My husband and I live in the county and we have this good-natured, but ongoing debate over what does and does not go in the recycling bin. Ha! Ha! I now have in my hand a DOCUMENT from Allied Waste that arrived over the weekend. So, I can tape this baby to the actual can and point to the list as if it were the civil code.
I think he puts way too many things in there, and he thinks I don't put enough in. Now we'll know for sure. After all, we wouldn't want to contaminate our bins. In this newsletter, there is a warning that anyone caught with trash in the recycling or green waste bin will be fined $10. I say it's better to be safe than risk contaminating an entire truckload of recyclables. This recycling business is not as easy as it looks. We debated last night over the chicken. For example, we bought a rotisserie chicken at the store. I said no because it's a glorified disposable plate. He said yes because it's plastic. Actually, we were both right. The top is clear plastic marked No. 6 so it can go in with the recyclables, and the bottom is black plastic marked No. 13, so it cannot. (How dopey is that? Packagers, are you listening?)
Here's the list of unacceptables: candy wrappers/bags; paper towels; tissues; toilet paper; foil wrap with food inside; cartons/bottles with liquid; formed Styrofoam; plastic bubble wrap; plastic wraps; disposable plates, cups, utensils; disposable diapers and wipes; plastic hampers, baskets and crates; plastic or rubber hoses; medical waste; motor oil, antifreeze or liquid filled containers; foul materials of any sort; kitchen dishes, glasses or flatware; mirrors; ribbons, bows, tape; rubber bands, plastic or rubber toys; cat litter; and textiles.
Acceptables: paper, including mixed, office, computer, colored, poster, construction, kraft; envelopes, brown bags. Chipboard boxes like cereal, cake mixes, rice, shoe, egg cartons of chipboard; paperboard, writing pad backings; paper towel and toilet paper cores. Magazines and junk mail are fine; catalogs and phone books; aseptic packaging like milk, soy and juice cartons; frozen food boxes and fabric softener boxes; corrgated cardboard up to 3 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet. Plastics numbered 1-7 with jars, bottles and plastic bags; glass jars and bottles; cans of aluminum, tin and steel.
It doesn't say if you have to rinse out all your cans and bottles, but most places on the Web say yes. It's also necessary to empty out all the liquid from the bottles.
The newsletter also gave us the good news that an annual cleanup day in the area. That's cool, we haven't had that before and we always envied our city neighbors who did. The letter also put the holiday schedule in writing. Been waiting for that for awhile. It's a good system -- when the holiday falls on a weekday, our service day gets pushed back a day. People in our neighborhod always seem confused on holidays. And you know how that goes. If you're not sure, you look out to see what everyone else is doing. Usually, we're all wrong and the trash sits outside for two days.
That's interesting; in the office we had the same debate. Interestingly, both the pamphlet the city provides and the City of Fresno website say:
Blue Cart
Recycling
Acceptable Materials
(...)
* ALL plastic (except styrofoam)
So that's what I use when deciding. I do wonder why Allied Waste's list is narrower than the city's-- but your report helps explain why some of my office mates were insisting that only certain plastics were recyclable.