Recycling Confusion

Our city is catching up to many other and now we have curbside recycle. It’s single stream which means everything recyclable goes into one big can and the other regular trash goes into another can. They also changed to only once a week pick up instead of twice a week (although they never showed up today because of snow I guess – sigh).

So I bought 2 more indoor trash cans, one for the kitchen and one for the office. These are the rooms where the most trash gets thrown away it seems. Now I have 2 cans to sort into, but trying to figure out exactly what goes where is harder than it seems. At least for noob recyclers like me. We have a list from the trash company, but it isn’t specific enough. Our local continuing education program is offer a class for just $20 a family about recycling so I think I’m going to sign us up. I know it’s important, and I want to do it, but it’s stressing me out!

It says rinse out containers, but doesn’t that just waste water? What about things like peanut butter jars, how am I supposed to get all of that leftover residue out? What about paper towels, if I use them just to dry off my hands after washing do they get recycled? What if I use it to wipe up a spill of food, then what – rinse & recycle, regular trash, what? ACKKKK! See what I mean – loads and loads of unanswered questions.

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Tagged as: going green, home

DG

It is a pain to clean out some containers but in the end you’re doing a good thing. :)

dreamzz12{at}aol{dot}com
Janine (@twincident)

Recycling definitely takes more work at first but after you figure it out it will become easier.
And you’ll feel better not tossing it all in the trash ;)
- Marybeth I.

I know – I worry about the water thing too. I often fill the sink with water and a little dish soap. First I soak (prewash) my dirty dishes and then get them loaded into the dishwasher. I then soak the recycleables in the same water so I do not have to waste CLEAN water. I do use paper towels but on a minimal basis since once these have food residue on them they cannot be recycled. . I prefer to use dishrags for cleaning / etc. I will soak in disinfectant every few washes to kill germs. if I can, I try to reuse containers.
dh

I gave up on using paper towels. We don’t use them if we don’t have them available. I read somewhere that there are a lot more recyclable things than before, and it’s a good bet if it has a neck it’s recyclable.
mom2beauty

You are doing a good thing…everyone should recycle! We have to pay to have our trash company take our recycling every two weeks, I think they should take it for free. I have gotten my DD (9) involved and she has become very passionate about it and keeps the family on its toes when it comes to recycling!
brandy

i’m not sure if my last email went through. it said duplicate
i need to be better about recycling. they want you to wash them so all they have to do is put them in the processor
SandyM204

I have been ‘trying’ to recycle for some time now. We live in a small town and our trash co doesn’t do the recycling thing. It does take work and sadly I’m lazy at recycling. Keep up the good work!
Ingrid

We recycle and many times wash out empty containers of mayonnaise, peanut butter and the like. To not waste water, while I’m washing dishes, I wash out those containers. Our town picks up our recyclables, we put them in the plastic bags from the grocery store and place them in the recycle container. Funny thing, we are so used to recyling that when we are out of town, we bring our recyables home.
foamfan

Our city in the southeast pretty much gave up on recycling, as they were bad about not picking the stuff up on scheduled days, not picking up for weeks at a time, etc.
They would also ‘reject’ stuff. It was pretty frustrating, after washing out a glass mayo jar and practically stopping up the kitchen sink…just to have them leave it behind in the bin. (They were supposed to accept glass, at that time.)
We diligently tried to separate papers for recycling at work…then the “jail trustie” janitorial staff would just dump it all back together with garbage on their carts.
Sighhhhhh….
Chantel

I’d love to do more recycling, but like you.. there’s so many questions, and they CHARGE us to recycle much besides cardboard here and make it hard to get to. Ah… someday we’ll learn that it’s a way of life and shouldn’t be so difficult.

http://sharescribbles.blogspot.com
herblady

You’re lucky they’ll let you throw them all together like that. In our town we have to take ours to the recycling center and sort each kind of container into big barrels. For example, glass can be clear glass, colored glass, long neck, no neck, etc. Paper is either newspaper, office paper, mixed paper or cardboard. Plastic is sorted by the numbers on the bottom of the container. It’s a bit of a pain but worth it in the end. It helps the recyclers be more efficient.

hrbeck_98 (at) yahoo (dot) com
tlcfromtn

We have been recycling for quite a while. Mostly my husband is charge of the sorting. He has to take ours to the local recycling center and he pretty much knows what is and isn’t recyclable. I am trying to learn and it can be confusing at times.

braaisjo at gmail dot com
LJ

Recycling is pretty simple for me. We have glass, plastic and cans all in one, then paper in another and cardboard last. I always put the plastic containers and glass in the dishwasher when doing a load. Never any problem there :) We have to take it ourselves, no pickup. I know some have pick up but it’s easier just to drop it off when getting rid of garbage. Another thing I like is it’s free!
K

Does your county maybe offer any resources to help figure it out? Ours does, so maybe you could call or Google and see if there’s a resource local that could help? Here we don’t have to rinse, so I’m stumped on that one. I never remember to recycle paper towels…
p.s.(my email is my openid aim name, just at aol.com)
bevh566

Our small town just started curbside pickup. We have been recycling somethings for years. It is extra work, but wonce you get into the ahbit it becomes a lot easier.
Anonymous

I have been recycling for years, and have found out that the best way to clean out things like peanut butter is to remove the label, and then put the container in the dishwasher. We usually have the container well cleaned out by using a spatula beforehand. Other containers usually don’t require much water for rinsing, and can be done in the sink with a small amount of water.
Good luck on the recycling!

bmc1978[at]yahoo[dot]com
Zipporah

We’ve been recycling for over 10 years, so it’s become old hat. You’ll get the hang of it.
Aura

Uck I hate recycling I can never figure out what goes where or how. I usually just dump it all in one can and make my hubby sort it.
Karen L

Your recycle angst is so funny, and so true! I go through the same agony everytime I have to rinse or clean a jar out! I usually wash them all at the same time, or stick in the dishwasher. I figure it isn’t taking any extra water if I do it that way.
angie

I guess we have recycling in our area because I see bags out up the street from my house, but in my neighborhood we have a dumpster so I am confused how to even start. I do recycle cans though, as the recycling place for that is right around the corner.

Good luck!

Angie
Pricousins at aol dot com
Michele

Try your city’s website. I’ve included a link for Tucson’s…the have a video that breaks it down.
http://www.tucsonrecycles.org/Waste_Education/waste_education.html#videos

Once you turn it into habit, it becomes really easy to do. We’ve almost stopped using paper towls…instead we’ve been using more cloth napkins and regular towls.

Good luck! I hope that this helps.
Stacey Moore

i totally agre, at times it can hard and time consuming to do what’s right!
wpfarmgirl

It’s great to hear that more and more cities are beginning to recycle. We have done it here for so long it’s second nature: paper, boxboard, steel, aluminum, and plastic. Something we can all do to make a difference.
wpfarmgirl@yahoo.com
Valerie

Recycling CAN be quite confusing
Good luck with it
KawaiiNeko2008 (at) aol (dot) com
TechyDad

To clean PB jars, first I let them soak overnight. Then I will either:

1. fill up the jar halfway with hot water, put the cover on, and shake vigorously

or

2. Use a scrub brush with hot water

Either method (or a combination) will quickly remove the peanut butter from the jar.

TechyDad at TechyDad dot com
Mangi

It is all for the future, it is worth all efforts.

Am I right?

mangikano@gmail.com
mstaken05

In my area, suburb of Detroit, recycling bins are provided to my neighbors. Each week, I may see two or three bins out for recycling. My community says it’s recycling but I can’t see it. It’s very disappointing. I will continue to recycle and hopefully, my neighbors may become inspired.
Mandi

Ok, for the paper towels and paper napkins, get cloth. They just go in the wash, and you are already doing laundry so you aren’t wasting water.

For the things that need rinsed, just wash them when you do your dishes, either in the sink or in the dishwasher.

Papers and newspapers will be taken if they aren’t shiny (like coupons and ad inserts).

So the paper from your cans and bottles aren’t recyclable, unless you can find a different place to do that.

You are doing great, thanks.
MonkeyBaby

eventually recycling will seriously become second nature and you will be appalled at all the stuff you used to just throw out.

btw, most places do not accept paper towels, tissues, etc. for recycling.