What about full wine bottles? Does the fact that they are full if you put them in the recycling bin cause issues when being recycled down the line? Should I empty them first? (You may wonder why I'm throwing out full wine bottles…. they are spoilt due to damp storage which has got into the corks…)
First, what do you do with "a half-empty detergent bottle"? I am curious since you mentioned it both on the radio spot (which is why I came here) and the blog.
Second, I had to read the first two paragraphs of the blog three-times to figure out what goes where. Some of us don't have blue bins or mini discounted black bins. (I have gray and brown).
Hi William, Hi Mary:
Thanks for writing, and for raising some important points.
– Full, or partially-full bottles can pose problems at recycling facilities when they leak onto other recyclables (like paper, which is often trashed if it's covered in muck). Best bet is to empty them out. (And apologies for the false mention: we had a half empty detergent bottle in an earlier version of the slide show.)
Mary, I'm not sure exactly what the facility would do with an unopened wine bottle, but it seems possible it would be trashed. If you call and ask, let us know what you find out!
– You're right, William. I should have been less San Francisco-centric with my bin descriptions. Check back a little later to see the fix, above.
Best,
Amy
Hi Amy,
Thanks for the good info. I've always wondered about the plastic liners in cereal boxes. Can those be recycled or should they be dumped?
Thanks!
Well I thought I was a good recycler. Here in Richmond (i live in a condo complex, with a recycling center provided by Richmond Sanitary Service)They tell us to just put everything (plastics, paper, metal) into one single pickup bin. I wonder if they are sophisticated enough at their central facility to do all the plastic, multi material sorting for us?
CB
All recyclable items should be clean, empty and preferably dry to promote the highest and best use of these resources. If that full wine bottle breaks you will have wet and soiled paper, so drain it and then place in the recycle (that cork goes in the trash or find a local drop off or reuse for it…recorkamerica.com). Think of that plastic bag inside your cereal box as two separate materials. That paper, metal, or plastic item you recycle will be baled by type, so it is best to keep different materials separated (check with your local recycling collector to see if plastic bags are ok to recycle in your recycle bin or if it is trash. In SF, plastic bags are trash or you can take back clean plastic bags to your supermarket for recycling.)
Every city is different, be proactive and get the correct recycling/composting information for your neighborhood.
Thanks for the interesting report. My co-worker says that damp used paper towels are not recyclable because the paper fibers are too short. Is he right?
I like to use the liners from dry cereal boxes. I cut them into squares and use them to separate sliced and then frozen bagels or English muffins or meat/fish patties. Their light waxy-like coating holds up better than waxed paper (which I used to use). They even clean up fine for re-use again and again.