Happy Earth Month!
It's that time of year where the tree-hugger within us comes out to celebrate the achievements made in protecting and preserving our environment! What a great time of year to remind our customers of the importance of recycling, as it is a simple choice you continue to make each day that creates a HUGE impact.
When materials are discarded as trash, they end up in one of two places: the incinerator, which burns materials for energy, or the landfill, which buries materials underneath the earth. Both of these two places ultimately end the life cycle of a material so that its value is lost forever. Recycling, however, involves taking materials that could be discarded as waste but gives them a new life. By taking the time to recycle, not only will our need for landfills and incinerators be reduced, but we will also be helping to conserve natural resources like timber, water, fossil fuels and minerals.
Focus On:
Kitchen Plastics
This month's focus is on recycling plastics commonly found in your kitchen pantry or refrigerator. If you take a good look at either one of these places, you'll find a myriad of recyclable objects waiting to be disposed of properly.
Because plastic recycling is in constant evolution, it is important to remind our customers of the different types of plastics that are now accepted as part of our program.
Wide-mouthed plastics
(aka. Tubs)
For example, butter tubs, yogurt tubs, mayonnaise jars or even the clear plastic tubs you receive from your favorite Chinese food take-out (see image left).
Yogurt Cups
Small individual yogurt cups along with larger tubs are all recyclable
Bottles, Jugs and Tubes
Soda bottles, water bottles, all condiment bottles, salad dressing bottles, milk jugs and juice jugs
Take-Out Containers and Clam Shells
As stated above, clear plastic tubs obtained from various
take-out restaurants are now recyclable. Additionally, clear plastic clam shell containers predominately used at to-go salad bars are also recyclable. No styrofoam clam shells, please!
Microwavable Food Trays
Plastic trays used for a variety of microwavable meals arerecyclable.
**Make sure to give your plastics a gentle rinse before throwing into your single stream collection container. This avoids contamination of other materials in your bin.
