r/recycling

All shingles are unused, 1 package still in the plastic wrapping, about 2 more of loose shingles. A 5 gallon pail of non-asphalt foundation/roofing tar, the pail is about 1/2 full.

After about 15 years, I started recycling to turn in for cash. I just went to the CRV Only Store to recycle my #1 plastics PET & PETE. I had a mix of bottles and food container plastics. All were #1 PET or PETE. They said the containers are not CRV. They said people get confused because it does say in the triangle 1 but it is not a CRV 1. So they took my bottles but said the others are considered trash. I didn't know. So, that was disappointing. Had (6) 30 gal. bags of those mixed plastics and less then half were bottles. Meaning maybe 2-3 of those bags were refundable. I got $10 for 6.9lbs at $1.46/lb. Not sure if it is worth recycling plastics. I'd have to collect 6-7 of those 30gal bags just for maybe $20-$25? Takes up space. Not sure if it's worth it.

At least it is not as heavy as the 135lbs of glass I took in about a year ago. Only got $35 for that. A lot of weight to haul for $35 bucks and those take up space. Mostly wine bottle size and smaller. That's just not worth it for me. So, those I'll put out for the less fortunate people around here. They'll take them. I'll probably do the same for the plastics.

I mostly recycled cans before, so those you get the best value for. I squash them so I can fit more in the bags.

So, is that true? You can only get a refund for the #1 bottles and not the other #1 plastics?

I just need to rant a bit for some of the dumb things people put in our recycling and organics bins lately that just irk the shit out of me.

1: Ice packs from mail order food vendors. So many people are throwing the whole ice pack in the recycling bin. A majority of them have instructions to cut open and pour the contents down the drain and then recycle the package with plastic bags (which we do not take). I know. Reading is really hard.

2: This new insulation in packaging, made from old rags or shirts or some sort of shredded fabric. It comes In a white plastic bag with no info on it, including no recycling triangle. I'm glad the company is trying to recycle this material even though it will probably end up in the trash anyhow, but they need to put instructions on what to do with it.

3: ARTIFICIAL PLANTS! IN THE ORGANICS BIN?! I run across this too frequently. SMH

4: Any sort of electronics with a lithium battery in it. We have a bunch of places you can take them to dispose of them, but NO, their lazy asses just toss it in the recycling cart because "it's plastic". Little do they realize that if a battery gets ruptured in one of the trucks, that's half a million dollars down the drain when it catches fire.

5: Used pet or bed pads. I recently had to argue with some genius who kept yelling "but it's plastic!" over and over. I got a little frustrated and told him "Yeah, but it's covered in urine and poop!" (Have to watch my language in front of the public).

6: Loose plastic bags, film, and wrappers. Another one of those "but it's plastic" things, but I have to explain to SO many people that when it's loose, it gets all caught up in the belts and gears of our machines and does a significant amount of damage. What's even more annoying is we no longer accept any of this, even if it's properly bundled. For about a year, we had new cart labels that the 1st thing on there was "NO PLASTIC BAGS" with a picture, clearly on there. And I open the cart to find a bunch of loose bags and film. Ugh.

7: Hiding. Trash. On. The. Bottom. Of. The. Cart. I was SO tempted to throw a bag of garbage I found into their driveway the other day. Daily, I find this daily. These morons think "it's ok, if they don't see it, then it will magically will disappear". They don't bother to think that it costs money to dispose of all of that trash and a significant amount of the budget is wasted on cleaning up their mess.

The worst part about all of this is that we have so many ways to dispose of stuff correctly that If you follow the guidelines, you could actually save money on your bill.

OK. That's enough for now. Phew. All I ask is please follow your local recycler's rules and use the program properly.

I am helping organize a community sustainability initiative next month and we want to host a dedicated electronic waste collection day specifically targeted at small local businesses and independent offices in our commercial district. A lot of these smaller shops have old printers and desktop computers gathering dust because they do not know how to dispose of them legally.

We have already partnered with a regional commercial recycling vendor to provide the collection bins and haul the materials away, but we are struggling to figure out the best way to market the event so people actually bring their heavy items down. We want to make the drop off process as frictionless as possible while still ensuring we can track the total volume collected for our community impact report.

If you have ever run a similar corporate green event, what strategies worked best to get participation? Did you offer any sort of small incentive like a digital badge for their website, or did you find that simply providing a free and convenient disposal option was enough to get businesses to clear out their storage closets?

Survey Link

I'm working on a startup about a robot that you can buy to collect trash from oceans and beaches in NSW. For every kilo you of trash you collect and ship to our recycling storage, you get paid a certain amount, and the whole process is turned into a game.

(This is my creative idea and I reserve rights over it please do not try to steal)

Please do the survey, any feedback is much appreciated. Thank you.
Also for the Mods, this is a public submission I think (I am not a government body)

Hi everyone!

So ive been wondering about the bottle recycling process, and this appeared to be the best subreddit to go to. Sorry if it's off-topic!

I was wondering about the glass bottle recycling process. I saw in a movie someone stuffing their trash into a liquor bottle which prompted my question; how do they get everything out of the bottle [especially if it goes in without issue but doesn't go out]? My thinking about this got me interested in the whole recycling process. How does the glass get from one place to another? what do they do with it [as in what areas is recycled glass used]? If the glass is dyed, does it limit its further use?

Really, while my question started off specific, I'm interested in the whole process. Thank you all for your insight!!!

Are there any companies in the USA that don’t charge money to recycle your clothes? I don’t want to donate my stuff to a place that ships it off to Africa to ruin someone else’s country.
But all the fabric recycling companies I find in
Google charge a fortune to ship clothes to them, and there’s no guarantee they’re not just a broke that will just ship clothes off to another company that a just ganna ship it all to African countries anyway.

I was recently told tetra packs are recyclable. I want to recycle them, but am unsure if theres a right way to.

Would someone be able to tell me if I need to remove the plastic screw mechanism that holds the lid down before recycling it?

lowkey help me guys its for a presentation ive been searching for hours and i cant find anything😓

Hey there, if anybody has any unwanted running or not lawn mowers, pressure washers, air compressors, generators, bench grinders, vices, weed wackers, leaf blowers, electronics, anything of that nature taking up unwanted space at the side of there house or garage that your willing to part with please let me know, I can pick em up to try and get running :)