This article was written by Randy Klauk
Many of us want to do the right thing and recycle everything we can think of that we’re helping Mother Earth. This is a good thing, but there’s something called “wishcycling” which is what many of us do. We toss everything into our recycle bins and figure that if it can’t be recycled, someone at the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF, pronounced, Merf) will figure it out. Not true! Often, the wrong materials get sent to the wrong place and end up contaminating an entire batch of recycling which then can end up in a landfill or be sent to the garbage burner.
Do the numbers 1, 2, and 5 mean anything to you? Well, if you recycle plastic in the City of Minneapolis, remember them; they are the only plastic items that get recycled. This includes: water, soda and juice bottles as well as milk jugs. Also, ketchup, salad dressing bottles, dishwashing and laundry soap bottles, shampoo and liquid soap containers can usually be recycled. Leave the cap on all of these. You can also recycle many yogurt, pudding, fruit cups in addition to margarine, cottage cheese and other tubs and lids; always check the recycle number. One other thing that you can do is remove any labels, it isn’t mandatory, but a nice thing to do.
One exception is any black plastic as it does not get recycled. It doesn’t matter the number on the container. The scanners at the MRF don’t understand what it is and the market for black plastic is very small. Many restaurant to-go containers have a black bottom – recycle the clear top and then toss the black bottom.
Another plastic item you should not put in your recycling bin is plastic bags because they get tangled in the separating equipment at the recycling center or accidentally get mixed in with paper, and if just one half of a percent of a bale of paper is contaminated, it can’t be sold to a reuse company. What you can do with them is to reuse them as a shopping or garbage bag or take them to a grocery store where they have boxes you can put them in and they will get recycled (usually the boxes are just inside the main door).
Another thing to think about recycling is when you’re buying products. Look at the recycle number to see if it’s 1, 2 or 5. Plastic drinking cups (like for a party) are a good example. Some are #6 and have to be thrown away. Do a little looking and there is probably a bag of #5 cups right next to them on the shelf.
An important thing to remember when recycling in Minneapolis is to not leave the plastics in the bag you use in the house before taking to the large container in the alley. All recycling needs to be loose in the big blue cart so when it gets to the MRF it will get separated correctly. If the recycling is left in a bag, your items might not get recycled. Remember, never put plastic bags in the recycle bin.
If you have large household items such as plastic lawn furniture, laundry baskets, storage tubs or plastic toys, do not put these in your recycle cart, they go in your garbage. They are difficult for the recycling centers to sort and there is not a good market to recycle them. Other items that are not able to be recycled are bubble wrap, Styrofoam, #3, #4, # 6 and #7 plastics and any container that held hazardous waste.
If you are not sure if something can be recycled, put it in the trash. Next time, we will learn about recycling glass products.
Randy Klauk is a Hennepin County Master Recycler/Composter