Recycle the Waste

We have talked about reducing waste, and about reusing waste. However, there are some things that we have to buy and have waste which we can't reuse. We can toss it in the trash, but how about recycling it?

Many of us have curbside recycling. Mine allows me to put paper and cardboard, plastic bottles and tubs (no lids), all metal that fits into the bin, motor oil and glass. This is much of the most common recycled material, but there are other things we toss in there that can be recycled. Below is a list of some things you may not think of.

Rocks, concrete, etc

You usually have to pay a little to have these recycled, as they don't make anything off of it, but they will take the scrap rock material, crush it up, and use it as filler for concrete, or for land fill. We don't want it in our dumps, as it takes up the limited space we have in these nasty garbage pits.

Wood and brush

When you cut down a tree, or take out a wood fence, wall in your home, whatever, you will have some wood you need to dispose of. If you need some firewood, go ahead and burn it, but don't just toss it on a burn pile just to get rid of it. These burn piles create CO2 gas that adds to global warming. Some of the woods we build with have chemicals in them we don't want to burn (presure treated). Instead, take them to a paper mill or a recycling center. From here, the paper mills are too far away to drop at. They will allow you to drop the material for free, if you have one near by. They love for you to drop it off, because then they don't have to go hunt it down, or cut it down. It saves them time and money. If, like me, the mills are too far of a drive, you probably have a trasfer station that takes wood. They will charge you $20 or so for a big truck load, but unless you have a mill close by, it is worth it.

Styrofoam

You get a new computer, tv, stereo, whatever. It is packed in this nice styrofoam material to keep it from getting damaged in shipping. Once you have it all unpacked, you toss the packing into the trash, right? No! Styrofoam is recyclable. You cannot put it curbside, unfortunately, but you can take it to a recycling center to dump it. They should not charge you for this material.

Electronics

Electronics can be recycled too. You cannot recycle them curbside, and because of some of the things in them, it is against the law to place them in the trash. Some electronics can be rejuvinated and reused, others are beyond repair or just too old to be useful. I'd suggest taking them to a center that specializes in rejuvinating the old crap and then they can decide what to get rid of and what to reuse. You will have to pay a little for some items, such as CRT monitors and TVs (the old style with the tube) but much if it they will take as a donation (tax deductible).

Tires

Tires are a bane. We can't put them in the land fill. We can't pile them up, they might catch fire and never get put out. What are we to do? There are some things that they can be used for such as running surfaces, blacktop, asphalt and more. We don't use enough of them to use all the tires that are no longer wanted, so you will have to pay a small fee (about $1 each here) to get rid of them, but then they will take care of them until something can be found to d with them.