When you are interested in recycling and sustainability, you want to make sure that you are reusing items as much as possible and recycling as efficiently as possible. Knowing just a few best practices may completely change how you relate to the products you use, how you recycle, and how you can inspire the people around you to recycle in the right way.
How Does Recycling Work In Your Town?
Whether or not a product will be recycled is determined by the standards of the community’s recycling facility. Most communities have a program that encourages residents to recycle, and certain companies have plans that allow customers to put all their recycled materials into a certain can. You should be aware of what can be recycled and what cannot. You should also ask the community if they have a special plan for something called “single-stream” which only allows a few types of products.
“Single-stream” management of recycled products encourages the collection of glass, plastic bottles, and paper. Plastic bags and styrofoam are often left out of these plans because they are hard for the recycling facility to deal with, do not provide the community the profits it wants, and are difficult for consumers to get into their cans.
You may be asked to drop off old papers, magazines, and newspapers, at a special collection bin, or you might be asked to offer only plastic and glass bottles. In some cases, the plan to collect recyclable materials includes aluminum soda or beer cans.
Once you know what the community does, you can make wise choices. For example, you can drop your cans off at a special bin in another town because those cans may pay for a special outreach project or extracurricular activity. You might redeem glass bottles for cash in some states, or you can drop off old newspapers in a special bin that acts as a fundraiser for a local nonprofit.
Are You Upcycling?
Upcycling is an amazing way for you to reclaim old items that might have been thrown out in any other case. For example, you might notice people around your community are throwing out old beds and couches. They might put an old fridge on the curb, or you might run across old furniture pieces. You can take these things for yourself, use them at home, refurbish them, and give them a new life.
You may want to take the old floor planks from a remodeled home, refurbish them, and use them as wall panels in your living room. You can sand and paint or stain old furniture you have found, and you can spend a few hours repairing an old fridge that you can keep in your garage.
When you find these items to be useful, they can live in your home. In the same way, you might want to offer old furniture and/or appliances from your home online. Sign up for a community bulletin board or group that allows you to post anything you have. Someone might take these old items off your hands. In other cases, you can actually sell these old items to people who truly want them.
Do not be shy. You can even use an old car door as a massive wall piece in your living room. You can turn the comfortable row benches from a minivan into a couch, and you can use parts of an old workshop to rebuild your deck.
What Is Wishcycling?
Because everyone is focused on sustainability, there are a few things that the general public should stop doing immediately. Wishcycling is a dangerous trend that waste management companies are very concerned about. When you wishcycle, you are putting something into a recyclable container without checking to see if it is actually recyclable.
This is an aspirational idea, and it is often good-hearted. You assume that something can be recycled so you put it in the nearest bin. While you are doing what you think is best, the waste management company that manages that bin will have a hard time recycling any of the materials in that bin if you have wishcycled.
Avoid Single-Use Items
One easy best practice is to stop using single-use plastics altogether. This is a very simple thing for you to do in your house, and you should consider buying products that make this transition easier. You can purchase reusable straws for your home, order trash bags that are made from compostable materials, and you should monitor your waste to identify single-use items that your household can avoid in the future.