Are there items that you could be recycling but aren’t? You might be surprised to learn that your recycling bin could be fuller than you might think.
I was helping a good friend and neighbor prepare for a party that she was giving that night. As we prepared many dishes, we opened packages and cans. The cans went into the recycling bin, of course, and the styrofoam meat trays had to go into the trash. It was then that I noticed that my friend had thrown away her paper egg carton. She was completely unaware that it could be recycled.
Paper egg cartons can definitely be recycled. In fact, most of them are made of recycled paper already. That is why the texture is so bumpy. Styrofoam containers on the other hand are not so easily recycled. This promoted a dilemma for me: buy the organic eggs that come in a styrofoam container or the non-organic eggs that come in a paper container?
If you are faced with styrofoam egg cartons, find out if there is a local farmer or neighbor who raises chickens. They may be able to use the cartons to store or sell their eggs.
Here is a list of some other items that you can usually put in your recycling bin. When in doubt, check with your recycling company or town instead of just tossing the items out!
You can recycle: newspaper, magazines, junk mail (usually those plastic windows in the envelopes don’t need to be removed), glossy paper, regular matte paper, flyers, newspaper inserts, envelopes, phone books, paper packaging, shirt insert cardboard, heavy cardboard (corrugated cardboard might need to be bundled), cereal boxes, cake mix boxes, paper milk cartons, paper bags, paper cups and paper plates (as long as they do not contain grease or food) and even those plastic-lined drink boxes.
You can read more blog posts by Mary Ann Romans here!
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