Common Recycling Mistakes
April 17, 2023
Our Recycling Specialist with Republic Services shared the three most common recycling mistakes…
1). Taking caps off of plastic bottles and jugs. After you rinse your container and let it dry, put the caps back on. They are recyclable as well! If they are put in loosely, they are hard for the machine to capture them. Remember, nothing smaller than a credit card in the recycling!
2). Crushing aluminum cans before you put them in the recycling. We know how fun it can be to crush that can, but it makes sorting the can difficult to recycle. Sorting is often done by shape, and if you crush a can, it can inadvertently be sorted with flat objects such as paper. This not only contaminates the paper stream but it also means that aluminum can will not get recycled.
3). Leaving the cork in your wine bottle when you put it in the recycling. Remember to remove the corks and rinse your wine bottle before putting it in the recycling. Natural and synthetic corks are not accepted in recycling. If you want to recycle them, please check out https://recork.com/us/en/locations for a location near you.
What else is and isn’t recyclable?
Want to learn more?
Visit Republic’s resource guides online: https://www.republicservices.com/residents/recycling/basics
About the Author: Tim Patricio
Park Tower Horizons
-
