Recycling is amazing but is not easy! We should be mindful of things that are easily recyclable and things that are not. if we put everything in our recycle bag, we would end up doing more harm than good. So even before we get into the details, let’s stop putting all the trash in a single garbage bag. Segregate. Segregate. Segregate. Cannot emphasize this enough!
What is Recyclable?
Plastic containers and packets like Milk/Oil packets, plastic bottles, buckets etc., as shown in the image below, are all recyclable.
What should you keep in mind before beginning to recycle?
- Do not mix your garbage, segregate plastics, paper, metals and glass that can be recycled.
- Clean the milk packets, oil packets and paint buckets, and any other plastic containers that you plan to recycle. Make sure you clean and dry the plastic. Remember one contaminated item can lead to rejection of an entire batch and that would go straight to the landfill.
- Your so-called paper cups are lined with polyethylene and are very difficult to recycle and most vendors would reject them. Again, do not mix them with items that are recyclable.
- Greasy papers and cardboards are not accepted for recycling. Keep them out of your recycle bag else you might be responsible for contaminating a whole batch.
- Bottle caps are usually not accepted for recycling by vendors.
- Plastic bags- Oh how we wish the notorious plastic bag was easily recyclable. They are difficult to recycle because they end up getting stuck in machinery. Check with your vendor before sending it.
What cannot be recycled?
- Metallised poly covers (with one side shiny surface- the ones that are used for biscuits, chips etc) cannot be recycled. To separate the different layers and extract plastic is almost impossible.
- Bottle caps. Yes most recycling plants do not want to recycle the tiny bottle caps that come with the mineral bottle waters etc. Please check with your recycling vendor beforehand.
- Styrofoam:
Recycling Styrofoam(extruded polystyrene (EPS) ) is very difficult and consumes a lot of energy and hence not viable. They are usually contaminated with food and the high density makes storage and transportation difficult. So avoid using paper cups lined with Styrofoam and Styrofoam/EPS packaging.