Urban Ecoist

Are you recycling? Good. But part and parcel of living a little more lightly is a little step I call “pre-recycling.”

Essentially, what I am talking about is how the products you buy are packaged. Some things are more recyclable than others. Some packaging is simply excessive. Some packaging may look like it would be recyclable, but try finding a convenient way to do it. And then of course, some packaging is, well, dangerous.

What you should do first is to check out what your curbside recycling picks up. Where I live, for example, we have a pretty good curbside system, but then I live in Portland, Oregon, which is really into the whole green living thing. When I lived in Chicago, the city was just starting to pick up recyclables in “test” neighborhoods. When I visited relatives in Kissimmee, Florida, there was no such thing as curbside recycling pick up. However, the city did have drop-off bins around the area.

Recycling has become fairly ubiquitous, so with a little effort and research, you can find a place that will recycle whatever you have that can be recycled. However, as it is always easier to put your recycling out weekly at your home or business, I suggest getting to know exactly what your curbside service picks up and what it doesn’t.

That said, glass is a great material to recycle. It is immensely recyclable, and can be recycled countless times. Unlike paper which can only be recycled so many times before ending up as scratchy tissue paper. Another great thing about glass jars is that you can easily re-use them. When shopping, I look for products in glass jars. I store leftovers in them, I put cut flowers in them, I store seeds, I use them for paints, nuts, bolts, nails — you get the picture. Instead of wrapping things up in cellophane, try putting your scraps and leftovers in glass jars. It’s also better than buying plastic containers for storage, as you have already bought the glass jar when you bought pasta sauce.

Metal is also quite recyclable, but some tins are lined with plastic and some of that plastic has bisphenol-A and other not so nice chemicals involved in the lining process. Still, metal is a good choice for packaging that you can easily recycle.

Plastics get a little tricky. You have to really look at the packaging to determine if your recycler takes that particular plastic or shape of plastic container. For example, when I first moved to Portland, yogurt containers and similar plastic “tub” style were not picked up curbside, but then about five or six months ago, that changed. But still, the clear plastic containers that are more of a hinge-style, usually marked #1 or #6, that cookies from a chain stores’ bakeries come in, or fresh produce in some stores, are not picked up. So, I try not to buy anything in those containers, which is difficult. I do store them in bins in my basement to recycle at a local facility that does take plastics of all kinds, separated, of course.

Always avoid single-serving packaging, and equally excessive packaging. And if you really want to be hard-core, write the company and let them know why you are not buying their product based on packaging. You would be surprised how many companies just need a little nudge in the right direction. And with the current “climate” in the US (and elsewhere) to be “greener”, many companies are already changing or have changed packaging options to either be more recyclable or more easily recyclable or simply just less packaged.

recycling, packaging, excessive packaging, recycle, recyclables, recyclable, Portland, Oregon, Florida, Chicago, glass, plastics, plastic, plastic #1, #6, shopping, consumerism, consumption, metal, bisphenol-A, green