OSEA Safety Blog

Maximize Your Recycling

Monday, December 9, 2019 Ariana Naumovski

Considering the average person generates over 4 pounds of waste every day, recycling is one of the best ways for an individual, and for households, to do their part in helping to ensure as little of it as possible becomes actual waste. The EPA estimates that around 75% of waste can be recycled in some way, but we only recycle around 30%. Could that be because the average American simply doesn’t know what they can and can’t recycle? Unfortunately, there’s a good chance of that.

The following lists are typical examples of what is recyclable versus what cannot be. This may vary between municipalities so double-check with your town or city on what you can and can’t toss into your municipal recycle bin.

It’s not to say that the items on the “non-recyclable” list are not recyclable at all. It just means we can’t recycle it in our municipal recycling bins. For a full list of what you can and cannot recycle, check out the following link: https://www.wm.com/us/en/inside-wm/recycle-right/recycling-101. Check out Earth 911 to see where you can recycle items in your area: https://search.earth911.com/?what=Alkaline+Batteries&where=zip+code&list_filter=all&max_distance=25&family_id=&latitude=&longitude=&country=&province=&city=&sponsor=

Although recycling is a great thing to implement in your everyday life, it is still best to first reduce the amount of waste you produce and the number of products you consume. Then reuse your waste in any permitted way. Don’t be afraid to get creative with your waste. Compost food waste to “recycle” your food, reuse plastic food containers as Tupperware, paper egg carton as a seed starter, or even a bird feeder from a plastic soda bottle. Recycling doesn’t have to be a chore or boring!

Sources:

https://www.treehugger.com/

https://www.insider.com

https://www.wm.com/

https://www.dosomething.org/

https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/

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