Can this be Recycled?
Plastic bottles, jugs, jars and tubs from the kitchen, laundry room, and bathroom?
Yes. If it's a clean plastic bottle, jug, jar or tub.
Printing documents double-sided is one simple way to practice this R and cut paper waste.
What is Reduce?
These attachments should be left on bottles and jars when recycling.
What are lids and caps? Lids and caps should be placed back on the bottle, jar, jug or tub before recycling. This is true even if they are a different type of material. Loose lids and caps will literally fall through the cracks at the recycling sorting facility.
True or False: Single use batteries should be recycled in your bin.
False. Batteries - whether single-use or rechargable - should never go in the recycling bin. Regular household batteries are safe to put into your trash, but lithium-ion batteries and rechargeable batteries from computers, power tools and cell phones require special handling and can be dropped off at locations like Batteries Plus or the Port Terminal Recycling Center in Greenville. Search the internet for the exact location for dropping off your type of battery.
Name one of the benefits of recycling.
Saves energy, creates jobs, conserves natural resources, etc.
Hoses?
Nope. Old hoses and other "tanglers" like ropes, chains, and cables do not belong in the recycling bin. These items get caught in the equipment at the recycling sorting facility — shutting down the machines and potentially causing worker injury.
Replacing single-use utensils, cups, and bottles with more long lasting alternatives demonstrates this R.
What is Re-use?
Recyclables are sorted through these 2 methods once reaching the recycling facility.
What is by hand and mechanically. By Recycling Smart you help keep the workers at the sorting facility safe.
Are recycling facilities equipped to handle metal tanks, hangers, pipes, or pots?
No. It is metal, but the sorting equipment at the recycling sorting facility is not designed to handle metal items that aren’t container-shaped (cans and bottles). Bike wheels, clothes hangers, broken gutters and even old frying pans (aka “scrap metal”) are not OK in your household recycling bin.
Name one of these three most common recycling contaminates for Pitt County.
The most common contaminants include plastic bags, food-soiled containers, and bagged recyclables.
Aluminum foil and pie pans?
Yes, aluminum foil is recyclable, but it must be completely clean of food residue and rolled into a ball before putting it in your bin.
This R should be considered a last resort after the other four have been attempted.
What is Recycle?
This needs to be removed or washed out of cans, jars, and bottles before recycling.
Food residue. Bottles and containers don't need to be spotless, but they do need to be empty and free of most food residue. A quick wipe or rinse does the trick. The goal: keep food and liquid from spoiling paper and cardboard.
Should a greasy pizza box be recycled?
Yes, as long as it is not overly soiled.
This department at Cypress Glen will accept your grocery bags and recycle them in the designated container at Food Lion.
What is Life Enrichment?
Paperback books?
Yes! Paper is recyclable! But when it comes to spiral notebooks and hardcover books, the binding is a barrier to recycling. We recommend tearing the paper out of spiral notebooks so that you can recycle it – and then put the spiral binding in the trash. The same goes for hardcover books. While it is recommended to donate your old books whenever possible, some are beyond reuse and it’s okay to recycle the paper.
Also known as “upcycling,” this R involves finding a new purpose for items that can't be refused, reduced, or reused.
What is Repurpose?
True or False: Crushing your cans and bottles before recycling helps the process.
False! Changing the shape of your plastic bottles (any size) and metal cans can affect how they are sorted at a materials recovery facility (MRF), where mechanical sorters separate flat materials (paper and cardboard) from 3D containers (cans, bottles, jars, jugs, and tubs). Flattened bottles and cans may be misidentified in the sorting process and end up as a contaminant in paper and cardboard bales. We recommend you don’t crush your bottles and cans flat.
Plastic grocery bags and plastic wrap cannot be recycled through your outgoing bin. This is one of the places you can take them instead.
Specialty recycling facilities or at the specially designated bin at grocery stores.
This color of plastic container cannot be processed in a recycling center.
Black. Materials recovery facilities (MRFs) sort plastics with optical sorting systems that use reflected light to determine the type of plastic a container is. The problem with black plastics is that they contain carbon, which absorbs light – this means the optical sorters can’t “see” black plastics and they end up in the trash heap. Even if black plastic could be sorted properly, there aren’t strong markets for it in MA, as the color makes it difficult for the material to be used as feedstock for new products.
Trash bags containing your recyclables.
No! Don't bag your recyclables, place items loose in your recycling bin. That bag might be full of good recyclables but when it reaches the recycling sorting facility it will be tossed in the trash. Workers on the sorting line don’t have time to break open bags. It’s also a safety hazard. Many supermarkets and other retailers accept plastic bags and wrap for recycling.
This is the first of the 5 R's and means saying no to wasteful or unnecessary products and packaging.
What is Refuse?
True or False: Any item labelled "recyclable" is safe to put in your household recycling bin.
False. Here’s the scoop: not everything labeled “recyclable” or stamped with the recycling symbol is recyclable. Greenwashing is the act or practice of making a product, policy, activity, etc. appear to be more environmentally friendly or less environmentally damaging than it really is. Some manufacturers claim their products are 100% recyclable but have no evidence that materials recovery facilities (MRFs) can sort them, or that a recycler can economically process them.
What common material is not currently accepted in Pitt County's mixed recycling pickup program?
Glass
True or False? Biodegradable and compostable plastics do NOT go in the recycling.
True! Biodegradable and compostable plastics are not designed to be recycled. Biodegradable plastics, like most plastics, are made from fossil fuels, but they include additives that cause them to break down in certain conditions. They cannot be recycled.