Feature Articles - Housing
Don’t forget about recycling during and after holidays
Barbara Buffaloe, LEED A.P., M.S., extension associate & resident instructor, Architectural Studies, University of Missouri Extension
Many people find their homes cluttered after a holiday or birthday. It’s important to consider recycling when deciding how to clean up. Recycling centers vary in what they have the capacity to accept and process. Call your local provider to ask what you can do to recycle.
- Wrapping paper is a big item that people want to recycle after the holidays. Most wrapping paper can be recycled as long as it’s not foil wrapping paper. Tissue paper cannot be recycled. Check with your local provider to confirm that they recycle wrapping paper.
- Paper plates from parties can be recycled if they do not have food bits on them. Similar to recycling pizza boxes, if you can cut out the soiled parts and only recycle the clean paper plate or pizza box, do that and throw away the soiled pieces.
- Christmas trees are recyclable in most places — some cities take them to a bioreactor landfill. Any type of yard waste is good for that system, as methane produced is used to generate electricity from this renewable energy source. You can also take the trees to the city’s mulch sites for processing into mulch.
- Plastic and glass bottles are both great items to recycle. Check with your local provider on what glass bottles are accepted for recycling. For example, plastic bottles need to be #1 or #2 plastic to be recycled in the city of Columbia, Mo. Remember to remove the lids from all bottles as they can cause a number of problems in the recycling process. The lids from plastic and glass bottles need to be removed because the bottles may not compress on the truck and will take up more space. This means the collection trucks have to make more trips to empty themselves. In addition, some lids are made of plastics that are not recyclable, and some lids are too small and can jam a recycling center’s equipment.
The Web site http://earth911.com/ has a lot of information about what is recyclable in your area. For more information, enter what you would like to recycle and your zip code in the search box.
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Last update: Friday, January 15, 2010
