If You Are Taking the Time to Recycle at Home, Are You Sure You're Doing it Right?

Many consumers today are not carefully considering which waste products they are sending off for recycling, which may cause problems and increased costs for these programs. Here are a few quick reminders on recycling:

• Do not send items contaminated with food waste. Food waste, especially grease and other fats, can make paper recyclables unusable as a recycled material. If you’re using a single-stream recycling program, double check to make sure there is no food waste on your plastics or glass. This will help prevent paper contamination, due to these items being mixed together.
• Know your plastics. Recycling programs that accept plastic items don’t typically accept all plastic types. You’ll find the number 1-7 inside the recycling symbol on plastic items. Research which plastic types are accepted & processed by your local recycling program.
• Don’t dump electronics! Electronic equipment needs to be broken down into its component parts and recycled or disposed of in a special manner. Do not put these items in your recycling or in your trash! Many of these items contain hazardous materials and will contaminate water or soil if they are simply dumped into a landfill. There are drop off options for those unwanted electronics, where they will be processed properly.