Now, your heart is most likely in the right place. You no doubt care about the plight of the polar bears and that super scary Texas-size garbage pile in the middle of the Pacific, but when it comes to recycling you are either misinformed or, well, lazy. But today, we at Scene are here to help.
Ask yourself the following questions:
Do you put foil, used or not, in your recycle?
Do you put plastic bags in your recycle?
Do you put used plastic carry-out boxes in your recycle?
Do you put half-full cans of pop in your recycle?
Do you put paper or plastic microwave meal containers (complete with food residue) in your recycle?
Do you put old pizza boxes in your recycle?
Do you put your plastic berry containers in the recycle?
Do you put your red Solo cups in the recycle?
It turns out, none of these things are recyclable. By putting these items and other actual garbage in the recycle bin, people can unwittingly contaminate whole batches of recyclable materials. As Fox 8 terrifyingly reported last month, about 90 percent of the items Clevelanders try to recycle end up going to the garbage dump thanks to rising sorting costs, dwindling buyers and also, yes, incorrectly-placed garbage.
Despite the fact that recycling may all seem pointless right now, the Cuyahoga Country Solid Waste District is still calling on residents to recycle. However, they ask that everyone focus on recycling only the following five core items:
1. Empty and rinsed aluminum cans.
2. Juice/milk cartons that have been rinsed and emptied, with their caps on.
3. Empty and rinsed glass bottles and jars.
4. Flattened and unsoiled paper and boxes.
5. Empty and rinsed plastic bottles and jugs.
Finally, do not place your recycling in a plastic bag and put that in your large recycle bin outside. The garbage bag is not recyclable. Instead, use paper bags or keep everything loose.
It’s hard work doing great things to keep the Earth healthy, but (hopefully) well worth the effort. Find out more about recycling in the Cleveland area right here. Or better yet, watch this ridiculous video below: 
This article appears in Aug 7-13, 2019.
And Up Next… another ma$$ive waste collection fee rate hike by Taxin Jackson, and the rest of the corrupt officials over at City Hall!!!
“Finally, do not place your recycling in a plastic bag and put that in your large recycle bin outside. The garbage bag is not recyclable. Instead, use paper bags or keep everything loose.”
See, this is a perfect example of what’s so frustrating about these broad-brush recycling guides. Statements like this are not true for every community. For example, in Strongsville:
“Combine cans, cartons, glass, paper, boxes and plastic bottles in blue recycling bags or bins and place them at the curb on your regular trash collection day. … Items can also be placed in bins without bagging them.”
I’ve also read elsewhere that one shouldn’t use regular garbage bags for recycling, because the transparent blue bags allow them to see if there are indeed recyclables inside rather than garbage that would contaminate the system.
Years ago I remember reading that we shouldn’t waste water rinsing out bottles and peanut butter jars, because everything would need to be washed at the recycling facility anyway (if nothing else, to remove the labels and glue). More recently we’re told to wash away any food residue. Hell, this article doesn’t even mention removing labels. The lack of consistency is very frustrating.
Haven’t you seen? The city is mixing the recyclables with the regular trash at the transfer station. Who gives them the ticket?
The market has bottomed for recycled waste because China stopped buying it and it’s too expensive to convert here. So pretty much everything you work to recycle ends up in a landfill. That’s just how it is.
If the problem would be solved by everyone focusing on the recycling of only five core items, why the hell is that so damn difficult to accomplish? Are most Clevelanders really THAT dumb? Cheezus Chrysler!
A year ago, I was housesitting in Shaker Heights and watched from my window as the guys picked up the trash, and then dumped the contents of the recycling bin into the same container as the trash bags before driving off. What good is this advice, and making the extra effort, if even one of the most affluent suburbs in the county is just phoning it in at this point?
I like how this article is about Cleveland, but the empty-headed commentariat is like, “But waddabout Strongsville and Shaker Heights?!”
Another money grab, kind of like everything the government does. I pay to throw my garbage out, the city profits off of its sale and I get reprimanded, or told that I’m doing it all wrong. Typical…..
“Despite the fact that recycling may all seem pointless right now, the Cuyahoga Country Solid Waste District is still calling on residents to recycle.”
Video: “Recycling Do’s & Don’ts in Cuyahoga County”
Tags: Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District, recycle, Image
Yeah, you’ve nailed it, takeitto89, this article is only about Cleveland. You win the prize!! And I only gave Strongsville as one example. The rules about what to wash and how to package them has changed over the years in Cleveland too, so my larger point still stands: The inconsistency of recycling guidelines is frustrating and makes it difficult for people trying to do the right thing.
All valid comments above but heres my approach. I go out of my way to buy from establishments that sell in bulk. I have reclaimed particular glass jars and bottles and have a couple sets of small linen draw string bags for my fruits and veggies. Never use plastic shopping bags. Obviously I dont or cant (yet) purchase all items in bulk but I have greatly reduced my amount of recycling materials and am constantly looking for creative ways to improve. Refuse to buy items packaged in convenient to go packaging and find ways to pack your bulk purchased items in reusable containers. It takes a bit of effort and time but its satisfying to be doing what one can to detach from the mainstream ways. Plastics are just one of the environmental contaminants killing us. Plastics become micro plastics (chemicals) in our soil and water and is showing up in our bodys chemistry.