Recycling - amazing amount

Effective 4/1, DE passed a recycling law, so now we have to do it whether we want to or not, and for a fee of course. I wasn't too happy about it at first, but after I saw the amount that just this household has to recycle, I was flabbergasted!

Our trash removal company provided the container - a 96 gallon roll out - the same size as the regular container. Tomorrow is our 1st recycle pickup - every other week as compared to weekly for the regular trash. I have been recycling for 2 weeks since they delivered the container, and it is almost full. I never would have guessed that so much of what we throw away could be recycled, and how it would add up in just a couple of weeks, and we smash down and flatten plastic jugs and bottles, and paperboard boxes, so it's not like those things are taking up a lot of space. One nice thing about this too, is that we don't have to separate paper from plastics from cans - it all gets tossed in together. I guess part of the fee they are charging us, has to go to hire people to separate it once it gets to wherever it's going. :p

Just thinking about what one household will recycle in a year - we have to be be saving so much that would simply go to a landfill, and not breakdown for who knows how long. I guess the law isn't so bad afterall. :)

I've been recycling for close to 30 years. We live in a rural area, so it's all on our own. No one comes to pick it up. There are containers at the Township Hall, so I drive up there every 10 days or so. We do have to separate, but it's not a problem for me.

My favorite are the glass bottles. Love to throw those things into the big metal container and hear them crash. Relieves lots of frustrations :D

It's amazing to me the number of products that can be made from recycled materials. A couple of my reusable grocery bags are made from recycled plastic bottles.

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Originally Posted by Grace

I've been recycling for close to 30 years. We live in a rural area, so it's all on our own. No one comes to pick it up. There are containers at the Township Hall, so I drive up there every 10 days or so. We do have to separate, but it's not a problem for me.

My favorite are the glass bottles. Love to throw those things into the big metal container and hear them crash. Relieves lots of frustrations :D

It's amazing to me the number of products that can be made from recycled materials. A couple of my reusable grocery bags are made from recycled plastic bottles.

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Yes - I'm rural too, and have a private trash removal company. Prior to this new law, everything went in together. I was too lazy to drive in to town to any of the recycle bins, and most of the time they were nasty and overflowing, and people would toss anything and everything in them. YUK! :mad:

We probably have the same bins, now. It's easier than when we had to separate paper and plastic, and we recycle everything we can, and have for years! I have seen it on a show on TV, and it all goes to a place with a big conveyor belt, after they mechanically sort as much as they can - glass and metal - then it gets dumped on a conveyor for humans to sort.

I am not as good about it as I should be. I mostly recycle soda cans and paper. I can recycle cat food cans but they have to be rinsed and the labels removed. Same thing with glass- remove the labels, discard the caps and recycle the glass. Some kinds of glass can't be recycled. I try to recycle all my plastic but some of those bottles have to be rinsed and the labels removed too. That seems like a waste of water to me, so if anyone has good ideas for how you do this, I'd appreciate any suggestions to make me a better recycler!

I take supermarket plastic bags back when I go. I'm good at that :rolleyes:

At work we have a single container for everything recyclable and the tab tops from soda cans go to the Ronald McDonald House.

Just now, we have to separate paper from the plastic - glass - metal. RI hopes to get that separator machine soon, been a lot in the local newspaper about it. That machine costs a LOT! :eek:

There are so many plastics that are marked recycle, but we can't do it here. All those deli containers? For cole slaw, potato salad and so forth? Nope, can't recycle those, here. :(

In my city, we had the bins and pick up, then 2 yeas back they put in "no bins, no pick up." If you don't have your recycle bins out, your household trash barrel is not collected. We saved $65,000 in the first 6 months that was put into effect! :eek: :D

We don't have to remove labels from cans or jars, but they have to be rinsed out. Not all plastic can be put in either, only those with the #1, 2, 4, 5, or 7 in the recycle symbol on the bottom of the container, and all plastic soda and water bottles, and milk, tea and juice jugs and all with lids removed. No plastic store bags, no styrofoam, only glass food jars and bottles, but no broken window glass or dishes or drinking glasses or the like, but just about any kind of paper or paperboard, other than waxed paper or hard cover books. So glad that there is a use for all the junk mail and catalogs and phone books - even gift wrap paper and greeting cards. It has really been a learning experience!

Yes, doesn't it feel somewhat satisfying to dump in a whomper of a phone book, and know it's not taking up room in a landfill somewhere?

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Originally Posted by Karen

Yes, doesn't it feel somewhat satisfying to dump in a whomper of a phone book, and know it's not taking up room in a landfill somewhere?

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Most definitely. And Christmas with all the boxes and wrapping paper - that will half fill the bin, as big as Christmas is at this house. ;)

I live in a condo complex and we have several recycling bins by the trash dumpsters. We used to have to put only certain items in the recycling bins but now we can just mix everything together.:) I usually only recycle paper products. I also save aluminum cans but I take them in to get money for them.

Here we have two wheely bins, one for green waste, and another for plain old rubbish. Then we have two black plastic boxes, one for paper, and the other for glass/plastic.

My town is pretty good. We have commingle (glass, metals, and plastics 1 and 2) weekly, cardboard and newspaper monthly. Starting in June any marked plastic (1-7) will be recyclable, which I like since a lot of stuff comes in 3 (polypropylene), 5 (vinyl) and 6 (polystyrene). (I'm not sure I have the codes right.)

We've been recycling for years. We do have to separate the papers from the rest but that's it. We only have to rinse jars and other containers but they can all go in the same bin, even foil pie plates, the cardbord boxes they are packed in can just go with papers.
We even have a special smaller bin for our greens, and all wet garbage but when the bags are full we toss them in a pile that we keep and when everything is composted we use it for our own fertilizer for the flower beds and the garden.
The only thing we can't put in the green bin is meat or meat by-products.

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Originally Posted by pomtzu

We don't have to remove labels from cans or jars, but they have to be rinsed out. Not all plastic can be put in either, only those with the #1, 2, 4, 5, or 7 in the recycle symbol on the bottom of the container, and all plastic soda and water bottles, and milk, tea and juice jugs and all with lids removed. No plastic store bags, no styrofoam, only glass food jars and bottles, but no broken window glass or dishes or drinking glasses or the like, but just about any kind of paper or paperboard, other than waxed paper or hard cover books. So glad that there is a use for all the junk mail and catalogs and phone books - even gift wrap paper and greeting cards. It has really been a learning experience!

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That's exactly what we do in my township. I used to hate when we had to seperate glass and plastic but we got the machine seperator so now it's all in the same bins. Yup! LOVE dumping those phone books! I try to recycle everything. I put my shredded paper (a lot I save it up) in those huge paper lawn bags and label it "shredded paper".

My brother forgot to take out the recycle and trash on Sunday night. Da**!. Just as I noticed it, the recycle truck rolled down the street. I went out to get the newspaper, and, viola! the recycle truck came around again! They saw me, stopped, 3 guys ran to my garage and took out all my stuff! They rock. OK, I gift them at Christmas, but still. So I made them an Easter basket.

SF has taken a further step. A bin for composting. Somehow they are turning the composts into energy and it's been very sucessful. I hope all this gets rolled out here soon. I'm always apalled at the things I see people in my apartment leave by the dumpster. Computers, TV's, pirinters! Surely they know that that sort of garbage needs to go to an electronics recycleing center. The toxins those would realease at a land fill is mind boggling!

The area I live in has had recycling for years. Recently they changed and we no longer have to sort things. We have wheelie things to dump it all into.... and then we have a dumpster for the other items. We have a huge, private composter in the back yard for food scraps. I dump leaves, scraps of food and grass cuttings.... for future use, of course.

We also have a few special days per year, when you can take your electronics, big items such as mattresses, washing machines etc. for a small price. The event takes place at the end of my street and it is amazing to see the line of cars and trucks waiting to drop off items.. Tires are usually a favorite item too. We even have a day for medications.....unused and unwanted....so that you won't dump them down the drain, allowing them to enter the water systems.

I wish we had more ways of recycling things. I think second hand clothing stores makes so much sense, although I seldom shop in them. I do donate much more than I would ever buy.

We even have a non-profit that takes cars as donations, fixes them and gives them out to the needy.

Vermont is a pretty neat state to live in....very people friendly. Vermont has great public social services as well.

We have been recycling ever since we've been married, I think. It was long enough ago that, 1) we had to sort, rinse and unlabel everything, and, 2) we had to put it in the pick up and take it to the dump ourselves.:eek: We have also always had a compost pile.

We're now spoiled. We have the big blue wheeled bin, everything goes in, and no prep is necessary. It goes to the top of our driveway (a nice little walk) for pick up weekly. What amazes me is our neighbors. Our driveway has four houses; there are some that "do" and some that "don't". How any normal family can justify the amount of trash they put up there is beyond me! We usually have about a third of a small can to empty every other week. The recycle bin is about half full every week (unless we have a party;)). There are two humans and one kitty here. The family of four next door puts up two VERY LARGE trash bins and many times separate garbage bags. What are they doing over there???:confused: