Your Questions About Recycling
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Filed under Recycling Q & A
Carol asks…
Is there an easy way to remove labels from recyclable containers?
It seems that by preparing plastic, metal, and glass containers for recycling, you almost waste as much energy, time, soap, and water just trying to get the dang things clean and label free. Isn’t there a more effecient and waste-less way to remove labels?
The Expert answers:
Why do you do it? The recycling plant will crush all the glass and heat it in a furnace. Any labels will simply burn away. The same goes for steel cans. Aluminium cans generally have no labels. In countries with well established infrastructure many containers are designed for recycling so paper based containers will have paper labels and plastics based ones will have plastic labels.
If this is a requirement imposed on you by the local garbage collection system you should campaign to have it changed (or at least mention it to someone).
Sandy asks…
Can I Make A Filter for Bio Diesel From Recycled Waste?
My local council have just given me a food waste container for orgainic material which they are apparently going to make into fertiliser. So I was wondering if I could do the same but recycle or otherwise filter it to turn it into fuel for an internal combustion engine (my ordinary car engine in other words)
The Expert answers:
Bio Diesel will run in a diesel engine. If your “ordinary” car is has a petrol engine then your first step would be to remove the engine and install a diesel. Then you would modify the fuel delivery system to maintain warm fuel, preheat the fuel, or mix the fuel with regular diesel. This might involve a duel fuel tank arrangement.
Converting waste vegetable oil (WVO) into bio diesel can be done in many ways but the most common is a chemical process called transesterification. There are many demonstrations of the process on the web and You tube. Some people will simply filter WVO and use that in a diesel engine but the possibility of engine damage seems to increase. Http://www.grist.org/article/umbra-bdvssvo/
A closed container can be used to “digest” food scraps and will produce another bio fuel, methane. This is the primary component of natural gas. Petrol engines can be converted to run on natural gas. In the US this must be done by qualified mechanics and will cost from 12 to $18,000. Your prices may vary. Http://www.greencar.com/articles/can-convert-natural-gas.php
Methane can be converted to methanol. Http://www.physorg.com/news177164574.html This is an alcohol like ethanol. A petrol engine can be converted to run on alcohol. The process first involves safeguarding the fuel from attacking rubber parts in the fuel system: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/ethanol_drane.html
All of this is a long way from “having a container,” so you should carefully consider what is available to you, your options, and your ultimate goals. While a great deal of work and expense may be involved you may find the results very satisfying as well.
Sandra asks…
How can I recycle plastic food containers other than bottles?
Our kerbside recycling collects plastic bottles but won’t take any other plastics. We recycle or compost almost all other waste and we collect our plastic packaging – films, food containers, yoghurt pots, blister packs, etc. Anybody know how and where I can recycle this stuff because my garage is filling up with it!
Our kerbside recycling collects plastic bottles but won’t take any other plastics.
We recycle or compost almost all other waste and we collect our plastic packaging – films, food containers, yoghurt pots, blister packs, etc. Anybody know how and where I can recycle this stuff because my garage is filling up with it! I have researched the available channels extensively and have asked my local authority what to do with these plastics but they say that they simply cannot recycle them at present.
I live in England and am looking for a solution that is available here in UK.
The Expert answers:
If you live near a New Seasons grocery store, then you will find that they have a place where you can recycle any plastic containers with certain number one them (2,4,5,etc.). There are other places too. If you go onto your local recycling company website, they should have names and numbers of places you can recycle certain items. Hope this helps!
Lizzie asks…
Are you happy with your councils recycling containers?
I’m not.
I love to recycle but in Bridgend it’s a mess.
They will only pick up black bin bags once a fortnight now, that sounds fair since
most things are recycled – but they’re not.
Most packaging I find is non-recyclable and it is still bulky.
So if you miss a week through illness or being away and you
have a large family that uses 4 bins a week you can end up
with 16 bins to put out, and you cannot put the bins out before the morning,
so if you have a trip and leave the previous night you can’t put the bins out.
And those bins then attract cats and recently I noticed a return of rats to the garden,
and our council do not allow us to use wheelie bins so you can imagine the mess.
Okay so all food waste goes into a tiny sandwich box sized bin which you change 3 times a week and then put these bins outside in a larger bin that is lockable.
But we had to stop using it because after a day the tiny box reeked the house out and if I put the tiny box outside the rats and cats could get it and if you didn’t have any food waste for a few days then went to empty the tiny bin it would often leak as you carry it through the house and the smell was foul.
And there is no room in our kitchen to store the larger food bin and anyway once it has a weeks supply in it the smell is unbearable.
So now we come to the blue plastic bag which I fill with cans and plastic, that was great until today, you see normally I keep the bag outside, it’s large and there’s no room in the kitchen, so I fill a carrier bag and empty it into it. Great – until today I just noticed a cat has attacked the bag and shredded it – I clean the containers so it must just have been the general smell of food and drinks that you obviously can’t clean away that attracted it.
Then we come to the paper black box container – fine – except that once again no room in the house so outside again – and by now my front porch looks like a right mess – the black bins are kept out the back and the recycling out the front as its collected weekly.
Anyway, once you fill the other black box for cardboard and bottles up with cardboard you tend to find that there’s not enough room even after spending hours on end ripping boxes into ‘small manageable pieces’ and breaking your nails and cutting your fingers.
So you use the paper box for cardboard and bottles and have to bin the paper.
Aaah! I feel better after that rant.
How about you?
Would you like to also rant or do you have a better system that works?
Do you think that recycling should start with the supermarkets and shops
with their bulky unrecyclable packaging? Especially since they are the first to scoff at
us if we forget out recycling bags and they have to hand out plastic bags to us…..
What is a plastic bag compared to the bulk of unrecycled packaging they sell us???
This is not working for us – I really feel upset by it as I’m really into recycling,
I always give clothes to charities.
Help!!!
The Expert answers:
We have a good recycling system in West Sussex.We have a large blue bin which is collected once a fortnight,anyone with larger families can ask for a bigger one.These take glass, paper, cardboard,tins and aluminium cans ,and some plastics.There are clothes banks in various places including the local amenity tip.We also get lots of charity bags through the letter box which are collected so we do seem to be better off re-cycling wise than you.Perhaps you should ask your local councillors to have a word with ours.!
Daniel asks…
How should I enforce recycling at my community mall?
I used to work at a Baskin Robbins in the mall and none of the wastes had the option to be recycled. There are also no recycling containers next to trash cans in the mall hallways for customers. This really upsets me and I would like to change that, but I don’t know who to contact to make it happen. There is a Green Team at my school and they wrote to the mall owners about this issue but they never did anything after that.
The Expert answers:
Put your own recycling bin at the place you work see who uses it and then you will see if people care or not to do so, then suggest it to your boss.
William asks…
what is 1 ton of used soda containers worth?
I am looking to recycle used containers of various sizes and colors. I want to know what our most common waste as far as containers are worth.
The Expert answers:
By “soda containers” are you talking about aluminum cans or plastic bottles? There’s a big difference in price between the two.
Steven asks…
Where do you get recycling bins like these?
I’ve noticed whenever i throw paper away i throw it directly to the trash instead of recycling basket. So, now i want to get a recycling basket identical to this one
http://www.buschsystems.com/Products/website-photos/RecyclingWasteBAsket/all-sizes-recycling–waste-baskets.png
has anyone seen them in a store near you?
i’ve tried wal-mart, the container store, target, many places! and still have not found one!
The Expert answers:
They sell them at most office supply stores…like Office Max or Staples…call up a store near you to see if they have them in stock or just go and see…if not, they can order them for you.
Http://www.staples.com/Rubbermaid-Recycling-Container/product_266429?cmArea=FEATURED:SC1:CG8:DP1490
Home Depot also has them…
Http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?keyword=recycling%2Bbin&langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
Or…you can also just buy them online & have them shipped to your house…check out this website:
http://www.bettymills.com/shop/product/find?keywords=Recycling&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&department=Jansan&gclid=CKqg7r38xZ4CFVw55QodUi_Nrw
Robert asks…
Question from Mr. Question : What do you do with recycled glass bottles / containers?
There are heaps of products in supermarket come with a glass container. It would be a waste to chuck them away, what do you do with them? (except recycling them)
The Expert answers:
My grandma would boil them and re-use them for canning. I’ll sometimes use them or plastic containers to pot houseplants in. They also work great for growing sweet potatoe starts and make good coin jars. Some of the jars will have handles on them and I’ll use them for drinking glasses. Some of the smaller ones work good for storing screws, nuts, bolts and other small hardware in.
Joseph asks…
Where can I find a list of materials that Waste Managment recycle please?
I know they recycle Bottles, Cans, and containers. I need more things like building materials, etc. I’m also just curious. Thanks for the help.
The Expert answers:
Here’s a list:
http://www.wm.com/wm/services/RecyclableItems.pdf
(It’s a PDF)
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