Many people opt for recycling with their residential or commercial trash services. After all, recycling is good for the environment and good for us. But did you know that items dumped in recycling are often totally ruined by simple mistakes? Here are some tips that can help you be a more effective recycling hero.
Rinse bottles, cans, and other recyclable food containers.
When bottles, cans, and food containers are not rinsed before being put in the recycling bin, there’s a good chance they’ll ruin that whole batch of recyclables with nasty food and drink residue. Best practices insist that you give these containers a good rinse. A little bit of water leftover on them is fine as long as you’re not storing them with paper and cardboard.
Opt to cash in bottles and cans when possible.
Do you live in a state/area where you can turn in bottles and cans at your local grocery or package store? Not only can you possibly get some cash back for them, but you can also easily cut out a recycling middle man and keep your bin clear of extra clutter.
Keep the lid closed!
Often the lids to the recycling and dumpsters are left open, exposing the contents to animals and the elements. If you have paper and cardboard in the recycling bin and it’s left open overnight with a rainstorm blowing through, what do you think happens? Soggy, unusable material. It’s very likely those papers and boxes will be able to be recycled and will instead end up in a landfill. Did you know that recycling one ton’s worth of cardboard saves 9 cubic yards of landfill? On top of that, leaving the lid open makes it easier for wind and animals to displace object in the bins, scattering them into your neighborhood as litter. The ideal solution is to keep the lids closed. But will everyone around you always follow that rule? Probably not. Another helpful tip is to wait until the last minute to put out vulnerable materials like paper and cardboard. This way, they’re collected as quickly as possible, kept pristine and water-free.
Want to be a real recycling master? Make sure you follow these tips to give recyclables the best possible chance of staying out of a landfill. And always ask your trash services what recyclables are acceptable in their provided bin — anything else you can find another way to reuse or recycle through a third party location.
