How To Recycle
HOW TO RECYCLE
by Ted Sylvester and Andrea Walsh
This article is for people who want to recycle but don't know how.
According to recent surveys of Ann Arbor households by U-M School of Natural Resources research fellow Ray De Young, people in town want to recycle but need help with the simple "how-tos" of recycling practices (The Ann Arbor News April 17, 1989). AGENDA hopes the following information, written with the novice in mind, will inspire you to take that first step - find three boxes and label one "paper," one "glass," and one "metal" - and start filling them instead of your garbage can.
Once these boxes start getting full, perhaps the most important thing to know about recycling is the terrific services available, free of charge, from the Ecology Center of Ann Arbor. One such service, Recycle Ann Arbor, offers city-wide monthly curbside pickups of bundled newspapers, glass, tin cans, aluminum, used motor oil, and car batteries to all residents (consult the map on page 10 to find out which trash day of the month the Recycle truck comes to your neighborhood). The Ecology Center also operates a Recycling Drop-Off Station at 2050 S. Industrial (open Friday and Saturday 9:30 am to 4:30 pm).
O.K. Your three boxes are full. You have the curbside pickup date circled on the calendar. Now the big question is what EXACTLY is recyclable? What can be taken to the curb - or to the Drop-Off Station - and how should it be sorted and prepared? Here are Recycle Ann Arbor's guidelines:
PAPER
Newspaper must be bundled, either placed in a brown paper grocery bag or tied with sturdy string. Newsprint with colored ink (like comics) is acceptable. Newsprint catalogs (like the Washtenaw Community College class schedule) are also acceptable but non-newsprint covers must be removed. The basic rule is that no paper other than newsprint can be mixed in.
The following paper items are NOT acceptable: wet, frozen or yellowed newsprint; junk mail, glossy fliers, and slick magazine-like inserts (they contain clay which is a contaminant); books, magazines, catalogs, and phone books.
Brown paper grocery bags should be flattened and bagged. Shopping bags with handles, plastic bags, and colored paper bags are not acceptable.
Cardboard must be flattened and bundled. Only corrugated cardboard is acceptable - that's the kind with the squiggly stuff in between two layers. Pizza boxes and common brown boxes are good examples. Remove all non-cardboard matter and flatten completely. For curbside pick-up only one 3 ft. by 3 ft. by 6 in. bundle is allowed per household. Larger bundles must be taken to the Drop-Off Station.
The following cardboard items are NOT acceptable: egg cartons (take them to the People's Food Co-op or an egg farmer); grey cardboard (tubes, cereal boxes, gift boxes, single-layer boxes); and waxed, plastic coated, aluminized or glossy cardboard (milk cartons, butter boxes, shoe boxes, detergent boxes).
Office paper is accepted at the Drop-off Station only. To properly recycle this type of paper, set up three boxes and label them "white," "colored," and "computer print -out." White bond includes white photocopy or typing paper and laser print-out paper. Computer paper is the kind with holes at the sides, green bar or white. Colored bond includes colored photocopy paper as well as lined notebook paper (white or yellow), and envelopes (remove plastic window, stamp O.K.) All paper should be free of paper clips, rubber bands, plastic, cardboard backing, carbons and sticky labels.
The following office paper items are NOT acceptable: carbon copy or carbon copy paper (even if it has holes); crayon marked paper and construction paper. Large yellow clasp envelopes and manilla folders should be saved and re-used.
GLASS
Only food/beverage container types of glass are acceptable and must be clean and sorted by color: clear, green, or brown. Pale green glass is green. Blue glass can go with green. Painted glass goes with the color glass underneath the paint. Glass must be clean and the lids removed (lids can go with tin or aluminum, unless they're plastic). Paper labels do not need to be removed.
The following glass items are NOT acceptable: drinking glasses, light bulbs, mirrors or window glass, plate glass, pyrex or cookware glass, glass pie plates or baking pans, vases, ashtrays, ceramic or coated glass. Remove wicker from wine bottles.
METAL
Magnetic Metals include tin/steel cans and are the most common household recyclable metal (test with a refrigerator magnet). Cans must be clean and the paper label removed. Take the tops and bottoms off (they can be recycled too) and flatten. The easiest way to flatten is to lay the can on its side and step on it. The bottoms of some cans (like tuna cans) cannot be removed with a can-opener and will be accepted unflattened. Magnetic jar lids and magnetic pop bottle tops can be mixed in with tin cans. Heavier, thicker metal materials must be separated from tin cans and free of nonmetal materials - no food, no plastic, and no mixed metals.
Aluminum is non magnetic and should be separated from tin. Please separate food packaging aluminum like foil and cans from other scrap curbside pick-up to one piece, no longer than 3 feet. Aluminum pop and beer cans are acceptable. Recycle Ann Arbor will gladly accept donations of 10-cent deposit cans as well. Please keep them separate from non-deposit containers. The following items are NOT acceptable: butter wrappers and potato chip bags.
Scrap Magnetic Metals should be separated and must be under 50 lbs. and 3 ft. by 1 ft. or smaller for curbside pickup (i.e. a flattened trash can is too big and must be taken to the Drop-off Station). All non-metal parts must be removed (no plastic parts, chair webbing, nothing but bare metal). Keep separate from lighter food grade metals.
Other Metals which are acceptable include: Copper (pipes, pans); Brass (pipes, instruments); and Lead (pipes). Please separate different metals from each other (i.e. copper from iron from aluminum).
The following metal items are NOT acceptable: bi-metal cans (steel and aluminum mixture, i.e. tennis ball cans), hangers, white appliances, metal drums, aerosol cans, paint cans, olive-oil metal cans, metal fuel containers, gas tanks, ing material or barbed wire, insulated wire (i.e. plastic coated house wiring material, no cords), and metal banding.
OTHER RECYCLABLES
Motor oil must be in a smaller than 3 gallon leak-proof container and clearly marked for curbside pick-up. It must be fluid (no gunk) and not mixed with water or anything else.
Car Batteries are acceptable for curbside pickup. Household use batteries like the kind used in flashlights and radios are NOT acceptable.
The following miscellaneous items are NOT acceptable: anti-freeze/coolant, brake fluid, vacuum pump oil, transmission fluid, synthetic oils, kerosene, gasoline or fuels of any kind, paint, paint thinner or solvents. Call the Washtenaw County Cooperative Extension, 971-0079 for proper disposal of these items.
TIPS FOR THE BEGINNER
Start small. If nothing else, vow never to throw away another newspaper. Collect them in a box, sort them according to the guidelines above, bag or bundle them and take them to the curb on the right day. It's a start. You might be surprised how good it feels. Work your way up to glass and metal slowly. Begin with after dinner cleanups: soak cans or jars in leftover dishwater (paper labels must be removed from cans but not glass), wipe and rinse them, let dry, and throw them in the box. This washing process ensures against insects infesting your home recycling center.
The next time you're at the grocery store, make sure your food purchases are packaged in recyclable containers. For example, buy ketchup in a glass, not plastic container. Make sure to ask for paper bags, not plastic, at the check-out.
If after reading all of this, you still need more help with the"how-tos" of recycling, cali 665-6398 or visit the Recycling Drop-Off Station and see exactly what can be recycled and how it's done. It's easy and fun once you start!
May 1-7 is Recycle Week. See AGENDA'S Calendar (pages 7-8) for local activities. For more information about recycling practices, or to volunteer to help, cali the Ecology Center of Ann Arbor at 665-6398.
Don't forget: Recycle this newspaper!
Recyclables are collected on your trash day once a month. The map shows how the Ann Arbor area is divided into recycling collection areas. Materials should be placed on the curb by 8 am, 8 to 10 feet away from regular trash and labeled "For Recycle Ann Arbor. " For more information on recycling, call 665-6398.