- And if you do buy mixed materials
try to remove the mixed material
to ensure that it's gonna get recycled.
So now this has a much greater chance
of being recycled because it's not
a mixed a material anymore,
we've separated the materials.
[Upbeat Jazz Music]
- Hi, I'm Auri.
- And I'm Jessica from Adventures in Waste.
- And we're here to tell you 10 ways
that you've been recycling wrong.
[Upbeat Jazz Music]
The first tip is to try to reduce
your plastic to begin with.
Because since the creation of plastic
only 9% has actually been recycled.
- [Jessica] Ya, and even if we were able to recycle
all of it, most of it is not getting recycled.
There's just way to much of it to begin with.
So if all the infrastructure was in place
we're creating way too much.
So we need to create less of it
and reuse as much as possible,
so we don't have to try to recycle it.
[Upbeat Jazz Music]
Tip number two, don't rely on bioplastics,
those things look like plastic but
they're made out of plants and say that
they're compostable to replace plastics.
A lot of places aren't actually able
to compost this in the existing infrastructure.
If you put them in your green container
it's probably not to go to high heat facility to breakdown.
And a lot of those high heat facilities
don't want them in the first place
because it takes to long for them to
actually breakdown in those high heat facilities.
So, some people are like, "oh I'm gonna switch
over to a bioplastic compostable cup,
because if it gets into the ocean
it's not plastic and it will breakdown".
But it needs heat to breakdown.
So if it gets into the ocean then it's not gonna breakdown.
- Just have a reusable option instead,
that's always the better choice.
[Upbeat Jazz Music]
So many plastics have a RIC code on the bottom
which is the chasing arrow symbol at the bottom,
and it's numbered one through seven.
But you can check with your city or waste hauler
to see what plastics they actually accept.
Because even though there's a
chasing arrow recycle symbol on something,
doesn't mean your city actually accepts it to be recycled.
- Ya and just because there's a chasing arrows on it,
say it's just anywhere on the package.
There's no regulation that says
you can't just slap a recycle sign on something.
If you slap it on there, and
then say the thing is recyclable
the Federal Trade Commission says you have to
say what part of its recyclable,
where it's recyclable that sort of thing.
But really just because it has a recycle sign on it
or chasing arrows, doesn't really
- Anyone can put that on anything.
[Upbeat Jazz Music]
- Tip four, clean out your plastics.
Some places will say they need it spotless.
Some cities will say that can take
a little tiny bit of contamination.
If you have an item that is recyclable in your city,
make sure that there's no food in it.
No food, no liquids allowed.
- For example if you have peanut butter container,
and you don't clean out the peanut butter
that container is probably not gonna get recycled
because it's a contaminate.
- A contaminate is anything that
makes a product non recyclable.
It could be food, it could be mixed materials,
it could be other materials stuck to it
that weren't supposed to be in it.
But something that makes the value
of that product, it's a recyclable value lessen.
[Upbeat Jazz Music]
- Tip number five, don't stuff items into other items.
So if you have a beer bottle,
if you stuff a lime wedge into the beer bottle
chances are that bottle won't get recycled now
because it's considered a contaminate.
- And here with the plastic bottles
sometimes it's fun, we take the labels off,
and we shove the label in and maybe there's
something else we shove that in there.
ande think, "oh that will still get recycled
it's a water bottle".
But all that stuff is not the same
chemical resin as the bottle.
So it's seen as a contaminate.
And with the glass maybe it will break
and they recycle it, the glass when it's broken.
And they might be able to get out that lime
or whatever you've put in there.
But truthfully if you want to keep it valuable
don't put anything inside of it that you can't remove.
[Upbeat Jazz Music]
Tip number six, don't put electronics
and batteries, and cords, and all that sorta thing
in your recycling or your trash.
Because these have hazardous material in them.
The issue with batteries is that they can actually explode.
So if they go into a truck, the trash truck picks it up.
The truck is compressing the material on a consistent basis,
and it can actually cause truck fires.
However, it's good to go on to your city website,
and find where you can drop off this material
if they have events where you can drop it off.
If there are drop off locations,
maybe there's an electronics store
that you can, or home improvement store
where you can drop off some of these items.
And then also with the cords,
if the go into the recycling,
it's called the materials recovery facility
or the recycling facility,
it is like bells and whistles and just mechanics galore.
And this stuff just gets wrapped up into that system
and they have to stop everything and pull it out.
So we definitely don't want this in any of our waste streams
[Upbeat Jazz Music]
- Tip number seven, when you're at the store
deciding what products you're gonna buy
try to avoid products that have mixed materials.
And by mixed materials we mean things
that have mutiple materials in the packaging.
For example, this is aluminum
but then it's covered with like this plastic sleeve.
So that makes it a contaminate
and it's not gonna get recycled.
And if you do buy a mixed materials
try to remove the mixed material
to ensure that it's gonna get recycled.
So now this has a much greater chance of being recycled
because it's not a mixed material anymore,
we've separated the materials.
- If it's imprinted on here they're expecting
the ink to be maybe a 5% contamination,
the people who actually recycle the cans.
And now with the sleeve on here
it becomes maybe a 20 or 30% contamination,
and it reduces the value of this product.
Then you have products like maybe a water bottle,
or sometimes alternative milks.
Will have a sleeve that goes, on their plastic packaging,
a sleeve that goes all the way down.
This sleeve is a different type of plastic
then the actually bottle.
And so it's hard to read that this is a
number one water bottle, pull it off the line.
It's another layer of contamination,
and they have to take that into consideration.
- And also remember recycling is an industry.
And if you can't make money off the recycling
it's not gonna get recycled, no ones gonna buy it.
So this makes a product less valuable,
and so the chances of it not being recycled increase.
[Upbeat Jazz Music]
- Tip number eight, try to buy bulk as much as possible,
because a lot of the times the packaging
that items are coming in potentially is non recyclable.
If it's not available in the bulk section
maybe buy in a package that is larger than
buying it in smaller little packages.
Because here's the hint, if it crinkles,
[Crinkling Bag]
makes this sound.
It is probably a mixed material.
And we need to minimize our consumption
of it as much as possible.
- Cause this is basically would go to landfill.
- Ya, it's gonna go to landfill.
- Like you wouldn't put this in recycling.
[Upbeat Jazz Music]
Tip number nine, try to opt for reusable rags and wipes.
Because these wipes are not recyclable,
and often they can damage pluming.
Flushable wipes aren't actually flushable,
and they've caused millions of dollars of damage
in many city sewer systems.
- Don't put them anywhere except the landfill container.
There other thing is that, don't compost them either.
This one in particular has chemicals on it.
It also is, the way that it's durable is
oh I can't even tear it.
Ya and you can see it,
there's total plastic fibers in here.
Definitely don't put it in organics container.
Don't compost it at home because there's plastic in these.
And then even with the facial tissues sometimes
they have plastic sometimes they don't.
But if they're really really soft,
and like have that oily texture to them.
There's chemicals and potentially plastic in them as well.
So, these.
[Upbeat Jazz Music]
Tip number 10, vote.
Vote for what it is that you want.
If there are politicians who are
working on plastics legislation, vote for them.
When there are pieces of legislation coming up
in your city or in your state, vote for it.
Because you can be a coconscious consumer, and you can
reduce waste as much as possible in your own house.
But in order for us to make a larger difference,
we gotta make sure that everyone's behind it
and that there is legislation and political pull
to make sure that reduction actually happens.
- I'm Auri.
- And I am Jessica.
- And those were 10 ways that you're recycling wrong,
and you know, not wrong, just like how you can do better.
[Upbeat Music]