With so many changes in the recycling process, many people are
confused about what to put in the blue bin and what to pass to the
trash. We decipher the recycling rules
n By Kelly Savio Staff Writer
You, like many South Valley residents, may have found yourself in the perplexing position of holding an empty tissue box, wavering between the trash can and the recycling bin. Is it recyclable? Sure it’s made of cardboard, but it’s got plastic on it, too. Or what about the empty margarine tub? The envelopes with their sticky glue strip?
“We take recycling very seriously at our house,” said Diana Wolf Torres of Gilroy. “We recycle any and all papers in the house that can be recycled (including) the cardboard tubes inside toilet paper rolls, plus juice boxes and cereal boxes.”
Torres said she also rinses out and recycles milk containers, cat food tins and aluminum foil.
“There are several reasons to recycle, the first being, of course, that it saves natural resources, whether they be trees or minerals in the earth,” said Phil Couchee, general manager for South Valley Disposal and Recycling. “(Recycling) also saves landfill space, which is a valuable commodity. When that space runs out, we have to ship our trash further and further away, and that gets more and more expensive. Recycling is also energy efficient. It takes less energy to process recycled material than raw material.”
So many changes have happened in the recycling process that when people finally understand what all can go in their recycling bins, many are left wondering what’s left for the trash can, said Mandy Rose, director of integrated waste management for San Benito County.
If you ever find yourself wavering between the trash and recycling bins, call (831) 636-4110 in San Benito County or (408) 842-3358 in South Santa Clara County and get some help. In the meantime, check out these common items and see how much more you can be recycling at home.
Things You May Not Know
Are Recyclable
– Shoe boxes
– Catalogs with staples in them
“With the new processing equipment, staples are removed with magnets, so they don’t create any problems,” said Phil Couchee, general manager of South Valley Disposal & Recycling.
– Envelopes, including those with plastic windows
-Toilet paper and paper towel cardboard rolls
– Facial tissue boxes (empty)
– Food cans (empty and rinsed out)
“It’s important to rinse food particles off things you’re recycling not because of the recycling process, but because of the vermin that will be attracted to the stuff,” Couchee said. “It creates a health problem.”
– Milk and orange juice cartons
– Juice boxes
– Tin foil (rinsed off)
– Pots and pans
– Butter/margarine containers
– Shampoo bottles (rinsed out)
– Paper cups
– Wrapping paper
– Wine bottles
– Grocery store plastic bags
– Plastic water bottles
– Aluminum cans
– Glass bottles
– Newspapers/magazines
– Shredded paper (placed in a paper bag and stapled shut to avoid fly-aways)
– Styrofoam
“Styrofoam is a challenging product: Sometimes we can recycle it when there’s a demand for recycled Styrofoam, other times – like now – we can’t,” Couchee said. “But, we’d rather have people put their clean Styrofoam in the recycling bin so that when the demand does come around again, it’s easy to start recycling it again. We don’t want to have to send notices out every time the Styrofoam market changes.”
n Anything plastic bearing the recycle symbol and a number from 1 to 7
Things You Cannot Recycle
– Sandwich bags
– Bows/ribbons from gifts
“But don’t throw your ribbons away – reuse them on other packages or save them for next year,” said Julie Alter, recycling coordinator for South Valley Disposal & Recycling.
– Large tarps/pool covers
– Plastic furniture
– Some children’s toys
– Toasters
