Recycling 101: How & Where to Recycle Things You No Longer Need
Did you know that roughly 26 billion pounds of plastic is floating in our oceans right now (1)?
That’s what happens when only 9% of plastic is recycled each year (2).
Plastic makes its way into our oceans via wastewater, wind, rain, and floods. And most of these are single-use plastics like grocery bags, beverage bottles, straws, and food wrappers.
One of the best ways to keep this from happening is by recycling—and not just plastic, but ALL the items you use day-in-and-day-out. Here’s how…
7 Items That Can Be Recycled Curbside
The following items can be easily recycled in your curbside recycling bin (or your apartment/townhouse/condo’s recycling bin)…
Plastic Bottles & Containers: Bottles, jars, jugs, and tubs
Aluminum Beverage Cans: Soda, beer, and sparkling water
Cans & Containers: Metal foods cans and containers
Glass Bottles & Containers: Beverage/food bottles and jars
Cardboard: Shipping and cereal boxes
Paper: Envelopes, office paper, newspapers, magazines, and junk mail
Household Containers: Plastic containers with plastic codes 1 or 2
11 Items That Need to be Taken to a Collection Site
The following items will need to be taken to a collection site…
CRV Bottles & Cans
Electronic Waste: Computer and television monitors, computers, printers, VCRs, cell phones, radios, and microwaves
Used Oils and Filters
Paint: Interior and exterior pain, deck coatings, floor paints, shellac, and primer
Carpet: Residential and commercial carpet
Mattresses and Box Springs
Wood & Other Gently Used Construction Materials: Donate to your local Habitat for Humanity ReStore or to your local high school's woodshop.
Furniture: Check out LoadUp or LocalJunkRemover.
Clothing: Donate used clothing items to your local Goodwill.
Shoes: Check out TerraCycle and Soles 4 Souls.
Batteries: Home Depot is partnered with Call2Recycle, a non-profit battery recycling program.
15+ Items That Terracycle Can Recycle for You
When in doubt, go to TerraCycle. Their motto says it all: Recycle the unrecyclable with TerraCycle.
From Taco Bell sauce packets to used cigarettes to Leapfrog toys…they have a way to recycle them and give them new life. Simply go to their website, type in what item you’re trying to recycle, and a list of options will come up.
Here’s a list of items that they can recycle for you, for free:
Contacts (Biotrue or Bausch + Lomb)
And many, many more…click here to see if your product is listed in TerraCycles Recycling Index.
9 Items to Check Before Recycling
Depending on where you live, the following items may or may not be recyclable in your curbside recycling bin…
Food Waste: More and more areas are offering composting services. Check to see if there’s one near you. If not, consider adding a composting bin to your backyard.
Plastic Bags: Single-use plastic retail bags cause millions of dollars in damage to sorting machinery.
Reusable Food Containers with Snap or Twist Lids
Plastic Medication Bottles or Jars
Plastic Take-Out Food Containers: Single-use containers for entrees, soup, and condiments
Soiled Pizza Boxes
Food Cartons: Dairy and non-dairy milk, soup and broth cartons, and juice boxes
Other Plastic Containers: Containers with plastic codes 3-7
Trash Bags: Black and white trash bin liner bags
Before You Go…
Before you begin recycling, head here to find recycling information that pertains to where you live.
The Bottom Line
Recycling may seem like time and energy wasted, but it’s actually time and energy saved—for the companies that make your products.
One ton of recycled aluminum saves 14,000-kilowatt hours (Kwh) of energy—enough to power a residential home for 16 months. One ton of recycled newspaper saves 601 Kwh of energy—enough to power a home for 20 days. And one ton of plastic saves 5,774 Kwh of energy—enough to power a home for 200 days (3).
Imagine if we raised the global recycling percentage by 10%—so that 19% of all materials were recycled rather than just 9%...what would that do for our world? For our oceans? For our supply chain?
Let me know YOUR thoughts about recycling in the comments below :)
To Kaizening,
Caroline
Caroline Nicks
On a mission to leave places better than she found them, Caroline spends her time with her hubs and parti poodle researching how to live a less wasteful life, picking up trash on her beach walks, and tending to her 32 houseplants.
