Kelly's Healthy Home

Following up from my last post about reducing waste during the holidays, I want to provide some reminders and tips around recycling.

First, it’s a fact that the percent of materials that are actually recycled is extremely low. Especially for plastics. So, first and foremost, stop over consuming. Buy less single used plastics, buy less clothes, etc- so less stuff goes in the trash. Because trash doesn’t magically disappear- it goes somewhere!

If you’ve never read about or watched “The Story of Stuff,” I highly recommend. There have many resources and videos on their website to learn more. It’s really eye opening when you really think about the circle of life of stuff!

Things you can recycle:

Newspapers

Magazines

Cardboard

Glass bottles

Plastic usually numbers 1 & 2

Metal- You can actually even recycle aluminum foil, just make sure you bundle enough into a ball, ideally size of tennis ball and make sure it’s clean.

Pizza boxes- Depends! Can’t be too greasy and remove cheese/food

Things you can’t put in recycle bin:

Plastic bags

Envelopes with bubble wrap

Many types of plastic such as laundry detergent, black take out containers

To Go coffee cups- these have wax or plastic lining!

Styrofoam

Some Bonus Suggestions:

-Opt out of junk mail to get less mail. You can remove your name and address from some sources through https://dmachoice.org/ and https://www.catalogchoice.org/. However this won’t unfortunately eliminate all junk mail. You’d need to write directly to each source. More work for you, but in the long run it will significantly reduce your junk mail.

-Go the extra mile by collecting your plastic bags and dropping them off at the local grocery store once a month.

-Ensure your recyclables are clean and dry before dumping them into the bin. You can even sign up for services through Terracycle or Rabbit Recycling to have the hard to recycle items properly reused.

I completely realize the above subscriptions cost money and some habits may be unrealistic. Choose one or two things to focus on at a time. Like any change, it takes time, you’ll fail, but ultimately if you keep trying, you’ll make a difference.

-Kelly