Dear Recycle Lady,
Where do white paper bags recycle? Colored paper bags? Red bags?
Bag Lady
Dear Bag Lady,
White paper bags are recycled with white office paper. However, before putting them in the recycle bin be sure they are not wax-coated or plastic coated, and that they are clean and dry. Check to see there are no receipts left in the bag. Colored paper bags need to pass the same test as some colored papers. Make a tear in it. If the inside of the tear shows white, the bag recycles with white paper. If the bag is colored all the way through, it recycles with magazines. Brown paper bags are recycled with cardboard and red bags are not recyclable. Not only are red, chartreuse, and black bags not recyclable, red, chartreuse, and black paper is not recyclable either.
Dear Recycle Lady,
Should the metal fastener be removed from a brown paper mailer before recycling it with cardboard? My guess is that it should be.
Good Guesser
Dear Good Guesser,
You are correct. Before recycling it with cardboard, the metal prongs should be removed from the back of the envelope. The ring part on the flap of the envelope may or may not need to be removed. If it is metal, remove it. If the hole is just backed with a small piece of paper glued on, removal is not necessary.
Dear Recycle Lady,
Are there any size restrictions on items to be recycled?
Too Large or Too Small
Dear Too Large or Too Small,
Great question. Large items are generally not a problem, but there definitely are size restrictions on small items. As a general rule, don’t recycle anything smaller than a credit card. Small items, such as bottle caps, paper clips, and coffee pods are so small that they can jam the recycling equipment. They become a contaminant. Bottles or cans smaller than 3 inches high are not recyclable for the same reason. Before items are shipped out of the Recycling Center, they go down a conveyor belt and into a machine where they are compacted into a tight bale. It is during this process that small items fall out or fall into parts of the machinery that bring it to a halt. The search is on then to determine the cause or to find the small item that has created a big problem, which is time consuming and wasteful. A Montgomery County, Maryland Recycling Center reported that these small contaminants can shut down machines 10–15 times a day.
Dear Readers,
According to a study published in Nature, human-made materials now outweigh living things for the first time ever. Humans have added approximately 1.1 teratonnes (1.1 teratonnes = 1,212,542,442,016.8 tons) of concrete, metal, plastic, buildings, machines, etc. to the Earth’s biomass. In 2020, Earth was at the crossover point. We have now exceeded it. Please protect our Earth. Recycle everything you can. Reuse what you have. Reduce purchases and waste. Every tiny step will have a big impact over time.
Good News: The Boy Scout/Montwell project has far exceeded all expectations! The Scouts have been collecting plastic film in five locations for less than a month and they now have over 700 of the required 1,000 pounds of plastic film. Thanks to the outpouring of participation from the citizens of the Greenbrier Valley, Montwell Commons will soon have a new eco-friendly, sustainable Trexbench!
Have questions about recycling, or interesting information about recycling? Send questions or requests to grecycle450@gmail.com. Dear Recycle Lady is sponsored jointly by the Greenbrier Recycling Center and Greenworks Recycling.