Your Questions About Recycling

The Expert answers:

If you can recycle anything plastic, paper, or metal, do so. If you have anything like that, just throw it in the recyling, might take a extra minute, bt it’s worth your time. :]

Reuse stuff, a good example of this is re-using grocery bags, always get plastic, or so i’ve been told, and when you get home, insteads of throwing them out, re-use them as little garbage bags in the bathroom, for cleaning out the cat box, cleaning up the dog’s poo, that kind of thing. There is lots of stuff you can re-use.

Reduce, reduce your use of things that come from the enviorment i suppose, buy those reusable bags you see at stores and such.

The Expert answers:

We have an excellent recycling program in our town. (Throughout most of the Pacific Northwest, actually — my son-in-law was blown away when he saw the guys at the Mariners’ game going through the stadium with the recycle bags, and everyone putting their beer and pop cans in.) We sort by newspapers/scrap paper/bottles, cans & plastic bottles. We just introduced a garden waste & food scrap pick up in town, but I don’t use that since I have a compost bin of my own.

We also have a place called the ReStore, where you can find all sorts of construction and remodeling materials. People recycle a lot of stuff through there.

It doesn’t all just go into the garbage, by the way. Although we pay to recycle, the company actually makes money on the cardboard.

The Expert answers:

Ok had the same problem once and this is what I did.

When I noticed the extra trash bags appearing with my trash bags.

I didn’t give it much thought, until 3 weeks later. So one day while off from work
I decided to open the trash bag to see whom may be tossing their garbage at my expense.

Open the bag and found several receipts from the local grocery store with the persons name on the receipt.

Also found several envelopes with the persons name and address. So this had to be the person taking advantage of my having to pay for garbage removal.

Went to the persons home and asked them why they were discarding their trash on my lawn.

Funny thing it was a single mom whom had 2 children. She told me that she could not afford the garbage removal service and she just placed her trash bags with mine.

I told this person that she may continue to place her trash with mine.

Needless to say she was grateful and appreciated my allowing to continue to combine her trash with mine.

Glad I did not go to the Police and I also thought that she was not really hurting anything. After all the trash was bagged and never discarded in the yard.

I will quit now just thought I would let you know my story.

The Expert answers:

* You can pretty much avoid going to the supermarket altogether if you choose to.
* Buy meat wrapped in butcher’s paper.
* Buy fruit and vegetables from the fruit shop and they will sel it to me in my canvas bags and a recycled cardboard apple box.
* I buy fresh bread in a loaf from the local baker and put that in my hession bag and cut it up myself.
* Buy milk in cardboard cartons or recyclable plastic.
* All those processed foods and pre-packaged foods you buy contain transfats and preservatives.. Avoid them if you can.

* Now recycle your metals, plastics, glass and cardboard. We sort it into separate bins and our local govt collects it for recycling for our community.. Lobby yours if it doesn’t.
* Green waste also collected separately by Local Govt… Lobby yours if it doesnt collect green waste separately.
* Compost all kitchen scraps and/or buy 4 egg laying hens and feed them the scraps (except for meat scraps).
* Get a dog to keep cats away from your chickens… Feed that dog your meat scraps.

After all this recycling you will be surprised how little household waste there is to throw away in your garbage… Put it in a cardboard box (OK.. I use cornflakes -) and then into your bin.

The Expert answers:

Your community garbage collector should have given you a list of things that are acceptable. If they haven’t you can visit their website or call the local city council to find out more.

When I recycle boxes, can I recycle any box that does not have food on it? – Usually I try to flatten the cart board boxes, like cereal boxes. It’s a lot easier for them to collect it.

When I recycle bottles, should I rinse them out and remove their caps? – For us they said we don’t have to clean any of the bottles or cans out and don’t even need to pull the labels off them. Their facilities can apparently handle these.

When I recycle plastic bags, can I simply add them to my plastic bottles? – I throw them together into one pile. If you’re not sure, some grocery stores recycle plastic bags. Places like Walmart and other local stores have big bins in the entrance to collect them.

Hope this helps

The Expert answers:

Some cats chew on plastic bags, some chew and eat wool. You can’t keep bags near them so lock up or dispose/recycle ALL your plastic bags and use paper bags in the garbage bins instead.

His ability to actually EAT the bags is your one warning, the next time it may be an emergency trip to the vet to do major surgery on his intestines to get the stuff out.

As for the litter box,some cats decide they want a second box to poop in, and keep the first for peeing only. I have one that does that. But if putting down newspaper around the box helps, then try that first.

The Expert answers:

Yes, we do recycle, but not in the way you might in the U.S.A or the U.K. It is still very “underdeveloped”, if I could put it that way? Like the British have 4 bins? 1 for plastic, 1 for glass, another for paper and the last one for general garbage. Here we recycle paper mostly, usually once a month when a company called “Mondi” comes by.

They provide you with a large bag to dispose your old magazines and newspapers etc, and come by to collect the bag. As for glass and plastic, we do recycle that too, but I don’t believe as many people find the time to make their way out to the recycle plants to do it.

The Expert answers:

Your question involves a bit more detail than you have provided as it may vary from city to city or county to county, BUT in general most communities recycle
as follows:

Recycling Collection

– Put clean rinsed items in recycle bins.

– Plastic bottles (water, soda, milk, detergent, shampoo, others marked #1 and #2.)

– Steel and aluminum cans. (rinse & tuck in lids)

– Glass bottles and jars (clear, green and brown)

– Newspaper-place in a separate brown paper bag.

– Batteries – place in clear bag.

– Cardboard – flatten and place in bin. No larger than 4×4 or in excess of 25lbs is accepted.

NO STYROFOAM, PLASTIC BAGS, MOTOR OR COOKING OIL CONTAINERS, GARBAGE IN RECYCLING BINS.

[[recycling bins may be available from your waste collecgor, city or county. They may be free or charge a small nominal fee.]]

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Drop Off Recycling & Hazardous Waste

–
[[location and days vary by comunity–contact your city or county.]]

The collection center is open on the days listed. Please note there is a 25 gallon liquid limit and a 200 pound dry limit.

Recycled items include: motor oil, car batteries, corrosives, adhesives, roof tar and patching compounds, used oil/hydraulic fluids, pesticides and fertilizers, contaminated gasoline, pool cleaning products, solvents, fiberglass resins, anti-freeze and wood preservatives.
Note: Cannot accept explosives, asbestos, radioactive wastes or biohazard materials.

Regular Yard Waste
[[your community may also recycle waste into compost or mulch-call them to find out]]

This is the ordinary debris that mother nature (with the help of lawn mowers and trimmers) produces each week. Things like grass clippings, shrub trimmings, palm fronds and small tree branches, less that 4 inches in diameter.

– Place in any standard collection container with handles, not larger than 32 gallons (no heavy steel barrels or bushel baskets, please). Yard waste shouldn’t protrude more than 12 inches from the top of the container, or weigh more than 50 lbs.

– Tie your yard waste in bundles less than 4 ft. Long, weighing less than 50 lbs.

– Use twine or string, NOT metal ties or wire.

– DON’T stuff yard waste in plastic bags.

– Place your container or bundles at curbside.

Oversized Yard Waste

This is the big stuff, like tree branches larger than 4″ in diameter, or 4′ in length. This doesn’t include debris from commercial tree removal, land clearing, or home construction.

– Cut debris in lengths of 6 feet or less.

– Place neatly at curbside, where it will be picked up by mechanical collection equipment. DON’T place under power or phone lines.

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The Expert answers:

Ideally, recycle it. If not, get a large 5 gallon plastic bucket and fill half way with water. Pour the acid into the water (NOT the other way around). Add baking soda slowly to water and mix. The baking soda/acid mixture will fizz and bubble.