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Not only is recycling easy, but it makes me feel good. With my recycle bin conveniently placed right outside my kitchen door, I use my best underhanded toss to recycle my cans and bottles without ever stepping foot outside (unless I miss of course). Recycling paper is a different matter as I don’t want it to get wet. A simple paper grocery sack under my counter is perfect for junk mail, newspapers and cereal boxes. Each week when I haul it all to the curb for pickup, I know that I have done my part….or at least I believe I have. It’s important to fill your curbside bin with only materials the recycler wants. In order for them to sell the recycled materials to manufacturers, they need a clean, uncompromised batch. Improper recycling, which produces contaminated batches, nullifies the recycling efforts of not just one household, but many. In other words, if your bin is full of stuff that doesn’t belong, they might just chuck it in the landfill.
Here is a list of 10 common recycling mistakes made at the curb. This list pertains to the Rumpke customers in Franklin County. If your community uses a different recycler, check their website for details.
1. Plastic tubs – yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese, Cool whip, to-go containers etc. Rumpke only wants your plastic if it’s a bottle. (#5 plastic tubs can be recycled at Whole Foods Market)
2. Plastic cups & plates – just because it has a recycling symbol doesn’t mean the recycler takes it. Remember, only plastic bottles including; detergent, shampoo, milk etc.
3. Caps – Remove caps and lids from bottles and jars. DO NOT throw them in the bin.
4. Plastic bags – Plastic bags wrap themselves around the sorting equipment, and as a result, may shut down the whole facility. Recycle plastic bags at the grocery store.
5. Greasy pizza boxes – Grease contaminates the potentially recyclable cardboard because it cannot be removed from the paper fibers. Tear off the greasy part of the box and recycle the rest.
6. Motor oil and hazardous chemical bottles – residue remaining inside these containers presents a risk to handlers and contaminates other plastic recycling, collection trucks and processing facilities.
7. Napkins, paper towels, tissues etc. -. These are made up of fibers that are too short to be reused.
8. Dishes, drinking glasses, mirrors, window glass, utensils, cookware (glass, metal, ceramic, or disposable plastic) – Not for the curbside bin.
9. Styrofoam – egg cartons, meat trays, to-go containers, cups…any Styrofoam that’s been in contact with food. Sorry to say, these go in the garbage.
10. Coated food boxes – milk and juice cartons, frozen food packaging, juice boxes, paper coffee cups. These boxes are specially coated which make it difficult to recycle them.
And remember, to close the recycling loop, buy recycled products when you can.
BigGreenHead.com is a website educating people on easy ways to go green. Come to Green on the Green-a Big Green Fest! May 21, 2011 from 9am-2pm in Worthington.
Great info., thanks for posting!
Thanks for this article, BGHead. It would appear I’ve been offering all the wrong things to the recycling gods.
I wonder, though, if there are any places in Franklin County that do recycle plastic tubs, styrofoam, etc.?
Does anyone know if #1 applies to the recycling collections at the schools? The labeling on the bin says they accept plastic 1-7.
Great info, but honest question here…if one guy’s dirty yogurt container can nullify a whole neighborhood’s recycling efforts, then how much is Rumpke actually recycling? I can’t imagine that all, or even most, of its customers are following every one of these guidelines, so hearing stuff like this makes it feel like a futile effort.
@MichaelC – You can take plastic tubs with a #5 to Whole Foods. As far as Styrofoam, Phoenix Recycling is located in Columbus. But I’m fairly certain they can not take Styrofoam that has touched food. So we’re talking about recycling Styrofoam packaging etc. Here is a BGH article on this topic.
@Bubbletoes, I don’t know about the school question. I will see what I can find.
Be cool – Be Green!
Wow I had no idea they don’t recycle most plastic, it’s really not clear on the dumpsters. I can’t wait for the day when we have a real recycling program in this city. Not taking #1 or #2 containers simply because they aren’t bottles is a joke.
Thank you for this post! Really, recycling is just something to make us feel better about the enormous amounts of trash we’re making so that we’ll continue to make it (i.e. we’ll continue buying stuff). Recycling is the biggest sham ever.
You can now recycle styrofoam in Columbus:
Phoenix Recycling on Hamilton Road accepts styrofoam from the public. Contact them to find out more:
Phoenix Recycling
2040 S. Hamilton Rd
Columbus OH 43207
tel: 614-226-9617
email: phoenix@plasticscrap.us
web: http://www.plasticscrap.us
They accept all Polystyrene (Styrofoam), except used food containers.
Wow… I have been recycling for years and had no idea that so many items weren’t acceptable. Unbelievably discouraging.
What’s the source for this information? Much of it conflicts with what I was told by the Rumpke driver I spoke with– namely, that if it has a recycling symbol on it, we should put it in the bin (minus food contamination, of course).
As for #5 plastics (especially the caps from pop bottles, etc.), a better place to take them is the Ohio Wildlife Center– they make money from #5 plastic (see http://www.facebook.com/CapsCanDo or http://www.CapsCanDo.org/ for other locations and details).
There are no such restrictions printed on the recycling dumpsters, so I’m pretty confused as to why curbside would have them.
Also, if that really is the recycling program, it’s clear that it’s more of a notion of recycling-for-looks, not for actual function. I seriously can’t believe how far behind Rumpke is on this stuff.
The rules outlined in the BGH post are Rumpke’s restrictions on recycling. The dumpsters (at least the ones I think most of us use) are SWACO’s. They’re different operations and I’m fairly certain have separate processing; I don’t know why SWACO’s requirements are so different from Rumpke’s.
That said, Rumpke certainly hasn’t helped themselves by (it appears) loosening the restrictions back in ’06 and then apparently tightening them later:
http://www.dispatch.com/live/contentbe/dispatch/2006/06/03/20060603-D1-00.html
Bottle caps (most of them) can be sorted with the #5 plastics. Yes, Whole Foods has a receptacle for these inside. They support the ‘Take 5′ campaign for Preserve products made from recycled #5 plastics. Also, I believe Aveda products are packaged in recycled #5′s, so if this sounds like a good option, be sure to check if they are currently accepting them. Hi-5 to all that!
so much misguidance here…mostly from the commenters.
Don’t you think it would be more helpful to share your enlightenment rather than just vaguely state that someone somewhere is wrong about something?
At least #1 & 10, if not more, are inaccurate. I live in Westerville and they have told us to provide all materials with a symbol, as well as paper cartons. They sort it out at their Fields Ave facility. Let us know if you get more information, or if they are giving conflicting instructions to each community.
(PS – maybe saywhat works for SWACO)
I live in Westerville & just received a new flyer from Rumpke in the mail with a list of what they accept. It is different from the one I got a few years back and it seems that #1 and #10 above are actually correct. I also just went on their website to confirm and indeed, they only take plastic if it is a bottle. Pretty disappointing. I was feeling so good about myself recycling everything. Now so much more will be going in the trash. to check it out go to http://www.rumpkerecycling.com click on “Residential” and then click on “What is acceptable for Recycling” It gives you the complete list.
#10 is wrong, at least in the suburb where I live (Worthington). A week ago, all residents in my city received a snail mail brochure from Rumpke about what they accept in recycling. The brochure states, in very clear terms, that they accept milk and juice cartons.
Unfortunately curbside recycling is one of worst ways to help the environment. It is inefficient, wasteful and a waste of time. I worked in the waste recovery business at one time and know from experience that there are better ways to be eco-friendly. Why is curbside recycling bad? First, national studies show that only about 50% of the material that is put out the curb is actually recycled, due to poor recovery methods. Also think about the cost, waste of fuel and pollution caused by the large recycling trucks traveling to every household in the metro area each week. What is the best way to recycle? There are 2 better ways to recycle. One is a waste recovery system, where all garbage is collected by the regular garbage trucks and then the recyclable materials are recovered at a waste processing facility. There are a few of these facilities around the country and they can be highly effective. The second way is drop off recycling. This works due to the fact that the recyclables that you have already separated stay separated and the trash company only has to pick up the material and process the material for shipping (baling, crushing, etc.). Therefore 0% of this material needs to end up in a landfill. Also, if everyone that uses drop off recycling does it while they are running other errands, then there is basically no fuel used to get the recyclables to the drop-off facility and the garbage company has a fraction of the number of stops and miles to travel each week, thus reducing pollution and reducing the amount of fuel used. Unfortunately most people, governments and companies that try to be eco-friendly don’t look at the big picture and curbside recycling is the poster child for this problem.