| What can and cant be recycled
While most companies are striving to make
their products biodegradable, and easier to recycle, it’s a good idea to
know exactly what you can and can’t recycle.
Consider this an easy and hassle free guide to recycling!
To start simply, most plastic containers for things like milk, water and
soft drink will display a small recycling symbol on the bottom, usually
in an infinity symbol in the shape of a triangle, or circle with arrows.
Some companies even proudly display how many times that product you’re
using has been recycled in the middle of the symbol, which is a nice
gesture in terms of encouraging people to help out with recycling and
protecting the planet from too much plastic interfering with its
delicate eco-system.
A good idea before placing your milk bottles in the recycling bin is to
cut the plastic rings that attach the lid to the bottle. In case the
bottles make their way away from the recycling plant, the rings can
easily get caught around a bird’s neck, or
a fish head and inevitably
choke them.
Sometimes rinsing out containers is a cleaner way of recycling, and is
usually suggested as some recycling plants simply do not have time to
clean their waste before turning them into new products. The lack of
cleaning in most cases is linked to high supply and demand from many
companies.
Newspapers, general paper rubbish, and paper bags are easily recyclable.
The recycling process with paper, involves watering down the paper to
its base product, compacting and then drying and cutting to turn the
paper, back into paper again.
However, some magazine print type paper, and laminates can’t be recycled
due to their dye and plastic content.
In case you don’t have time to organize and sort out scrap paper, it’s a
good idea to use paper twice. Maybe if you print out an assignment, or
work document on paper, and it’s not needed anymore, use the other side
as a shopping list, or even as scrap paper for young children to draw
on! This not only makes double use of a piece of paper, but it increases
the life of the paper, and you can still recycle it afterward!
Mobile phones too, are made out of a plastic too harsh to be able to
disintegrate naturally. They contain electronics, and things like
batteries which are hard to destroy without harming the earth. You will
find that most mobile phone companies provide a deposit bin for you to
place your old handset, which will be reused in time.
Printer and toner cartridges can be reused and recycled. Many computer
shops will also have a bin for depositing, or will have a refillable
cartridge service available.
There are many similar items that can be recycled, and surely sooner
rather than later, companies will find new ways to recycle and reuse
their products, without depositing them onto and into the planet and
causing harm to anyone and anything here.
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