Do you recycle?
If so, what items do you normally recycle? I have always recycled cans and bottles, but I am really wanting to start recycling any items that are recyclable.
Basically most recycle facilities recycle by number… there is triangle on the container and most places can handle number 1 or 2 plastics. Look for your number “before” you buy so you’ll know that you can recycle.
The whole key minimizing impact is to stop buying single use items. Only buy things that you can recycle or reuse! If your facilities don’t recycle what your store sells, complain to the store and the manufacturer and don’t buy it. Take responsibility for the item from purchase to reuse or recycle.
Checking out your local facility by phone and inquire which recycle numbers that they handle… Also ask about motor oils, special days for small appliances, computers and especially how to handle small batteries and old batteries and tires.
They should have flat box recycle and newspaper, magazine, clear, green etc which you are likely familiar with. It’s very unfortunate that fast food places use Number 5 and such because many places cannot recycle those.
Place large appliances like stoves in the local free-cycles because people make a living collecting scrap metal and you will just make their day with one of these! Let these people take your cans while you are at it since that means less time to recycle facility for you and more for the scrap metal guy!
There may also be a free-cycle outdoor wood burner guy or gal who will take any and all scrap wood to heat his home and water.
Free-cycle as much as you can! Shop at Goodwill for nice long lasting durable items… I just bought a nice percolator (now back in style) for like $3! I added a GE switch to the plug end (for like less than $3) it becomes just like a $50 machine!
Recycle clothes at Goodwill and also buy there, quality stuff… those old styles just keep coming back and no one will be able to buy an outfit like it.. how’s that for fashion!
We go to the recycle place to obtain newspapers and paper FROM the recycle place for our farm. We also grab newspaper coupons which we promptly give away to the local coupon swap.
We have a small farm of quail within the city and our dogs eat just about any and all of the unusable waste from the farm… Quail poop? We use all our leaves for quail bedding which is then composted with other non-edible table scraps.
What goes to the curb at my house and farm is the newspaper that lines the dog shed and the related dog poop conveniently wrapped in the paper bags that the quail feed comes in. I save the string on the bags for craft projects.
Payment for trash pickup in the city is mandatory.
Jars we get from “free” coupon or very cheap offers are used to sell home-made feed or home-made all quail meat dog and cat food to our customers.
We recycle/reuse rain water for the garden and use our personal wash water for first rinse on quail pens and equipment.
Laundry soap containers? I make my own laundry soap in a reusable 5 gallon drywall compound bucket… If I get a coupon for “free” laundry soap, I save the empty container and refill with my own laundry soap to sell to customers inquiring at the farmers market.
Many cans are cleaned and reused to hold feed and depending on what was in it.. water for chickens etc.
Unrecyclable plastic wrap and wax paper, etc can go to our local cheese maker every week at the market who has an outdoor furnace that triple cycles the plastic burn gas until barely anything but water and carbon and heat for hot water comes from the outdoor burner.
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yes I recycle just about everything. Some things can be reused by others so I sell that on or donate it. It saves a lot of money if you recycle some things like printer-ink carrtridges, the more you get the same one refilled the cheaper your annual ink bill is.
I recycle:
Newspapers and cardboard as plant mulch.
other paper I recycle
tins
bottles
clothes
shoes
books
cds
household furniture
I donate old magazines to hospital waiting rooms
donate your old mobile to charity
plastics - mostly I avoid buying them, if I have to I use them and reuse them for years
old carpets I use as plant mulch
branches and scrap wood
metal (worth a bob nowadays ask at your scrap yard)
old glasses are recycled by optician
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The two biggest components of household waste are paper and food/yard waste. If you compost your food/yard waste and recycle or compost your paper, you will reduce your trash by more than half (on average). Remember, composting is just nutrient recycling.
Beyond that, remember to recycle old clothing and fabric. There are usually drop-off bins in your town, or thrift stores will take direct donations. Your donations will help charity, reduce virgin fiber use, and clothe the poor here and abroad.
Also, recycling all electronics is very important. Most electronics contain toxic metals and chemicals, as well as industrially valuable metals like copper and gold.
edit: Sparhawk- do you have any numbers to justify that statement? Without a context of location, material, source, etc., it’s just not true. Steel, copper, and many other metals are far more energy efficient to recycle than to produce new. Depending on the quality of the paper, area of the country, and many other factors, paper can also save many resources.
Yes, glass and plastic recycling may consume more energy to recycle, again depending on the situation.
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