What do you recycle?

[Telephus44]

I was just reading through the "keep it or toss it" thread and started wondering - what do you recycle? A lot of what I choose to recycle or not depends on whether recycling facilities exist in my area, how convenient they are to get to, and what I personally buy. Here's my list:

1. Soda and beer bottles and cans - in MA they're worth $.05 each and the machines to recycle them are at the liquor store and in the grocery stores.
2. Paper - I bring these into work and put them in our recycling bins. I figure since the company gets paid for the paper, that it's not ethically wrong to bring mine in (whereas I wouldn't bring my trash in, becuase the company pays to have the trash taken away).
3. Ink Cartridges - I think Staples pays $3, and usually there's some organization around that is collecting them for a fundraiser.

Honestly, that's about it for us. (I'm not including re-purposing kinds of recycling - like using empty peanut butter jars to hold pencils, or using old clothes as rags). I'd like to recycle more plastic and glass, but I'd have to keep them in separate containers, wash them, and drive them to a spot about 30 minutes away. Since I'm in a small apartment and working full-time with a small child, I value having my time and space more than recycling. I do have a newspaper subscription, but it's only on Saturdays and I don't know what recycling facilities exist around me for newspaper.

I'm just wondering because I've been reading about some places that will pay you to recycle shopping bags, or for scrap metal. And I'm wondering how many of you have trash services that will also pick up separate recycling. I wish we did - all we have is dumpsters out back, so if we want to recycle anything we have to take it somewhere.

[Dancing Lotus]

The newspaper, and all glass and plastic bottels. Thats it for me.

Tin cans, I forgot the tin cans!

[monkeywrangler71]

We recycle all paper/paperboard/cardboard, plastic containers and bottles, glass jars and bottles, tin cans, pop cans, milk/juice cartons, aerosol cans, and metal paint cans. We also have composting for all food waste, soiled paper, paper fibre trays (egg cartons etc), and yard waste.

Everything is picked up weekly by the city.

Recycling isn't a choice here, it is mandatory.

[Missy]

soda cans that's it. my newspapers get used in bird cages and i reuse my boxes to mail things out.

[geckoace]

all paper/ cardboar, cans, bottle, plastic that the city will take and glass. the city takes yard debris for mulching, but Dh usullly mulches ours and we use it here. i would like to get compost going, but i have to be a little more organized for Dh to be on board

[cheriede]

Recycling is included in with our trash service. They only take certain things and I do make it a point to recycle all of those things. Here are some of the things that I recycle:

Plastics with 1 and 2 on the container
glass
cans
newspapers
phonebooks
boxes
Ink cartridges-drop off at Staples

[Jeannee]

soda cans
water (where possible)
aluminun foil
scraps either for compost or for dog to eat

[pkellyc]

Plastic, all cans, glass, and paper.
We compost all yard waste. Chemical waste gets dropped off for city to dispose of.

[Neeley]

Where we live the water/trash/recycle are all in one. Everyone must have city water service which includes the trash/recycle service too. We are provided each week with a new recycle bag when we leave one to be picked up. The city only accepts newspapers, clean glass jars, aluminum cans and plastic marked for recycling.

I am sure there is at least one private company somewhere around here who pays people for their cans or whatever. But I would not know what they take or anything about them. I just let the city have whatever recycles make it in the bag each week, otherwise everything else gets trashed.

[YankeeMom]

We recycle quite a bit. Our city offers free recycling pick up, but charges for trash...so the choice is easy. Recycle more (for free) and make less trash.

~corrugated cardboard
~glass containers (mayo & jelly jars, etc)
~plastic containers (butter tubs, milk jugs, etc)
~all paper
~all metal cans
~soda/beer cans/bottles. They are worth 5c each here too. Well, we pay 5c when we buy them so turning them in we get our 5c each back.

[acidcookie]

I recycle everything I can. Newspaper, magazines, catalogs, printer paper, junk mail, plastic bottles (including bottles from shampoo, contact solution, and so on), glass bottles & jars, all cans, and even clean aluminum foil. In Oregon you could also recycle paperboard, such as from cereal boxes, but they won't take that here in Central PA.

I drop off my ink cartridges and rechargeable batteries where I can, and I also try to find electronics recycling centers for my busted electronics.

I also re-use all packing material such as bubble wrap, peanuts, boxes, and padded envelopes.

Not creating trash is very important to me, so I try to think of a better place for everything that's about to go in the trash, and I also try to minimize the packaging I purchase in the first place.

[claimsgirl66]

My town has good recycling program, had the dumpsters around town that you can drop off items. I recycle:
soda cans/bottles
junk mail/phone books/magazines
paper/paperboard/cardboard
plastics ( shampoo or other similar type with #2 on bottom)

I usually generate one bag of trash per week, alot less then I did a few years ago.

[persimmons]

Here is my county's recycle list:

FIBER MATERIALS

PAPER

* White or mixed office paper, computer paper, file folders and manila and regular envelopes, mail items, junk mail, brown paper grocery bags, telephone books, and magazines/catalogs
* Food-free pizza boxes, paperboard, cereal and gift boxes
* Newspapers with slick advertising inserts
* Flattened cardboard pieces no larger than approximately 2 ft x 2 ft
* NO bound catalogs over 1 inch thick or glued bindings - NO plastic or foil backed paper
* NO soiled or wax-coated cardboard like frozen food boxes and milk/juice cartons
* NO wrapping paper

CO-MINGLED MATERIALS

GLASS

* Food and drink bottles and jars (clear, brown, green, blue) - remove lids and rinse. Leave labels on
* NO window glass, mirrors, light bulbs, drinking glasses/mugs, oven/cooking glassware, pottery

METAL & ALUMINUM

* Steel “tin” cans such as soup, vegetable or pet food (rinse and put lids inside), empty aerosol cans (remove plastic lids)
* Clean used aluminum foil, disposable roasting, pie and cake pans, beverage cans and clean aluminum food containers (flatten to save space if possible)
* NO pots, pans, coat hangers, or paint cans
* NO medical waste such as needles

PLASTIC

* Household containers such as milk jugs, cups, squeeze bottles, clear food packaging, soft drink, laundry and dishwashing detergent, margarine and whipped topping tubs, bottles and jars marked #1 thru #7 with the recycling symbol are accepted in the program. SOME ITEMS MARKED ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE AND ARE NOTED BELOW. Clean thoroughly and leave labels and lids on. Flatten to save space if possible.
* NO medical waste such as syringes
* NO motor oil or antifreeze jugs, plastic bags or buckets, pumps or sprayers, paint containers or plastic cutlery
* NO plastic or styrofoam packing material such as peanuts or rigid. Styrofoam cups, plates and food containers are also NOT accepted. (See below for styrofoam recycling.)

BATTERIES

* Household batteries, such as sizes AAA, AA, C & D are accepted at all staffed recycling locations and the Household Hazardous Waste site (HAZBIN) only.
* Household batteries are not accepted in the curbside or unstaffed drop-off programs.

EXCEPTIONS: The following items can be recycled ONLY at the STAFFED Recycling Locations.

Antifreeze - No containers larger than 5 gallons
Motor Oil - No containers larger than 5 gallons
Oil Filters
Automobile, Boat and Motorcycle, and Household Batteries
Cardboard - Any size
Inkjet and Laser Toner Cartridges

BTW, there is also a dropoff for styrofoam and polystyrene but not for packing peanuts. If packing peanuts are clean and bagged, I've found several local shippers who will accept them for reuse in shipping.

[persimmons]

BTW, I forgot to mention the e-scrap recycling. They take the following (but do charge a small fee for businesses):

Acceptable items for the CyberCycle program include computers, scanners, printers, monitors, tape and disk drives, electronic game systems, VCRs, TVs, CD players, digital cameras, copiers, cell phones, CD's and floppy disks. Commercial-sized copiers, servers and printers will be considered as business equipment and charged accordingly.