Recycling

I'm not a big environmentalist, nor am I big recycling person, but it is one of my pet peeves when people put wrong things in the recycling bin. It just wastes your time, and makes me a bit more aggravated (and sometimes, when I throw out the recycling... I have this terrible urge to reorganize EVERYTHING)

Top 3 things people throw in a curbside program that DO NOT BELONG:
1.Aerosol cans: I think a lot of people think these cans can go in a recycling bin is because they resemble normal cans (ie. Coke cans, pasta cans, soup cans etc.) --> Needs to be recycled specially, cannot be included with regular curbside recycling

2. Styrofoam: Styrofoam can be recycled in certain special areas, but it CANNOT be recycled in a regular household recycling bin.--> Needs to be recycled specially, cannot be included with regular curbside recycling

3. Plastics: Not ALL plastics are recyclable; if you look on your plastic container, it should have a one of these triangles (recycling signs), and these numbers each represent a different sort of plastic.

CAN be recycled in a common curbside recycling program

1. PET/PETE (Polyethylene Terephthalate): Commonly used for juice boxes/water bottles

2. HDPE (High-density polyethylene): Commonly used for shampoo/detergent bottles

5. PP (Polypropylene) :Commonly used for take-out containers, SOME baby bottles, and yogurt



May be recycled in special recycling areas:

4.LDPE (Low-Density Polyethylene): Shopping bags, Cling wrap

6. PS (polystyrene): Some takeout, plastic cutlery, egg containers

CANNOT be recycled:

3. PVC (Polyvinyl chloride): children toys, shower curtains, window cleaning


Information & Images from: The Daily Green and ofcourse, Wikipedia

**And while I'm on the topic of plastic bottles - pleas try to remove the cap from the plastic bottle before throwing it into recycling, because if there is moisture kept in the bottle, it is harder to recycle.

And that is my post for today - It's just to encourage people to do their research before mindlessly recycling everything; Remember, you are not helping the environment if you aren't doing it right.
I'll Update if I find any other common items people throw in their recycling bins that don't belong in the curbside program :) But for now, GOODBYE AND GOODNIGHT!
P.S. I'm not an environmental enthusiast, and I am not convinced that recycling is an efficient use of our resources, time and effort, but I hope that when people recycle, they do it properly.