You might be surprised at what you can and can't recycle

Mar. 3—A slew of common misconceptions surround the rules of recycling.

But beyond paper and aluminum cans almost always being safe to toss into a blue bin, there's no real universal standard to follow. Instead, the conventions of proper recycling vary depending on where a person lives.

In Hall, what's accepted by the local recycling plant is determined by the Hall County Recycling Center.

"Household waste is what we're after," said Assistant Solid Waste Superintendent Bobby Purdum. "That's your bottles, cans, glass jars, fiber — anything that's made from trees, like your cereal boxes and mail inserts. They can be brought to any of the 12 compactor sites or the Hall County Recycle Center."

Contrary to popular presumption, items like pizza boxes that often appear contaminated with grease can still be recycled. After being processed at the recycling center, located off Chestnut Street in Gainesville, recyclable material is then transported to one of several vendors — companies which cleanse and resell that household waste.

As long as substances (like food) are discarded from containers, residual rubbish left on items is acceptable.

Purdum said it's the composition of solid waste, as opposed to its degree of contamination, that matters to vendors like Conyers-based packaging company Pratt Industries. Pratt Industries receives much of the recycled material from Hall's recycling plant.

"We don't clean it," Purdum said. "Pratt Industries is OK with pizza boxes with stains and things like that. They're not interested in boxes with high wax content...if you have something that's a little more weather resistant, it makes it harder to recycle (because) it doesn't break down as well."

Much of the material that comes through the recycling center, according to Purdum, is "flaked" by vendors — grinded down, cleansed, transported to companies and then used to produce everything from carpet to T-shirts. Most of it, he said, recycles back through Georgia's economy in other forms.

"Most of the plastic bottles recycled here in Georgia, stay here in Georgia," he said.

Grocery bags are most often mistaken as recyclable material, Purdum said, and they also turn out to be the prime culprit of potential hazards that can compromise the entire process. Instead, he encourages recyclers to return those to grocery stores for reuse.

"We recycle six different items with four sort bays — that's the reason we can't recycle everything," he said. "We don't have the storage space to recycle those...the reason (many) material recovery facilities do not recycle those is because they damage equipment. That gets hung around ball bearings...over time, it melts and then damages equipment."

Materials containing two or more plastics, like chip bags, also cannot be recycled — again, not for reasons of food contamination but because of their inability to break down.

Similar plastics — the more "undesirable" plastics — are often labeled in the No. 7 plastic recycling category, he said.

"A lot of times you see what looks like aluminum coating on the inside and plastic on the outside," Purdum said. "Any time you take two pieces of something together, nine times out of 10 you make it unrecyclable...any kind of (plastic) bags, there's no recycling those."

This also touches on concept of what's referred to as "wishcycling" — the notion that something should be recycled when actually it can't be. When these materials wind up in a batch of recyclables, they must be removed by hand.

"That's wishful recycling," Purdum said. "We have to get that out...it doesn't do anything but cause problems. It tears machinery up and makes it hazardous for people to pull that stuff out."

Purdum stressed one of the more critical rules of recycling — that recyclers should place solid waste in their designated bins, each of which are labeled: plastic, paper, glass, aluminum, etc.

Amid bales of aluminum cans and plastic bottles stacked through Hall County's Recycling Center Thursday, Purdum gestured to a large container strewn with plastics, cardboard boxes and cans. That particular container is only intended for glass, he said, creating an immense challenge for him and his team of employees.

"Anything that's not glass in that particular area, we have to get out by hand," he said. "...it's a little bit of a hazard to try to get that out of there. This is probably one of the things I reiterate the most — try to put things where they go, don't just put them in other places."

Hall County's Recycling Center processes 13-14 thousand tons of solid waste a year. Purdum attributed this increase to more Americans choosing to recycle, as well as the continual rise in the county's population.

"Any time you have education outreach and people become aware of what's going on, it always drives that up," he said. "The main thing is we're not putting it in the landfill. Nobody wants a landfill in their backyard."

Folks can find locations of Hall County's compactor sites to drop off recyclables by visiting https://www.hallcounty.org/343/Where-You-Can-Recycle

What You Can Recycle

Mixed Paper (Blue Bin)

* Corrugated cardboard (3 layers)

* File folders

* Hard and soft bound books

* Index cards

* Magazines and catalogs

* Newspaper

* Office and copy paper (all colors)

* Paperboard (1 layer, cereal/pasta/frozen food/shoe box/etc.)

* Phone books

* Pizza boxes (no pizza, please)

* Plain and window envelopes

* Soda/beer boxes

Unacceptable Items

* No wax coated cartons are allowed in this bin

Plastics & Metals (Green / Adopted Bin)

* #1-7 Plastic household bottles and jugs emptied and clean.

* Aluminum cans

* Steel and tin food cans

Unacceptable Items

* Wood

* Furniture

* Hoses

* Plastic Pipes

* Plastic bags

* Plastic/wire hangers

* Styrofoam

* Wire

Glass (Green /Adopted Bin)

* Food and beverage bottles and jars of all colors

Unacceptable Items

* Ceramics

* Light bulbs

* Mirrors

* Pyrex

* Window glass

Textiles (Fabric / Clothing / Shoes)

* Clothes — Adult and Children's — Pants, Shirts, T-Shirts, Dresses, Bras, Undergarments, Coats, etc.

* Shoes — Gym Shoes, Boots, Shoes, Socks, Sandals, etc.

* Bedding — Sheets, Blankets, pillow cases, comforters, etc.

* Towels

* Curtains

* Accessories — Purses, Belts, Hats, Backpacks, Gloves, Scarves, etc.

Unacceptable Items

* Mattresses

* Sofas / chairs

* Toys