In modern’s society, different types of waste can be very harmful to the planet. This means reducing, recycling, and reusing waste products is vital. However, regardless of many individuals and businesses doing their part to minimize environmental dangers, there are some things, which you may not recycle or reuse.
According to recent recycling trends, you can recycle around 80% of the things people throw away. What about the remaining 20%. As vital as it is to focus on recyclable materials, getting enlightened about non-recyclables is important. Some of these non-recyclable materials include:
- Oil or Grease-Soaked Cardboard
That yummy or gooey pizza you enjoyed last night usually comes in recyclable cardboard boxes. However, if the boxes are too contaminated or greasy with food waste, like cheese, you will not be able to recycle them.
This is because food particles and grease may destroy the recycling equipment and contaminate other waste materials in the landfill. Crumbs and a little oil are fine, though if the boxes are saturated with cheese, be sure to consider WM Waste skip bin hire or composting container.
- Film, Polystyrene, and Plastic Bags
While it is easy to recycle plastic pots, trays, and tubs, it is difficult to reprocess other plastics, including film, polystyrene, and plastic bags.
These products are made of various forms of trays, plastic bottles, tubs, and pots. Currently, it is challenging to recycle these items because the materials recovery facilities cannot sort them.
- Aerosol Cans
Whether they have non-hazardous liquids, such as spray paint or whipped cream, you should recycle aerosol cans. This is primarily because of the pressurized air inside the cans.
However, some states or cities might have the capabilities to recycle these cans, so ensure you confirm this with the local programs. Chances are, your local community may require the cans to go into separate disposal or recycle with other metal cans.
- Toothpaste or Squeezable Tubes
Sun cream, toothpaste, and other squeezable tubes are hard to recycle since they combine various materials. Toothpaste tubes may have a thin layer of aluminum and different forms of plastics, making it difficult for machines to process and separate them.
Though Colgate partnered with Terracycle, a company which molds things into new products, like park benches, to provide a recycling scheme for toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes. This means individuals may recycle packaging in more than 3000 locations across the globe.
- Receipts
Receipts are normally printed on thermal paper, which has BPA that resists decomposition. This makes receipts not compostable or recyclable.
If your receipts end up in a recycling facility, they may contaminate the entire batch of recycled papers or could end up in products, including shopping bags, toilet papers, paper food storage, and paper napkins.
- Ceramics
You can recycle chipped dishes and old coffee mugs because damaged heat-treated glasses are not safe to reuse.
Unfortunately, you will need to toss the items in the bin or change them into containers to grow flowers or your preferred plants.
It might be tempting when you are unsure whether something is recyclable or can be put in a recycling bin, hoping that you will find a way to reuse it.
In order to keep your recycling systems healthy, it is vital to leave some items out of the recycling. This is because non-recyclable items may put recycling facility employees in danger or at risk.
