Thursday, January 16, 2014

Beyond Water Bottles: Items That Are Recyclable

By Lenna Stockwell


We all know that soda cans and water bottles can be recycled, but there are many other items out there that can be recycled. So before you simply toss an item into the trash can, consider whether or not that product can instead be recycled and not end up in your local landfill.

When it comes to batteries, most Americans simply toss these small and seemingly unrecyclable items because they are not as aware that they can be recycled and in fact, should be, given its mercury content. Batteries manufactured before the year 1997 should be recycled most importantly because these are the ones which contain higher amounts of mercury as opposed to the newer versions. There are many battery stores whether online or the brick-and-mortar ones who accommodate people who would like to drop off used batteries. You will even find places which offer recycling for rechargeable batteries and the lithium ones.

Those ink cartridges you place into your computer printer also can be recycled. There are stores who might offer you some cash back or give out discounts in exchange for these ink cartridges. Do you know that parts of these cartridges are being made into new products given that these come with thermoplastic and aluminum which are highly recyclable materials?

The clothes you wear are definitely candidates for recycling. Aside from the commonly known recycling of clothes via donations to charity stores, those which are stained, threadbare or torn may be recycled as well. Whether they become rags for cleaning or materials used for insulation, these pieces of clothing can actually be converted into most anything useful.

One common type of light bulb is the compact fluorescent light bulb. This is definitely not something that you want to end up at the landfill, because they do contain a high amount of mercury. These are easy enough to recycle as several large stores, such as Home Depot and IKEA have recycling programs for these types of bulbs.

It should be common understanding that thermoplastic is recyclable indeed, as all thermoplastic can be melted down and reused. This includes much more than water bottles, though. For instance, items made out of acrylic or PVC or perhaps nylon can be recycled. Thermoforming companies use this type of plastic to create a huge variety of common products as well as all that custom thermoplastic packaging that protects millions of consumer items. Typically, thermoplastic identified with a code of 1 or 2 can simply be tossed into your recycling bin, but more and more cities are allowing all types of thermoplastic into these bins as all of these items can be recycled.




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