Recycling Mistakes You Never Knew You Were Making

While it may have taken a bit of time, curbside recycling has finally become a “thing” in American households. Whether people were persuaded to start recycling to avoid receiving a fine from their local government or because they truly care about the environment, the increase in recycling by U.S. households is a great thing when done “right.”Take a look at our short video to see some common mistakes homeowners make when recycling:

Many homeowners are unaware of the fact that there is a right and wrong way to recycle. One common mistake people make when recycling is misidentifying their trash as a recyclable product. While it may be hard to admit, most people don’t know the difference been trash and a truly recyclable product.

To help you better understand the difference between trash and recyclables, let’s take a closer look at three things you probably never knew you were not recyclable:

Disposable Cups

Your disposable coffee cup is made of 100% paper, right? If you did a bit of research on your standard disposable coffee cup, you’d find that most are made with a fine layer of polyethylene. Polyethylene is what makes your coffee cup, but it’s also what makes it unrecyclable. Since it’s hard to separate the materials that make up disposable coffee cups, most waste management facilities will throw them in the trash pile.

Pizza Boxes

You may be surprised to find that pizza boxes can be a non-recyclable product. While most pizza boxes are made of cardboard that can be recycled, the problem with recycling them lays with the pizza they store. Pizza can be a very greasy food and the grease produced by pizza acts as a contaminant when it comes to recycling. If your pizza box is soaked with grease, then it’s best left for the trash can, but if one side of your box is slightly greasy or completely grease-free, it’s good to go in the recycling bin.

Yogurt Cups

China’s ban on plastic has proven to be a gift and a curse. While it’s great that China will be using less plastic, it’s not so great that many cities in the United States no longer accept plastics numbered 3 to 7. Everyday household items that fall under these categories include products such as yogurt cups, butter containers, and cooking oil bottles. Without China, many waste management companies have found that this is very little demand for these types of plastic and it’s more expensive to get rid of.

As Bucks County’s leading waste management company, we feel that it is important to educate the public on proper recycling techniques. If you have any questions about what products we can or can’t recycle, feel free to reach out to us at any time.

To request waste management and recycling service in Mercer County or Bucks County, contact us to at 609-934-1840.