Dear Recycle Lady,
When cleaning out my garage I found several rusty steel cans. Are they still recyclable?
Cleaner Garage
Dear Cleaner Garage,
Yes, your rusted cans can be recycled. The fact that your cans are rusted, identifies them as made of steel so they go into the steel can bin. The best thing to do with any rusted metal is to put it in the recycle bin. When rusty cans are thrown in the trash, they end up in the landfill. Metal does not break down, so it takes decades, and sometimes centuries for it to breakdown into smaller pieces. Regardless of how small the pieces are, they are never absorbed by the soil as metal is neither biodegradable nor compostable. Thus, rusty metal is harmful to the environment. According to osha.gov, metals may build up in biological systems and become a significant health hazard. Aluminum cans don’t rust as they contain no iron.
Dear Recycle Lady,
I purchased a gallon of water in a #1 clear plastic bottle with a white plastic handle and a thin plastic label. The handle was very handy for carrying the bottle, but what about recycling the bottle? Does the plastic handle need to be removed before recycling? What about the thin plastic label?
Plastic Recycler
Dear Plastic Recycler,
The white plastic handle on your bottle needs to be cut off and the cap removed before you put the bottle in the recycle bin for #1 plastics. However, the label can be left on. It will be removed during the recycling process. The bottle’s cap and handle are made of different kinds of plastic fibers, so they go in the trash.
Dear Recycle Lady,
Yesterday I came across the word pre-cycling in a magazine article. How does pre-cycling differ from recycling?
Wondering
Dear Wondering,
Precycling and recycling both reduce waste, but they happen at different points in the life cycle of a product. Pre-cycling means reducing waste before it happens by avoiding products and packaging that will be thrown away or that will be recycled later. It is sometimes called a low-waste lifestyle as it is about making initial choices that will minimize waste or maximize reusable or recyclable materials. For example, it is about choosing items that are that have little or no packaging, have less packaging than other packaging on similar products, or have packaging that is recyclable. It is doing simple things, like taking a reusable bottle of water with you instead of buying a plastic bottle of water, taking bags with you instead of getting new ones at the store, buying only what you need or can use, or using rags instead of paper towels for cleaning. It is repairing or reusing items instead of replacing them with new items. It is choosing durable goods over disposable ones. Ultimately, pre-recycling is making choices that reduce consumer waste and have the smallest possible impact on the environment. Precycling prevents the waste from being created in the first place, while recycling deals with waste after it happens.
Food for Thought: According to https://archive.epa.gov, For every ton of office paper Americans throw away, 17 trees could have been saved, 380 gallons of oil, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 3,000 kilowatts of energy and 7,000 gallons of water could also have been saved. Before you think that is an impossible amount of recycled office paper, consider that the Greenbrier Recycling Center shipped out 22 tons of office paper last week. So, our wonderful Greenbrier recyclers saved 374 trees, 8,360 gallons of oil, 66 cubic yards of landfill space, 66,000 Kilowatts of energy and 154,000 gallons of water. Hurrah for our recyclers!
Have questions about recycling, or interesting information about recycling? Send questions or requests [email protected]. Dear Recycle Lady is sponsored jointly by the Greenbrier Recycling Center and Greenworks Recycling.
