TIP! You’re recycling wrong.
The first of our daily tips: You’re recycling wrong.
We’re putting out TIPS! that will enhance your life. Have a tip you think Richmonders would love? Let us know!
Pizza boxes, while made out of totally recyclable corrugated cardboard, are definitely not something you should toss into the recycle bin. Like most of the inhabitants of your local elementary school, they’re considered “food-contaminated items”:
Any food left on your containers may attract pests to your recycling bin. Food residue also contaminates the materials and make them unrecyclable.
Who knew, right? In fact, there’s a whole set of things you shouldn’t be recycling:
- plastic bags
- juice boxes or milk cartons
- any plastic that’s not a #1 or a #2 (Whole Foods in Short Pump will accept #5s)
- plastic or metal lids
You can read the full list of banned items over on the Central Virginia Waste Management’s website.
P.S. Make sure you breakdown your cardboard boxes!
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Ross Catrow
Founder and publisher of RVANews.
Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
The flip side to this is the view that people should submit for recycling what they think can and and should be recycled regardless (though do leave food wastes out of it) and corporations that produce this material that is deemed non-recyclable should be forced to deal with it and figure out how to produce recyclable products.