Blue bin recycling gets a bad rap. It is often thought that this simply makes you feel ecological when it is not nearly enough to solve the problem. It is undisbutably in our mind a good thing. metal food and drink cans, glass containers, Paper and cardboard are recycled to a very high percentage are great for the economy and the ecology. Plastic is to a very small percentage recycled, however, recycling of plastic significantly lowers the fossil fuel cost and the need to make more material. So why the contraversy? plastic. There are over 1600 types of plastic and only certain groups of plastic products are effectively recycled. Reducing, and re-using of all of these materials is far more effective than recycling it from an ecological effect. Filling the blue bin with items that can cause slowing, injuries, and high fuel costs to process that are not recycleable is the challenge. Below are as many ways to up your blue bin's ecological benefit, and lower the cost of recycling as a business model.
Blue Bin tips:
Please recycle as much glass, paper, steel and aluminum food and household product containers as you can, even if you don't think it will make a meaningful difference.
Review our master list of what won't be recycled, and can actually cause it to cost you more money than necessary, and cause extra fossil fuel trips simply to landfill it anyway, below are the general rules.
When in doubt, throw it out. If you don't think it is recyclable just green bin it, or better yet look it up on Recyclapedia, which is linked to from the Massachusetts facilities that currently process our blue bin. It answered most of my early questions on recycle or don't. I will try to list the most frequently confused items below.
Don't blue bin wires, cables, hoses, and plastic wrap. These things tangle in the machinery and both slow and shut down the process. This ups the cost of recycling, lowers the effectiveness, and when people cut these items out of the machines it sometimes causes injuries. No one wants that. Cables and wires can be recycled by individuals, at a metal recycler for a small profit. See metal recycling.
Food - most recycling companies list food as one of their top contaminants. Contamination is the enemy of recycling, and the major thing that keeps it expensive. So the big question is should you wash your recycles. Yes and no. It is true that using water uses electricity and therefore fossil fuel. We recommend the following: Dump or Spoon out excess food and drinkable liquids into your compost ( see Composting cooked food below), set containers with residue in your sink next to your dirty dishes, Rinse or wash your dirty dishes over the food containers. You can also presoak or rinse recyclables in reclaimed water. Not recommended, but if you feel the need to rinse more, then use cold water and do a very quick rinse. The goal is to get the lions share, and reduce the problem. These facilities are equipped to deal with food waste but sending them too much simply reflects back to the cost to you.
Buy in bulk: Consolidating containers does a lot to maximize the effectiveness of recycling. Less to clean, less waste, Less Fossil fuel needed, easier sorting.
Composting Cooked Food: You can compost cooked food, it just takes longer and has oils that should require a good compost bin spray down when adding, and at least once a week to dilute. Too much oil, or water will cause it to go anaerobic which smells actually releases methane instead of CO2. This in turn causes more pest attraction. Have you ever gotten several pounds of white rice with your Chinese food? This doesn't even have oil on it.
Items smaller than a credit card. These items slip through the grates, and get landfilled. This leads to the next two tips.
broken pieces of anything won't be recycled. The sorting process prioritizes via people or machines the most recyclable items, which would be entire containers,
Containers should be emptied and the cap put back on. There is a process for separating the caps materials from the container, but not to recycle a loose cap.
Anything with noticeable amount of liquid or other material in it won't be recycled. Workers have no way of knowing if it is water or a hazardous chemical. These will go to the landfill.
Mixed material items: Unless they are containers with the lids attached. They don't have staff, or equipment that separates an umbrella's metal from its cloth or plastic film.
Don't buy it, but if you do don't throw it out, unless you can do it responsibly. This is always an easy answer, but an extremally complex topic to accomplish.