[oeccscclhjhn]

got this email from republic on holiday recycle. don't normally flatten the cardboard boxes before i put them in the blue lid recycle bin - guess i should start. have to remind myself not to put the peanuts ( i'd remember if i flattened the boxes lol ), and those padded envelopes - keep those out too!

[Tek_Freek]

I just went through getting rid of the boxes. With heavy cardboard I use painters tape to wrap them after folding since they won't stay on their own. It's paper with light glue so it's no different than a cardboard box that uses glue.

[ElleTea]

Yes, those padded envelopes are what they called "mixed materials" (paper and the plastic bubble stuff) so they don't take them. If they are paper padded envelopes you can recycle the paper part if you take the time to separate it from the bubbles, but who has time to do that?

Also, be sure there is no water in anything that is rinsed out or any food residue on anything; it will cause the entire load to get scrapped.

[orca17]

I just break down cardboard boxes with a box cutter, and put them in the bin.

[oeccscclhjhn]

what about plastic wrappers? chip bags, those zip lock plastic bags that nuts come in. recycle?

[robr2]

Originally Posted by oeccscclhjhn

what about plastic wrappers? chip bags, those zip lock plastic bags that nuts come in. recycle?

Trash.

[oeccscclhjhn]

Originally Posted by robr2

Trash.

Thanks.

[oeccscclhjhn]

Ok - found the Republic Services Recycling Guide.

more useful links to pages:

one page printout pdf

Recycling Basics

Know What to Throw

Items You Can Typically Recycle

Videos

[WestieJeff]

Single stream recycling (where you mix everything together) is a mess. Aluminum cans are the only things with really any market value. Plastic is basically worthless, especially since China won't take most of it anymore. People that toss their grease soaked pizza box into the recycling are just contaminating more of the items in the bin. The article below talks about people who are putting their used medical syringes into recycling!

Aluminum cans, clean #1 + #2 plastic, clean cardboard and paper, that's pretty much the only things people should be tossing in recycling.

Reality is most recycling has been going to China. You pick up the recycling curbside, truck it around town, process it at a facility, truck to a port city, then put it on a boat and ship it to China. After you spent all the fuel and resources to enable those processes, how much environmental impact/savings is your recycling really making? Recycling is mostly about making people feel good not about helping the environment.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...lem/100654976/

[Tek_Freek]

The more I read the more I expect the programs to stop. At some point it will cost too much and it will all go into the landfills. Once again the United States could learn from Europe. But we won't.

But the burden of paying for it falls on cities — or residents who pay for the trash service — because the U.S. has not followed the path of many European countries of requiring manufacturers to take responsibility for the disposal or recovery of their products and packaging.