What Not to Recycle (and What To Do With Them, Instead)

I was horrified to learn today from The Daily Green that some of my efforts in recycling-putting recyclables in the dishwasher, hand-washing them when gunk just wouldn't come off, ferrying my overloaded recycling bin across town to the recycling center-were in vain.

Recycling Won't Save the Planet

When I lived in Japan, recycling was a pain because citizens were required to sort items by type, color, thickness, and more. Now that I'm back stateside, I've thoroughly enjoyed single stream (i.e. unsorted) recycling, but it's spelled trouble for the industry. Now, companies that reuse what we hope gets recycled can't.

Much of it has to do with things we can do nothing about, like contamination. When you order a pizza, it comes in a box. By the time it reaches your doorstep, the grease from the cheese has already soiled the cardboard that you intend to recycle. Don't bother. Greasy pizza boxes and paper containers for fluids-like milk and orange juice-are basically non-recyclable. Particles of grease and food waste you can't clean out grow bacteria, and separating the plastic and wax from the actual paper of an old milk carton is near impossible.

Broken glass is also a no-no, particularly from broken windows, drinking glasses, Pyrex dishes, mirrors, or the like. This kind of glass has different properties than recyclable glass.

What You Can Do

What stopped me from having a conniption this morning when I read the article was the long list of options given to us green-minded folk who'd been working so hard to do our part (and unknowingly contributed to hampering the recycling process).

Firstly, check out Earth911 (http://earth911.com/), which tells you how, where, and what to recycle other than printing paper, cardboard, and glass Starbucks frappuccino bottles. More knowledge on your behalf means less waste that can't be recycled ending up in recycling bins, causing trouble for recycling companies and ending up in landfills. No need to waste your precious time on vain efforts.

Secondly, swing by TerraCycle (http://www.terracycle.net/) to see if you regularly accumulate the nonrecyclable items that they will pay you to send them! Terracycle is an organization pioneered by Tom Szaky and Jon Beyer, two freshmen at Princeton University in 2001, who believe that in nature, there is no such thing as waste. Animals eat each other and become fertilizer for plants that are eaten by animals that are eaten, etc. While Szaky and Beyer don't promote cannibalism, they do promote upcycling, meaning they reuse what we might consider waste. For example, they regularly make picture frames from M&M wrappers, tote bags from Capri Suns, and kites from Oreo wrappers. None of these candy wrappers and such can be recycled, but they can be upcycled in to cute, quirky products. Visit the site for ideas on upcycling of your own as well as finding out how you can participate and get paid.

Heather is a freelance writer and the resident blogger for collegescholarships.org, an informational website offering tips about college scholarships and grants.