#RecycleRightNY Campaign Materials

February is dedicated to tanglers. Please use the resources below (Facebook posts, Twitter tweets, social media polls, newsletter article, images) through the month of February via your social media platforms, newsletters, etc. to spread the message. The post order is a suggested format to follow but please modify the order for the month as necessary to fit your needs.

Please note that high resolution images for Facebook, Twitter, and newsletters can be downloaded by going to NYDEC's Recycle Right NY Flickr album. For instructions, scroll down to the heading "Free images" below. To download any images from the body of this email,  right click the image and then choose "Save As".

Week 1 Campaign Materials

Facebook Post: Know your recycling program NY - tanglers are out! Items such as holiday lights, garden hoses, and cords become tangled in the equipment at a materials recovery facility- where your recyclables go to be sorted. Interested in learning more about what happens to your recyclables at a materials recovery facility? Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_wh3D2G17Q

*Video is here as an example, insert video about your local facility if possible or applicable. Videos can also be posted as thumbnails with the post to help increase engagement.

Twitter Tweet: At #recycling facilities recyclables are sorted, baled & shipped to manufacturers to be made into new products. Items like holiday lights and cords get tangled in facility equipment and decrease the value of recyclables, causing machine breakdowns and worker safety hazards.

Week 2 Campaign Materials

Facebook post: When it comes to recycling, do you know what a “tangler” is? These are items like rope, electrical cords, hoses and holiday lights. They’re called tanglers because they become tangled around recycling facility equipment, causing expensive machinery breakdowns and putting workers in danger. Help keep workers safe and recyclables valuable by keeping tanglers out of your recycling bin.  #RecycleCorrectly #RecyclingMatters #RecycleRightNY

Twitter Tweet: Want to improve your #recycling but don’t know how? Keep items called “tanglers” like rope, cords, hoses and holiday lights out of your recycling bin. They get tangled around recycling facility equipment, causing expensive machinery breakdowns and put workers at risk.

Social Media Polls

Facebook and/or Twitter poll:
True or False- items known as “tanglers”(ropes, cords, hoses etc) can injure workers at recycling facilities when you place them in you recycling bin

Follow up answer post for Facebook and/or Twitter:
True. Tanglers can wrap around sorting equipment at recycling facilities, jamming up equipment and putting workers at risk. Do not put tanglers in your recycling bin.

Facebook and/ or Twitter poll:
True or False- hoses, electrical cords and rope can go in your recycling bin

Follow up answer Facebook poll:
False. Hoses, electrical rods, rope, and other similar items do not belong in your recycling bin. These items are known as “tanlgers” because they wrap around equipment at sorting facilities and cause jams that can damage equipment and put workers at risk for injury. Stick to recycling only the items your program accepts.

Follow up answer Twitter poll:
False. Hoses, electrical rods, rope, and other similar items do not belong in your recycling bin. These items wrap around equipment at sorting facilities & cause jams that can damage equipment and put workers at risk of injury. Stick to only recycling items your program accepts.

Week 3 Campaign Materials

Facebook Post: In the months after the holidays, festive lights go dark. If you find your light strings are broken, fix them or toss them, but not in your recycling cart. Light strings are known as tanglers and don’t belong in residential  #recycling programs. #RecycleCorrectly #RecyclingMatters #RecycleRightNY

Twitter Tweet: In the months after the holidays, festive lights go dark. If you find your lights strings are broken, fix them or toss them, but not in your recycling cart. These items are known as tanglers and are bad for #recycling. #RecycleCorrectly #RecyclingMatters #RecycleRightNY

Week 4 Campaign Materials

Facebook Post: Are you already taking inventory and getting ready for the warmer months ahead? If you come across a damaged garden hose, it should not be put in your recycling bin. Repair it, repurpose it, just don’t recycle it! Hoses that cannot be repaired or repurposed should go in with your regular household trash. When garden hoses are put in recycling bins, they cause tangles and damage to sorting equipment at recycling facilities and put workers at risk. What are some ways you could reuse a worn hose? #RecyclingMatters #DisposeOfTheHose #RecycleRightNY

* You can also include information from the Recycling Partnership garden hose tangler and reuse article below

Twitter Tweet: Garden hoses do not go into your curbside recycling bin.  Repair it, repurpose it, just don’t recycle it! Hoses damage sorting equipment at recycling facilities and put workers at risk. #DisposeOfTheHose #RecycleRightNY

* You can also include information from the Recycling Partnership garden hose tangler and reuse article below

Week 5 Campaign Materials

Facebook Post: Help us improve recycling in 2019! Keep garden hoses out of your recycling bin. #DidYouKnow garden hoses are troublesome enough to rank in the top five most problematic contaminants and the third most expensive contaminant to a recycling facility? #RecycleCorrectly #RecyclingMatters #RecycleRightNY

Twitter Tweet: Help us improve recycling in 2019! Keep garden hoses out of recycling bins. #DidYouKnow garden hoses are troublesome enough to rank in the top five most problematic contaminants & the third most expensive contaminant to a recycling facility? #RecycleCorrectly #RecyclingMatters

February Tanglers Newsletter/ Newspaper Articles 

Title: What’s a Tangler?

When it comes to recycling, do you know what a “tangler” is? These are items like rope, electrical cords, hoses and holiday lights. They’re called tanglers because they become tangled around recycling facility equipment, causing expensive machinery breakdowns and putting workers in danger.  A single tangler can cause a massive disruption, and recycling facilities see a significant amount of them each day. Garden hoses are troublesome enough to rank in the top five most problematic contaminants and the third most expensive contaminant to a recycling facility.  Help keep workers safe and recyclables valuable by keeping tanglers out of your recycling bin! Know your recycling program NY - tanglers are out!

The Recycling Partnership's article about garden hoses as tanglers and garden hose reuse:

When your garden hose starts to leak, crack, or wear out, it may be time for a new one. But what can you do with that old garden hose? We’ll give you a head’s up on what you can and should never do with your worn-out garden hose.

Don’t Put It in Recycling. The number one thing you don’t want to do with an old garden hose is put it in the recycling bin. It can muck things up. In the recycling world, garden hoses are what are known as “tanglers.” Tanglers include hoses, ropes, chains, and electrical cords.
A single tangler can cause a massive disruption, and recycling facilities see a significant amount of them each day. Tanglers are known to tangle up equipment, potentially resulting in safety issues for workers and mechanical issues for machinery. All this leads to downtime and extra expense in facilities across the nation. Garden hoses are troublesome enough to rank in the top five most problematic contaminants and the third most expensive contaminant to a recycling facility. The rankings came from a working group of recyclers that represents 75 percent of the recycling capacity in the country.

How to Reuse an Old Garden Hose
Helpful hint guru Heloise and the One Good Thing blog have a few creative suggestions for repurposing your old garden hose. You can:

• Use pieces to cover the blades on saws and other cutting tools by cutting off pieces of the hose and then slitting them down one of the sides.
• Turn it into a soaker hose by puncturing it with holes.
  Protect stabilized trees by sliding a piece of hose over the rope you’re using to secure the tree; this prevents the rope from cutting into the tree.
• Make chains and handles easier to grip by sliding sections of hose over the metal handles on buckets or metal chains on swings.
  Create a doorstop by cutting off a small section of hose and then securing it firmly under an open door.

If none of the above suggestions fit your needs, and you can’t come up with any other use for your old garden hose, then it may be time to discard it in the trash. Keeping your old hoses out of recycling can help keep recycling facilities running smoothly, efficiently, and safely.

Extra Social Media Posts

Use the Know Your Program posts from January to continue emphasizing the don’t wish-cycle/know your program message throughout the year:

Facebook Post: Let's all do our part this year to make #EarthDayEveryDay and #recycle better. How? Avoid #wishcycling! Don't put items like cords & holiday lights in your residential recycling. These can be worker safety hazards, damage recycling equipment and can contaminate the recycling stream. #RecycleRightNY

Twitter Tweet: Let's all do our part this year to make #EarthDayEveryDay and #recycle better. How? Avoid #wishcycling! Don't put items like cords & holiday lights in your residential recycling. These can be worker safety hazards, damage recycling equipment and can contaminate recycling streams

Facebook Post: #Didyouknow the chasing arrows symbol and “Please recycle” used on products and packaging doesn’t necessarily mean an item is #recyclable curbside or in your area? It’s best to check with your local hauler or municipality to determine what can go in your recycling bin. #RecycleRightNY

Twitter Tweet: #Didyouknow the chasing arrows symbol and “Please recycle” used on products and packaging doesn’t necessarily mean an item is #recyclable curbside or in your area? It’s best to check with your local hauler or municipality to determine what can go in your recycling bin. 

Other Resources

• Share from DEC’s Twitter Feed- follow the link and Retweet
• The Recycling Partnership's Contamination Toolkit

Free Images

Free high resolution images formatted for Facebook, Twitter, and newsletters can be downloaded by going to NYDEC's Recycle Right NY Flickr album. *

Directions to download from Flickr: Click the link to open the Flickr album. Scroll to the image you want and left click on it. The image will now be brought up on the screen by itself. In the far right bottom corner there will be a downward facing arrow with a line under it. Left click on it and choose, Original (1024x512) as the option. It will automatically download.  If you need assistance please e-mail us at recycling@dec.ny.gov.

* If you are experiencing technical difficulties downloading the images from Flickr, please open the Flickr link in a different web browser such as Chrome or Firefox.

Recycle Right NY is a 12-month education campaign focused on supporting efforts to reduce contamination in household recycling programs across NYS. The campaign focuses on educating residents about one recycling topic per month. Campaign materials including monthly text and photos, as seen above, are available for use in your own social media and digital and print newsletters. For more information about the campaign or on how to get involved e-mail recycling@dec.ny.gov.