Five Things You Should Be Doing When You Recycle At Home
If you are like a lot of people, you may have just started recycling a lot of things in your house. However, there might be some things you are doing which could cause trouble at the recycling center. Here are five things you should be doing in order to recycle things properly.
Fully Empty and Rinse Cans and Bottles
If you are recycling your aluminum soda cans, it is easy to just drop them in the recycling container without checking to see that they are completely empty. At the recycling center, even small amounts of sticky soda or other beverages can cause stacking problems. To avoid this problem, be sure to rinse your cans out with water and wait until they are dry before recycling them.
Avoid Using Plastic Bags to Hold Recyclables
Plastic bags can work for your regular household trash, but avoid them for items you plan to recycle. If you put your recyclables into plastic bags, time must be spent at the recycling center to take the items out of the bags. The bags you are using may be recyclable, but that kind of plastic has to be processed separately and apart from other things. Only use marked containers and paper bags for your recyclables.
Make Sure Your Glass Can Be Recycled
You might think that all the glass in your home can be recycled, but that is not true. For example, some cookware has been treated with substances that render the glass unable to go through a recycling center. Other glass things that might not be recyclable include porcelain, china, mirrors and light bulbs. If you are unsure about the glass you have, get in touch with your local center and ask what they accept.
Don't Recycle Paper That's Shredded with Other Paper
You might think nothing of tossing your shredded paper into the recycling bin with your other paper. However, the small bits of paper may get into various cracks in the recycling center's sorting machines and ultimately end up with items that are not paper. Find out from the center if they can accept shredded paper separately.
Only Recycle Clean Cardboard
Your pizza boxes might seem like just the kind of thing you can recycle safely, but it's smart to only recycle the clean part of the box. Cardboard soaked with grease that have bits of cheese stuck to it can contaminate other cardboard and cause problems for sorting machines.
Now that you are aware of the actions you should be taking when you're recycling, use the information above to do the right things. Contact your local recycling center in order to get more advice.
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