by Lou Anne DaRin
October 15, 2023
I recently listened to a podcast about recycling. It answered a lot of questions for me so I thought I’d share the key points.
1. All types of plastic bags (bags from cereal boxes, cracker boxes, bags apples come in, ziplock bags) can ALL be recycled by bringing them back to your grocery store. Most grocery stores have a spot in the entrance way to deposit them. This includes the film that comes around paper towels, napkins, toilet paper and bubble wrap. So having a system in your home for collecting all this plastic and returning to the store in a good idea.
2. Anything smaller than 2 inches should never be put into your curbside recycle bin. Plastic bottle caps should be screwed back on the bottles before they are recycled.
3. Alkaline batteries CANNOT be recycled anywhere (they must be thrown away). An alternative is to only buy rechargeable batteries and purchase a recharger. Button batteries and lithium batteries CAN be recycled by bringing them to Eco Park.
4. Shipping envelopes that are Manila and lined with bubble wrap, CANNOT be recycled. Try to reuse them.
5. Old computers, Christmas lights, old phones, even artificial metal Christmas trees can all be recycled by bringing them to Eco Park.
6. To recycle bicycles you can bring them RCommunity Bikes and they will repair and repurpose them.
7. Pizza boxes with grease and food particles can not be recycled. Cut off the grease spots, clean away the food and the rest can be recycled curbside.
8. Paper towel rolls, toilet paper rolls and wrapping paper rolls can all be recycled curbside.
9. Old clothes that are ripped and too worn out to donate are accepted at Eco Park.
10. Used cooking oil is accepted at Eco Park.
11. Styrofoam peanuts are NOT recyclable (even at Eco Park). But large pieces of Styrofoam that an appliance might come in is accepted there.
12. Envelopes with windows and tissue boxes with plastic can be recycled curbside without removing the plastic.
13. Cardboard should be flattened and dry to have it recycled curbside. If it is a rainy or snowy day, it is best to not put cardboard out for recycling that day.
14. Plastic recycling curbside is tricky. We generally look for the triangle on the bottom to see if we can recycle it but Monroe County goes by shapes instead. The ONLY shapes that are accepted for curbside recycling in Monroe Country are plastic bottles, jugs, jars and tubs. (That means blueberry containers and takeout containers cannot be recycled even though they may have the triangle with a number).
If you’d like to listen to the podcast where I learned all this, here is the link.
