This morning’s morning show AMA was with Sean from Green Think (hear the full interview at the bottom of this blog). He was super polite, but he did inform us that everything we thought we knew about recycling was wrong.
Here are a few things you need to know about those little blue bins next to your curb.
- Plastic shopping bags can’t go into the blue bin. They can get stuck on the sensors at the sorting facility and allow things through that can’t be recycled.
- Solution: take reusable bags or return your old plastic bags to the recycling bins at your local grocery store.
- Empty cans and bottles before throwing them into the bin. Even a quarter inch of soda leaking onto some paper can contaminate and ruin your whole batch of recycling.
- Pizza boxes cannot be recycled. If it has any grease or food waste on it, it cannot be recycled.
- However: Rip off the top of the box and place that into your recycling bin. Typically, the lid of the box won’t have any grease.
- Wax-coated cups cannot be recycled. Sorry, but your single-use coffee cups can’t go into your blue bin.
- Solution: Get a reusable cup. But if a paper cup is unavoidable, make sure to recycle the lid.
- Do a quick rinse of food containers. Before you toss your cans, condiment bottles, or other food containers into the bin, swirl some water around inside of it. It doesn’t have to be spotless, but it will help with sorting and can prevent contamination.
Listen to “Are You Recycling Incorrectly?” on Spreaker.
