The following article was submitted by Katy Rettenmier, WM’s recycling education and outreach coordinator. For tips on recycling and waste reduction, visit the WM website at wmnorthwest.com/newcastle.
Pictured: WM summer interns and staff are familiar friendly faces at Newcastle’s summer events, where they help community members better understand recycling options.
Whether from a relative, friend or co-worker, many of us have heard conflicting information about recycling. With so much passion and discussion around the topic, myths often spread and create confusion about recycling.
What to do? Let’s bust those myths. Just as you sort your cans, bottles and paper, it’s also important to separate recycling myths from facts.
Like this one: When you see the chasing arrows symbol on a product, you can throw it in your curbside recycling cart.
This is a myth. The chasing arrows do not determine whether a product is locally recyclable. Please, ignore the chasing arrows! Instead, the trick with recycling plastics is to focus on the shape. Plastics in the shapes of bottles, jugs and tubs can all go in your recycling. Repeat after me: “Bottles. Jugs. Tubs.” This the mantra for recycling plastics in your curbside cart!
Next myth: With so much focus on sustainability these days, we are recycling and composting as much as we can.
The truth is, there’s still a big opportunity to keep recyclables and compostables out of the landfill. We are still throwing away significant amounts of paper and food. You can do your part by always recycling clean paper and following WM’s food waste reduction tips.
There’s also a misconception about what happens after the garbage truck driver empties your curbside cart. Some people think someone sorts the garbage and pulls out the recyclables. This is not the case. The fact is that the material in your garbage cart goes to the landfill. To ensure recyclable materials can be made into new products, always separate recyclables from garbage.
Finally, our last recycling myth (for now): Rinsing and transporting recyclables to be made into new materials wastes more energy than recycling saves.
Not true! There are a lot of natural resources that go into making new products. Using recyclables instead of virgin resources to make products significantly reduces the impact on our planet. Keep recycling! You are, without a doubt, making the sustainable choice.
Next time the recycling topic comes up at work or a family gathering, you can now step in as a recycling myth buster. You can help spread recycling facts every day by printing your local recycling guide from the WM website - wmnorthwest.com - to post at home and work.