Simple Steps to 'Close the Loop'! Garbage Can

Reduce, reuse, and recycle are the basic tools of waste prevention. When fully implemented, these steps can help to effectively and efficiently make the best use of natural resources.

Reduce

By planning ahead and making careful purchases, you can significantly reduce the waste you and your family generate.

  • Use both sides of paper and extend its use by two!
  • Replace disposable items like paper plates, coffee mugs and napkins with durable ones.
  • Use a shopping list to limit impulse buying.
  • Use durable bags to tote your groceries home.

Creating less waste to begin with conserves natural resources. It also reduces the demand for transportation and storage, and lessens the demand for collection services and landfill space.

Reuse

The more materials we reuse, the fewer resources are used to produce new products. Explore what other uses an item has before the product is discarded or recycled.

  • Maintain or repair hosehold goods rather than replacing with new.
  • Create a new purpose for old items and extend their useful life.
  • Donate, sell, or trade unwanted items.
  • Consider joining a Freecycle network in your area or log on to Craigslist to find treasures or offer up unwanted items for cash/trade. Both resources are free to list your items.

Recycle

By purchasing recycled-content products, you help to 'close the loop' and support a market for products made from recyclables. Manufacturers will use recyclables as feedstock to create new products and reduce the need to harvest natural resources. Through your efforts to reduce or reuse products, your waste generation will decrease! Great job!
  • Prepare recyclables properly to maintain their value in the marketplace. Rinse cans and containers, and keep paper dry.
  • Recycle glass separately. Put glass in a container separate from other recyclables. Use a plastic bucket or tub for glass and place it next to your other recyclables on collection day.
  • No plastic grocery bags allowed at the curb. Recycle bags at your grocery store. Many have collection units at the store's entryway.

 

Materials Not Accepted in Residential Recycling

Proper preparation is important to make recycling work. Do not place these into

your residential recycling. For information about how to recycle these items orother “hard to recycle items,” contact Metro Recycling Information Center at (503) 234-3000 or Find a Recycler.

 

Plastic Bags: Do not place plastic bags in recycling containers - they jam machinery and disrupt operations at the processing facility. Intead, recycle used plastic bags at grocery stores, use them to line your household waste baskets or use them to collect animal waste.

Plastic Caps, Lids and Tops: These items are not accepted in residential recycling. These items tend to slip between paper at the recovery facility and are inadvertantly directed to the paper mill. Lids that are less than 2" in diameter that don't mix with paper tend to falll through the sorting screens. Save lids to take to a recycling depot or Master Recycler Plastics Roundup event.

Transparent plastic deli containers and "clamshell" or blister packaging (think of rigid packaging requiring a knife to open) are not part of the residential recycling program. These materials can be stockpiled and recycled at a quarterly Master Recycler Plastics Roundup event.

Glass: GLASS BREAKS! When mixed with other recyclables, glass can damage machinery and pose a safety hazard to workers. Please check with your apartment manager for designated collection containers for glass or take glass to a recycling depot.

Block Styrofoam or Peanuts: Currently there are vendors who recycle block Styrofoam. To find the closest recycler, call Metro Recycling Information at

(503) 234-3000 or Find a Recycler.

Reuse Idea: Styrofoam peanuts are often accepted at local mailhouses for reuse.