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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 18, 2016)
May 18, 2016 Page 5 Things to Keep Out of Your Recycling Bin The ins and outs of recycling r ebeCCa k offMan You’re at home in front of your recycling bin. Maybe the bin is in your driveway, or in the parking lot of your apartment complex. Maybe you’re in your bathrobe. Maybe it’s raining. And you’ve got a take-out container. Or some weird packaging you’ve never seen before. Is it recycling or gar- bage? Read on for what goes in and what stays out of your home recycling bin. When deciding which plastics to throw in your curbside bin, “pay attention to shape and size,” says Betty Shelley, a recycling ex- pert who has answered calls and emails at Metro’s Recycling In- formation Center. Shapes to look for? Bottles, jars, buckets and tubs. Remember bathroom products like shampoo and body lotion, as well as garden pots, are also often recyclable at home. What stays out of your home bin: Plastic bags: “Plastic bags ab- solutely can’t go in,” says Shelley. “They get tangled in the machin- ery at the sorting facility.” Plastic lids are also a no. These tend to be small and thin, and so are easily hidden by paper and cardboard as they make their way along the conveyor belts at sorting facilities. They can then end up in bales of paper or cardboard – making those bales harder to sell, and therefore harder to actually recycle into new paper products. Plastic clamshells, those con- tainers that salad greens, cher- ry tomatoes, and deli salads and sandwiches are packed in, along with some other similar plastics, are not recyclable at home. Sorting facilities don’t have the machinery to deal with them and the plastic they’re made of can be harder to sell to recyclers. It’s confusing though, because a lot of these plastics have a recy- cling number on them, surrounded by a triangle of arrows. “Ignore the arrows. Ignore the numbers,” says Shelley. The num- ber is an indicator to industry in- siders – it tells them what kind of resin is in the plastic and what its properties are but as doesn’t mean it’s recyclable at the curb. Everything from junk mail to Things like household batteries and a range of plastics may fall into the category of what Singh calls “wishful recycling” – things that people want to be recycled, but that actually aren’t on the list of what you can recycle at home. The Metro Recycling Infor- mation Center answers questions about whatever you’re not sure how to get rid of 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday at 503-234-3000. Rebecca Kaufman writes for the regional government agency Metro. by Subscribe! 503-288-0033 Plastic bags are not recyclable at the curb because the bags get tangled in the machinery at the sorting facility. newspapers to egg cartons (the paper ones) goes in your home re- cycling bin. You can also recycle milk and juice cartons, as well as aseptic containers that allow soup, broth and soy milk to be stored at room-temperature. These con- tainers are not 100 percent paper, but because the manufacturers of these kinds of cartons have invest- ed in ways to collect and recycle them they’re a part of the home recycling system. What stays out: Frozen and refrigerated food boxes. Keep food boxes that go in the freezer or refrigerator out of your home recycling. Think wafles, popsi- cles or butter boxes. They may not seem different from cereal or cookie boxes but they are made with a plastic that keeps them from getting soggy when exposed to moisture. Milk, juice and asep- tic cartons are layered rather than penetrated with plastic, making the materials easier to separate. Paper cups also stay out of the bin. Like freezer boxes, “paper” cups are also made with plastic so they don’t dissolve into a sodden mass when illed with liquids. A cost-eficient recycling sys- tem depends on making sure recy- clables are actually recycled once they leave your bin. So mucking them up with the stuff that doesn’t belong there – that either slows the sorting lines like plastic bags do, or makes other recyclables less marketable like lids can – eventu- ally drives up costs for everyone. When in doubt, keep it out. Fill Out & Send To: Attn: Subscriptions, PO Box 3137, Portland OR 97208 $45.00 for 3 months • $80.00 for 6 mo. • $125.00 for 1 year (please include check with this subscription form) Name: Telephone: Address: or email subscriptions@portlandobserver.com