Let's Recycle Right!
Learn some basics and do it correctly
If you deposit your recyclable items at the Kingwood Metro lot, you may have seen the new sign by the bins that says “Let’s Recycle Right”. You probably have heard that commodity prices are way down from a year or so ago. The good news is that gasoline is a commodity and we are paying way less than a couple years ago. The bad news is that recycling revenue, what they City gets when they sell the recycled items, is also way down. While the City Solid Waste Department is subsidized by tax dollars, they do rely on the sale of these items to pay for the service. We don’t want the service to stop, so here is what we can all do:
Do not mix or contaminate items in a bin. Plastic means plastic and not a whole bag full of mixed items. The plastic bag itself is a real problem if thrown into the bin. Machinery and technology is used to sort items. The plastic bags get stuck in the sorting machines and may cause the whole operation to be shut down while the “film plastic” is untangled. The technology is useless, too, if different items are mixed inside the bag.
Cardboard is one of the most valuable products if recycled properly. That means it must be flattened before being put into the bin. It costs lots of money to transport a full bin to the recycling plant. If cardboard is flattened, it takes much less space and the bin can hold two or three times as much product. Again, do not contaminate by leaving plastic or Styrofoam packing materials in the box.
We all want to recycle as much as we possibly can. Watch for the delta (triangle) sign on plastics and make sure you only recycle plastic that has the number 1 thru 5 & 7 on it. If there is no symbol, it should not be put in the bin. If you see a number 6 that indicates polystyrene (Styrofoam) which is also not accepted. Putting items in the bin that are not wanted causes the resulting bale of plastic to be worth less.
These simple steps will make our recyclables worth more and help to retain this free service from the City of Houston. If you are lucky enough to have curbside recycling, the same rules apply. While most private trash services charge a small fee for recycling, they still depend on selling the commodities to help offset the extra cost of the extra truck and crew that comes around to pick up the recyclables. While you can mix items in the same bin, the film plastic should never be recycled at curbside. All grocery stores, WalMart, Target, Lowes and Home Depot have containers at the front of their stores for any kind of plastic film and bags.
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