Great non-political Letter to the Editor
Don’t get me wrong - as you probably have noticed - I have a political position. Really, I do. What like about this letter, however, is that it doesn’t mention or imply politics yet it is something that each of us can and should do.
This kind of stuff transcends politics. Check out the second paragraph.
From today’s Democrat and Chronicle - have a read
Do your part by recycling
Environmental worries seem to be on the minds of most Americans lately. I share this concern deeply. I believe that we really need to step up and take action. One way we can do this is to do a better job at recycling. We have a wonderful recycling facility with hard-working and dedicated people striving to offer us the best possible recycling programs.
However, most of us are not recycling all we could be. As a nation, statistics show that about half of trash put in landfills could have been recycled. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, much of this is paper.
In Monroe County, we are lucky to have curbside pickup of our recyclable materials. But a program is only as good as the people who use it, so I’m calling on all Monroe County residents to do their part. Take a peek in your garbage. See if there are stray pieces of paper or recyclable containers that you may have missed. If so, think about ways you might direct those things into the blue bin in the future.
Nice letter
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Here are some questions I have - we do try to recycle, but we’re not sure if we’re always doing it correctly-
1. Are we supposed to sort paper, cardboard, metal, plastic and glass into different bins?
2. What about items that have food on them like pizza boxes, bread plastic bags, or dressing containers which you can’t get all the dressing out of?
3. How well should items be cleaned?
More questions -
If folks are doing it wrong, does the whole bin get discarded or just the item? Are all of the items we are putting in the bins and properly recyclable really recycled?
Just some questions in case anyone knows the answers.
Well - answers to your questions,
1. No
2. Yes - clean as well as you can - I’m sure it doesn’t have to be spotless
3. As well as you can. This is more likely for vector control at the facility more tan anything else.
In terms of what can be recycled - From the Monroe County recycling operations.
Only the containers listed below are accepted for recycling. All containers should be rinsed and placed loosely on the top of paper items in your recycling bin. Please do not separate the types of containers using plastic grocery bags—they should all be mixed together. Labels are accepted.
* Metal Food and Beverage Cans: lids are accepted.
* EMPTY Aerosol Cans: remove and throw away caps. NO pesticides or spray paints.
* Plastic Bottles, Jugs and Jars (1 and 2 ONLY): remove and throw away caps, spray pumps and lids. No motor oil containers.
* Glass Bottles and Jars: Clear, Green and Brown ONLY—remove and throw away all lids and caps. No drinking glasses, window glass, etc.
* Gable Top (Milk and Juice) Cartons and Drink Boxes: remove and throw away plastic straws.
regarding paper
Almost any kind of clean paper product can be placed in the recycling bin (NO soiled papers, paper toweling or wet paper).
Remeber to put your empty cereal boxes and other cardboard, etc… in the recycle bin instead of throwing them out.
I have some answers for you. The real experts can be contacted at the recycle center but I’ll do my best in the meantime.
1. From what I understand, sorting into separate bins is not required, but can be helpful for the pickup person. Most important to the recycle center is that you don’t put things in plastic bags or tie them up with strings.
2. Pizza boxes, even though they may be stained with grease, etc. are fine to recycle as long as you have removed the solid items from it (crusts, etc).
3. As far as cleaning recyclable containers, it makes sense to clean them as thoroughly as you can. It reduces the attraction of critters to your blue box as well as helping to make the sanitation workers job a bit less messy.
And yes, recyclable items that you put in the bin are really recycled. The group at the Monroe County Recycle Center is committed to our county’s recycling goals and takes their work very seriously.
Finally, the workers at the center sort the material coming in. So, an item that is not recyclable is removed and the remaining recyclable items continue on.
Thanks so much for asking!