"Nothing we throw away could really be recycled anyway..."

The title of this post is taken from dinner conversation last night. Other things that were said:

"What?!? You do to have to sort it?!?! No way..."
"Yeah, but you have to wash everything out..."
"There's all these restrictions like, you can't put glossy paper..."
"I read somewhere that the recycling process is actually worse for the planet, with the trucks and the factories, than just throwing it away"

And one from me, "Oy vey. I know what I need to blog about tomorrow!"

In fact, I intend to take it a step further and dedicate this week's posts to debunking some of the silly myths that are circulating about recycling. For today, I'll specifically address the first objection, the title of this post, with some help from the Waste Management Services Recycling Division of Anne Arundel County, MD. Here goes:

What is recyclable curbside? It may be easier to answer what isn't, but here goes:

RECYCLABLE PAPER ITEMS INCLUDE (but are not limited to): cardboard; packaging; empty paper towel and toilet tissue holders; shoe and toy boxes; frozen food, cereal and pizza boxes; six pack holders; hard and soft cover books; magazines; catalogs; that phone book you never use; paper - colored or not; gift wrap; tissue paper; envelopes; file folders...

METAL, PLASTICS, GLASS: tin, steel, and aluminum cans; empty aerosol cans; pet food cans; plastic jugs and bottles like milk, laundry detergent, peanut butter and yogurt; glass beer and wine bottles, sauce jars...

YARD WASTE: leaves, grass, brush, branches, Christmas trees, hay, straw, garden clippings, twigs... pretty much all of it.

So, if you were thinking, "What do we really throw away that could be recycled?" I hope this short list has addressed that thought.