|
To wrap up week one of the Plastic-Free Challenge, we’ll dig more into plastic recycling, including the effectiveness of recycling plastics, important items to keep out of your recycling at home, and the next life for recycled plastics.
We get a lot of questions from residents about what happens to their recycling after it leaves their home. They want to know if recycling works, especially for plastics.
Here in the Twin Cities, you can be assured that your recyclables are getting recycled. Minnesota state law requires that the materials you put out for recycling that are accepted in your program get recycled. There continues to be a demand for our recycled materials, and recyclers continue to invest in new technology to make recycling more advanced and efficient.
However, recycling isn't a perfect system. Like any commodity, plastic markets go up and down, and plastics are often recycled into different products that cannot be recycled again. Many plastic items cannot be recycled at all.
Because of the challenges with plastic recycling, the best thing you can do is to look for ways to minimize your use of plastics. To keep plastic recycling effective, make sure to only include the items accepted for recycling and not anything else.
 Keep these items out of your recycling at home
Some items cause a lot of trouble for the sorting facilities that take our recyclables. Do not put these items in your recycling cart or dumpster.
Plastic bags
Plastic bags and wrap get tangled in the equipment at recycling sorting facilities, and workers spend hours each day removing them. Plastic bags and wrap can be recycled at designated drop-off locations. Another new option is to sign up for a paid collection service through the company Ridwell. To learn more about what types of plastics are accepted, watch Ridwell’s video “What is plastic film anyways?”
|
Bagged recycling
Bagged recyclables don’t get properly sorted at the recycling facility because recyclers cannot tell if it is trash or recyclables in the bag. Make sure to place your recycling loose in your recycling cart.
|
Large plastic items
Large plastic items like laundry baskets, storage bins, lawn furniture, plastic toys, and other large plastic items are difficult to sort at recycling facilities and there are not good markets for recycling them. Purchase high-quality items, use them for as long as possible, and donate items that are in good shape. Repair them if they break, or dispose of them in the trash if repair is not possible.
|
Single-use plastic utensils and straws
Plastic utensils and straws are too small and difficult to sort at recycling facilities, and there aren’t good recycling markets for them. Avoid them by choosing reusable options or refusing them when you can.
|
The next life for recycled plastics
In the Twin Cities metro area, we are fortunate to have good local and regional markets where recycled items can be sold, processed and made into new products.
Here are some examples:
- Plastic bottles, peanut butter jars, and produce containers are commonly made into new bottles at manufacturers in Idaho, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Some of these plastics are sent to Georgia to be made into carpeting.
- Milk and laundry detergent jugs and shampoo and dishwasher bottles are commonly made into a variety of outdoor products right here in Minnesota. Avon Plastics in Paynesville, Bedford Technologies in Worthington, and By the Yard in Jordan make products like plastic lumber, decking, furniture, and playground equipment. These materials may also be recycled into agricultural products, cleaning bottles, or milk crates.
- Yogurt cups and cottage cheese and margarine tubs may be sent to Ohio to be made into food containers, to Missouri for car parts and large plastic items, or to Alabama to be made into milk crates.
Learn more about what happens to your recycling at RecyclingExists.com, a webpage created by metro counties.
 Take action
Make sure you are recycling the plastic items that you can and keeping out items that you can't. Choose the following actions related to today’s content in the Plastics 101 category:
- Recycle plastic bags
- Stop "wishcycling"
|
Check out the resources section for video tutorials on participating in the challenge and interacting with teams, as well as a media kit and social media graphics for sharing with others.
Your personal dashboard is your central activity hub. You can edit your actions and profile settings, manage your team if you are a team captain, and check in to mark your actions as complete.
Engaging with the challenge platform and completing actions gets you points. You can compete against friends or just check your individual or team ranking. For a complete guide on how to gain points, visit the points page.
Fix-It Clinics offer free, guided assistance from volunteers with repair skills to disassemble, troubleshoot, and fix small household appliances, clothing, electronics, mobile devices and more. Fix-It Clinics teach valuable troubleshooting and basic repair skills and reduce the number of repairable items that are thrown in the trash. All clinics are free. No pre-registration required.
Saturday, February 10
Noon to 4 p.m. at Wayzata Community Church, 125 Wayzata Boulevard, Wayzata
Last items accepted at 3:30 p.m. Find a list of upcoming Fix-It Clinics in Hennepin County.
Saturday, February 24
10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Hazelwood Professional Center, Room 201, 2785 White Bear Avenue #201, Maplewood
Last items accepted at 12:30 p.m. Find a list of upcoming Fix-It Clinics in Ramsey County.
Saturday, March 2
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Wildwood Library, 763 Stillwater Road, Mahtomedi
Last items accepted at 1:30 p.m. Find a list of upcoming Fix-It Clinics in Washington County.
Thank you to our many city partners for helping promote and engage participants for this challenge. City sustainability and solid waste divisions play a key role in educating their residents and providing important programs to help reduce and recycle plastics. Today, we'd like to extend a special thanks to the cities of:
Friday, February 2: Tips for getting started with the challenge
Monday, February 5: The problem with plastics
Wednesday, February 7: Types of plastics
|
