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Green Thought Thursday is a regular feature all about the baby steps we can take to protect our Mother Earth.
I can’t tell you how many Post-it Notes I’ve picked out of recycling bins. Hundreds, at least. And no, it’s not because I have some weird obsession with them (though, we do love them at Clairemont). It’s because in the city of Raleigh and everywhere else, you cannot recycle them.
Really.
I think you’d be surprised to learn what you can and cannot recycle here in Raleigh — I know I was. And that’s why I wanted to dedicate this Green Thought Thursday to listing those things out. According to the Raleigh Recycling Division, you can recycle the following:
- Newspapers and inserts
- White and colored paper (that’s not too bright)
- Open junk mail
- Old phone books
- Magazines and catalogs
- Paperboard, chipboard, SBS board and tubes (think cereal boxes, paper towel rolls, shipping tubes, etc.)
- Corrugated cardboard
- Glass bottles and containers
- Plastic items (coded No. 1-5 and No. 7)
- Plastic bottles with a neck (soda bottles, peanut butter jars, laundry detergant bottles)
- Gable-top cartons (milk cartons and the like)
- Juice boxes
- Aluminum foil and food trays (that are clean!)
- Plastic beverage rings
- Cans, of course!
Things you cannot recycle:
- Post-it Notes (and other paper with adhesive backing)
- Bold- or neon-colored paper
- Paper with staples
- Checkbooks or books
- Carbon paper
- Napkins, tissues or paper towels
- Plastic bags
- Boxes with wax coatings
- Aerosol cans
- Auto batteries
- Containers that once contained hazardous materials (like fertilizers, auto fluids, etc.)
- Egg cartons
- Non-food cans and non-food glass containers
- Pizza boxes
- Frozen food trays
- Containers made of thin, brittle plastic (these can really mess up the sorting process)
For a more complete list, visit the Raleigh Recyling Division’s website by clicking here. The site also does a great job of listing out alternative drop-off locations for your unwanted items so that they won’t end up in a landfill. A final thought from our friends there: “You can help recycling markets by buying products MADE from recycled materials. We have to close the loop, BUY RECYCLED!”
What are some of your favorite post-consumer recycled products? We sure do love our Staples recycled copy paper (and we don’t even mind paying a little extra for it)!
It still pains me to have to trash colored paper (especially Post-It-Notes!), Solo cups and frozen dinner trays.
Well that sure does clarify some things! Where is my staple remover?