Are you worried that you are recycling the wrong products? Do you want to make sure that you do not contaminate your entire recycling bin? Many people do not know that when they throw the wrong items in their recycling bin, they could contaminate everything else in the bin. This means that all of your efforts are actually wasted, as the contents of the bin will end up in the landfill anyways. To ensure that you practice proper plastic, glass, and cardboard recycling in New Jersey, you should avoid putting these items in your recycling bin.
You should always avoid recycling beauty products. Often times, beauty products will still have some of the product residue inside the container. This means that they are contaminated for recycling purposes. Instead, you should just take these products to hazardous waste removal facilities so that you can properly dispose of them.
While you may think that the lids of your jars and plastic containers are also recyclable, they are often not. These lids are often made from a mix of plastics, which makes them difficult to recycle. Instead, you should get in the habit of removing the lids and throwing them away. Then, you can still recycle the rest of the clean container.
You should always clean out your food items before you throw them in your recycling bin. When you put a pizza box, sauce jar, or jelly jar in your recycling center, you need to ensure that it has absolutely no food residue left. If it contains any food or grease stains, it will contaminate the entire contents of your bin.
You may think that you can just throw your batteries in the blue recycling bin with the rest of your stuff, but you should not. Rechargeable batteries can actually spark fires if they are sitting close to cardboard or paper items. To properly recycle batteries, you should keep them in a Ziploc bag until you have time to go to a proper recycling facility or store that has a specific receptacle just for batteries. Typically, you can find these bins at hardware stores or super stores, like Walmart and Target.
Many people assume that because hangers are made from metal and plastic, you can throw them in your recycling bin. However, you should avoid this. Metal hangers, while easier to recycle, should be taken to a metal scraping yard first. Plastic hangers, however, are made from a mix of different types of plastics, which makes them difficult to recycle properly. Instead, you should take them to local thrift stores to see if they have any use for these.
These are some of the most common items that often end up in recycling bins but should not. If you ever wonder whether an item can be safely recycled, you should contact your local recycling center. When you have questions about plastic, glass, or cardboard recycling in New Jersey, contact All County Recycling today.
