December 21, 2023
Happy Holidays to all and a very fun filled New Year. How to make recycling simple and easy to understand for (circular economy reuse) holiday wrapping, packaging, and entertainment waste. All paper can be recycled EXCEPT if it has glitter, or imprinted with shiny metallic like materials, if it reflects light, do not recycle. Plastics with a neck and certainly nothing that is made up of multi-layers (laminates). All the ribbon, bows, plastic film, foam packaging go into the trash bin. Imagine standing over a picking line and the objective is to sort the most reusable and best quality materials. There are end markets for quality cardboard (OCC), mixed wastepaper (everything paper other than OCC, except the shiny metallic wrapping paper), Plastics #1, #2 and #5 (water bottles, detergent bottles, and yogurt cups) and all metal cans (food and beverage) should be recycled. Put items in the recycling cart separated and loose not in a bag or box and all items should be clean and dry. Recycle Paper gift wrap and envelopes that are plain (multi-color and images ok) and non-laminated: o No glitter. o No metal or shinny surfaces - if it can reflect light put it in the trash. o No laminates - multi-layered - most flexible food/candy packaging. Boxes: o Cardboard and paper boxes - ideally flattened out and remove the tape and Styrofoam peanuts and plastic air-pocket packing material. Bottles Plastic - look on the bottom of a bottle, if it shows the number: 1, 2 and 5 get recycled. o Rinsed and cleaned plastic with a neck - water, detergent, beverage (PET - #1 and HDPE - #2). o Plastic bottles without a neck - yogurt, cottage cheese not Keurig cups it has metal foil (polypropylene - PP - #5). Cans o Steel - food, soup, fruit, and vegetables. o Aluminum - beer, soda, specialty drinks. Bottles Glass: o Wine, champagne, beer. Trash Ribbons, bows, and decorations (Christmas lights, garland). Packing materials: o Bubble wrap, plastic films wrapped around a toy or gift, cellophane wrapping paper. o Foam - peanuts or Styrofoam. o Plastic air-filled packing materials. Plastic o Plastic bottles without a neck with non-plastic seals - Keurig cups. o All film - dry cleaner bags, grocery bags, cellophane wrapping paper, plastic wrapped presents. o Laminated plastics - food packaging any plastic that is clearly multi-layered is mixing too many chemistries to be recycled in a post-consumer system. o Forks, utensils, straws. Food waste - if you do not have home composting, it all goes into the trash.
