Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Recycle Challenge


In honor of Earth Day, I thought I would share about what kind of paper you can recycle. There is so much paper we just throw out. First of all, you need a convenient and pretty place to put it. We use a large, sturdy basket I purchased at a yard sale. It sits in our living room in a high traffic area, so it makes it easy to toss in the recyclables.

Remember not to put paper in plastic bags. Instead, use paper bags or cardboard boxes. Plastic bags clog recycling equipment at the recycling center and jams the system. Of course you can recycle your plastic bags at the grocery store! Or even better, buy reusable buys. Not only will you not have all the clutter of plastic bags in your house, but they will pay for themselves with the few pennies you get credited for at most stores. They are more sturdy too, and are great to haul other items like books from the library.

CAN
  • paper envelopes with those plastic windows
  • staples are O.K.
  • most of your mail except for the pieces that need to be shredded (this adds up to a lot of recyclable paper)
  • food boxes like cereals and crackers (as long as the food is in a plastic bag
  • newspapers of course
  • magazines to packaging (must be clean, dry, and free of food, most plastic, wax, and other contamination)
CANNOT
  • foiled coated boxes
  • food contaminated cardboard, like greasy pizza boxes
  • some areas cardboard must be free of tape, but staples are fine
  • frozen food containers
  • junk mail with plastic wrap, stickers, product samples, and those fake "membership" cards
  • waxed paper
  • waxed cardboard milk & juice containers
  • oil soaked paper
  • carbon paper
  • sanitary products or tissues (hope you would know this one ;-)
  • thermal fax paper
  • plastic laminated paper such as fast food wrappers, juice boxes, and pet food bags
  • paper with any sort of contamination or plastic layers
???????????
  • Check your phone book and area recycling center where and if your old phone books are recyclable
  • Books is another item you would have to contact your local center for

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