In July, we reviewed curbside recycling guidelines in a Green Tip. Everything in our curbside
recycling bin gets trucked to a huge Waste Management Materials Reprocessing Center in Salt
Lake, where it is dumped onto the tipping floor with tons of other recyclables and non-recyclable. contaminants. So begins its journey through a sophisticated network of conveyor belts and increasingly precise sorting machines until the different recyclable streams are pure, and can be compacted and baled to be shipped to factories and paper mills to make new products.

To make sure your curbside recycling stream is clean, follow these clarifications from Waste
Management and Republic Services. No waxy-coated paper take-out cups. No wax paper,
butcher or freezer paper. The waxy waterproofing is extremely difficult to extract from the paper pulping process and can ruin batches of paper at the mills. Recycle clean take-out plastic cups with their lids on. Coated cardboard milk or juice cartons are accepted.
Do not put anything smaller than a credit card in your bin. These items tend to fall through
screens and be improperly sorted. This is why lids need to be put on clean, dry containers. This also means no shredded paper. If you shred paper, it must be secured in a paper bag before it can go into the bin. Alternatively, use the paper shredder at Recycle Utah. All loose shredded paper needs to be put in their shredded paper dumpster there.

Hard plastics like plastic toys, household items, shelves, flower pots are not recyclable. Clean
balled-up (larger than credit card) aluminum foil is okay. No metal strapping or other metal
items. Tear off greasy parts of pizza boxes. No wet paper or cardboard. If a recycling bin
becomes uncovered during inclement weather and collects water or snow in it, it must
be emptied and dried.

Obviously, we play a crucial role in this planet-saving process. Successful recycling to
you!

By Bev Harrison