Recycle right, Alachua County: Put proper items in orange and blue bins
Are you a Wishcycler? If you toss items you are unsure about into your orange and blue recycle bins, with the hope that maybe they’re recyclable, then you are a Wishcycler.
Unfortunately, despite your good intentions, you are contributing to the contamination of our recycling program in Alachua County. Plastic bags, foam packaging, garden hoses and clamshell takeout containers are all “contamination” — or items that tangle up our equipment, increase costs and slow down the process for employees who hand sort your recyclables.
Forget the numbers inside the triangle. Follow form and function. When in doubt, throw it out.
Most people know they can recycle paper and cardboard in their orange bin and aluminum cans, steel cans and glass bottles and jars in their blue bin; however, plastics seem to create confusion. Flip over almost anything plastic and you will see a tiny triangle or chasing arrows symbol with a number between 1 and 7 inside of it. These numbers are known as the Resin Identification Code or RIC.
Americans have been trained to believe that triangle or chasing arrows symbol means it’s recyclable. It doesn’t! The RIC is an industry mark that denotes what resin or type of plastic was used to make the item and has little to do with its recyclability. How plastic items are formed or molded (vacuum, injection, blown …), and what chemicals are added during production, will change the melting point of the material and its suitability for remanufacturing.
A soda bottle and a clamshell container can both be made from No. 1 PETE plastic, but only the soda bottle can be recycled. The clamshell container (such as a blueberry container) is a lesser quality plastic with a different melting point than the bottle, so it is considered contamination.
Manufacturers make recycling even more difficult by producing containers or packaging out of any of the seven types of plastic; many may look and feel similar. Sometimes they will use multiple types of plastics in one container which causes even more challenges.
To recycle right, follow form and function when recycling plastic. As a good guideline, if it’s designed to hold liquid and has a pouring spout (soda and water bottles, milk jugs, shampoo bottles, detergent bottles, etc.), put it in your blue bin. Butter tubs and yogurt containers can also be recycled in your blue bin. Just give them all a light rinse and please throw away the caps and lids.
Alachua County’s Material Recovery Facility uses a magnet to pull off the steel cans, an eddy current to sort out the aluminum cans, a glass breaker to divert the glass bottles and jars, and a team of hardworking people to pull out the contamination and sort all the remaining plastic items by hand, as it whizzes by on a conveyor belt. Materials are sorted, baled and shipped to recycling facilities in the United States.
Overall, the best practice is to reduce and reuse before you recycle. Bring reusable bags to the store, takeout containers from home to the restaurant, and your refillable cup or bottle so you don’t buy bottled water when you are out. Shop our many local Farmers Markets for fresh produce that doesn’t come wrapped in plastic.
Refuse single-use plastics like straws or disposable cutlery with your takeout order. Reuse plastic containers for organizing and storing small stuff like craft supplies or extra screws. Take film plastic like grocery bags and clean, dry, foam egg cartons or meat trays back to the grocery store where they have designated bins to collect those hard to recycle items. Return black plastic flower pots back to the nursery or hardware store.
Remember, when in doubt, throw it out, and please don’t be a wishcycler. Go to alachuacountyrecycles.com where you can learn more about how to recycle right, book a free tour of our facility, or a presentation for your group or school.
Alanna Carinio is public education program coordinator at Alachua County Solid Waste and Resource Recovery.
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This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Alanna Carinio: Tips on items that can be recycled in Alachua County
