How to recycle effectively

Recycling is one of the greatest gifts you can offer to our planet. It gives new life to used items manufactured from different kinds of material, so it reduces the waste that ends up in landfills and helps conserving natural resources. Once you have decided that you want to get involved in this valuable process, it is not really difficult to find out ways to do it correctly. To ease your start of recycling endeavors, we are sharing with you some of our knowledge on what and how to recycle!

1. Plastic:

Plastic is responsible for many of our environmental issues, that seriously threaten Earth and ourselves as well. There are many kinds of plastic, and, fortunately, some of them can be easily recycled, namely PET and HDPE. You can always check the signs in bottles or containers, as some have information on whether they can be recycled. There are also others that are bio-degradable, which means that they can NOT be recycled, and compostable plastics, for which you need to use a trash compactor. If you are lucky, your municipality might provide it for you for free, if you apply for it.

Source:https://www.epa.gov/recycle/how-do-i-recycle-common-recyclables

2. Clothing:

When it comes to recycling, clothing items are not the first to come in mind. However, we should be aware about the recycling possibilities of our clothes that we no longer enjoy wearing. Instead of throwing them away, we should either give them to people who would appreciate them or seek recycling options. You can donate them to charity organizations, ask friends if they want them, organize clothes -exchanging event. There are so many ways to give life to your clothes! If you want to recycle them, some councils or textile companies, for example, provide such opportunities. Just be a bit suspicious about fast-fashion companies that apply clothing recycling, as they are most probably doing greenwashing. So, in reality, they do not care at all about recycling those clothes of yours!

3. To recycle or not to recycle?

There are many other items that we use in our everyday lives, without thinking about whether they can be recycled or not. Some things you CAN recycle by going to your closest recycling bins, are the following: Paper, juice, and milk cartons, cleared glass bottles or jars, paper grocery bags, aluminum cans etc. What you must remember is to always throw those objects after you have cleared them, and they have no liquids inside. Some items that can NOT be recycled are plastic wrap and plastic grocery bags, fast food wrapers, paper towels and tissues, aluminum foil boxes. We should all try to reduce the use of those items and substitute them with those that do not harm the environment as much.