Since grade school many of us have been taught the three Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle. While this three word alliteration is easy to remember, there is more to this that not everyone is aware of. The top ten most commonly recyclable items in the United States include: cardboard, paper, food boxes, mail, beverage cans, food cans, glass bottles, jars, jugs, and plastic caps. But what about the less common items, that we are not sure if we can throw them in the recycling bin or not?

Many recycling guidelines and  regulations have changed overtime. Sometimes these changes can be difficult to keep up with or many of us may just forget. Guidelines for recycling can also differ in different areas. For example, in most areas, plastic bags can not be recycled due to the fact they will get tangled in the machine. In addition, at the end of the school year I would always throw my binder in the recycling bin, but turns out these plastic binders can not be recycled.

If you are not sure if something can be recycled or not, you can always look at its lifespan. On almost every item or waste, there will be a triangle with arrows and inside will be a number.  Items with a 1 are the safest to recycle and can be thrown in the bin, while items with a 6 are not recyclable in anyway and should be thrown in the garbage.

It is important to be as accurate as possible when recycling due to the fact that throwing trash into the recycling bin has the potential to contaminate the entire bin.

https://sustainabilityguide.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/recycling_wheel-1.png

https://www.facilities.vt.edu/sustainability/recycling.html

Even if an item can not be placed in the recycling bin, there are many different Eco-friendly ways to dispose of the item. Specifically, in my hometown we could not put our plastic bags in the recycling bin. To make up for this, our local grocery store would have a bin where we could place our plastic bags and the store would recycle and reuse the separately. This was very helpful due to the fact that plastic bags are one of the top plastic items found in the ocean.

We are lucky enough to be at a campus that values protecting the environment as well as promotes recycling. In every building there are sorted recycling bins. The University even goes as far enough as to create visual descriptions of what belongs in each category of bins. Also provided by the University is an online digital list of items that should be recycled or refused.With these resources available it is easier for each and everyone of us to watch our waste and make sure we are recycling responsibly.