Third step: Recycle

Recycling uses waste to make new products. Common recyclable materials are glass, paper, aluminum and steel. New technologies are making it possible to recycle other materials as well.

Recycling has become a standard practice among many Minnesotans, particularly as curbside pick-up programs have expanded to serve most communities. However, buying products that are recyclable and setting them out at the curb for collection is only part of the recycling process. We must also buy products that are made from recycled materials.

Recyclables are commodities like any raw materials. If there is demand for recycled materials in manufacturing, their value will go up and the prices paid to recyclers will be higher. Consumers can help keep that demand high by searching for and buying products made from recycled materials. In doing so, we help support the recycled materials market and guarantee the success of our recycling programs.

Buy products that can be recycled in your area and make sure to recycle them

If no system is in place in your community for you to recycle a certain type of material, that material is not recyclable. It has to be collected, reprocessed and manufactured into new products in order for recycling to be complete. Follow these suggestions for purchasing products that are recyclable or packaged in recyclable materials.

• Purchase products made of materials that are collected for recycling in your community. Markets for recyclable materials vary periodically, and this sometimes affects which materials local haulers will collect. Advances in technology continue to reduce the amount of packaging and increase recycling opportunities for more materials. However, materials that you purchase aren't really recyclable unless you can recycle them in your local program. Pilot programs for new materials may be operating in your area. Check with your city or county solid waste office for more detailed information and updates.
• Your city or county solid waste office can also tell you how to prepare the materials for recycling and what the collection or drop-off schedule is. Almost every community in Minnesota has access to some form of recycling collection.
• Clear, brown and green container glass is recyclable. Light blue glass is also recyclable and is typically sorted with green glass.

• Other glass items should be thrown out, including:

  
  • broken drinking glasses
  • broken plates
  • broken pyrex
  • broken window glass
  • ceramic containers (flowerpots, mugs)
  • used light bulbs

  These items cause serious problems in the recycling of glass. The presence of any of these in a load of otherwise recyclable glass can cause the entire load of glass to be rejected, driving up the cost of recycling.

• For questions about recycling different paper types, plastics, and metals in your community, call your city or county solid waste office.

• Automotive batteries can be taken back to their place of purchase or brought to automotive centers. Check with local service stations, garages or your county solid waste office to find used-oil recycling outlets. In Minnesota it is illegal to dispose of car batteries and motor oil in the trash. Look for this sign at battery retailers.
  
  

  NOTICE: USED BATTERIES — This retailer is required to accept your used lead acid batteries, EVEN IF YOU DO NOT PURCHASE A BATTERY. When you purchase a new battery, you will be charged an additional $5 unless you return a used battery within 30 days. It is a crime to put a motor vehicle battery in the garbage.

  
  

• To find out where to recycle automobile, bicycle and motorcycle tires, call your city or county solid waste office.
• Encourage local businesses and merchants to recycle office paper, beverage cans and bottles, and to use shredded paper for shipping. Businesses also can recycle corrugated cardboard boxes or donate them to recycling drives.

Buy products made out of recycled materials

"Post-consumer material" is something that someone has used and recycled, such as newspaper or plastic milk jugs. It is waste, and would normally be discarded after completing its useful life as a consumer item.

Some products or packages contain material that is recycled from mill scraps. This material has never been used by anyone, and is called pre-consumer material. Some industries, such as the recycled paper industry, have used pre-consumer material for many years and will continue to do so because they recognize it as a valuable resource.

Recycling mill scraps is good, but it doesn't help maintain consumer recycling programs or lessen the amount of discarded solid waste to be managed. It's important that manufacturers use post-consumer material and that consumers know that a product or package has post-consumer recycled content.

Increased demand for recycled products by consumers will help develop stable long-term markets for post-consumer materials. Look for and purchase products with labels that say they contain post-consumer material. For example, recycled paper products, now widely available, often have labels stating the percentage of recycled content.

• Purchase paper and other products that contain the largest amount of post-consumer recycled content.
• Once you've bought a product in a cardboard box, you will be able to tell if the box is made from recycled paper by examining its interior (recycled cardboard is grey, not white or brown).
• Bottles and cans are usually made with some recycled materials.
• Encourage your employer to purchase recycled stationery, note pads, computer and copy paper and other such items. Most office supply stores and paper houses stock recycled paper products.

  Common items that may have post-consumer recycled content (look for labels on each of these products):

  Toilet tissue Paper towels Cereal boxes Insulation

  Garden hoses Poly-fil for coats Trash bags Carpeting

  3-ring binders Computer paper Sandpaper Video cassettes

Minnesota's Recycled Products Directory lists quality, locally-produced products made from recycled materials. The database is searchable and continually updated.

Labeling

Some labels advertise products as "environmentally friendly," "earth friendly," "environmentally improved," "biodegradable," or "recyclable." Currently these types of broad environmental claims are difficult to measure or compare. They are different from statements of recycled content, which list a percentage of recycled materials in the product or package.

It is not easy to know whether a broad claim is truthful or misleading. Some states have begun regulating words like "recyclable" and "biodegradable," but they do not agree on standard definitions of these terms. Discussions are under way among environmental groups, government and industry to set firmer rules that would be uniform across the country.