More
information about our trash and recycling
Paper-- Nearly 1/3 of the raw material fiber used in U.S. paper mills comes from recycled paper and cardboard. The remaining 2/3 comes from virgin fiber, or freshly cut trees. When we use recycled paper products, we help save resources. We could save about $1.8 billion and tremendous amounts of energy (11.5 billion kwh) if all the paper we used had 50% recycled content. So remember,
- Look for a statement that says a product is “made from recycled material” and complete the recycling loop.
- Recycle paper products that have not been soiled (like dirty napkins).
- Use washable napkins and towels rather than paper products.
- Don’t buy over-packaged products that waste our resources.
Other -- This category consists mainly of larger items that can often be reused or recycled, like appliances, furniture or construction debris. Furniture in good condition is accepted at some thrift stores or charitable organizations. To find out where to take appliances or construction debris, visit the “Residential Recycling Information” section of the King County Solid Waste Division.
Wood/Yard Waste -- This 16% of our total waste steam comes mainly in the summer months, and could be reduced greatly by composting or mulching our yard waste. For more information on composting, visit the “Composting Information” section of the King County Solid Waste Division.
Food -- Over 2/3 of the food we throw away is edible! This represents a tremendous waste of food and money. Remember that leftovers
can
be stored in the refrigerator and make tasty snacks for another day. Food
scraps can be composted by placing them in a worm bin. For more information
on composting food waste, visit the “Composting
Information” section of the King
County Solid Waste Division’s home page. Plastics -- Americans recycle 46% or their plastic soda bottles and 30% of their milk and water jugs, but overall, we only recycle 5% of all plastics! Surprisingly, over 40% of all plastics are used for packaging. One way to reduce the plastic content in our garbage is by purchasing products with less packaging.
Metals -- Here in the U.S., we recycle nearly 60% of our aluminum cans, and the can you may be drinking from right now is made up of about 52% recycled material. The easiest way to reduce the amount of metal in our garbage is by recycling more of our aluminum and tin cans. Clean aluminum foil can also be recycled with your aluminum cans. Remember to peel the paper labels off of tin cans and rinse them out before recycling.
Glass -- The recycling rate for glass is estimated to be about 27% nationwide and 57% for King County. Of this “container” glass, about 60% is made up of clear containers, 30% from brown or amber containers, 7% from green and the rest from blue or other colored containers. Once they enter the recycling stream, they are sorted by color and then crushed. About 80% of these crushed containers are made back into new containers. The other 20% goes into making a variety of other products including fiberglass insulating material, reflective paint, abrasives and road surfaces (“glassphalt”).
Clothes/Textiles -- When we throw away our “old clothes,” we make an unnecessary
contribution to the landfill. King County families disposed of nearly 13,000
tons of clothing and textiles in 1996. By taking old clothes to a thrift
store or charitable organization, we not only reduce our garbage, but allow
other people to reuse things we no longer need.
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