RecycleMania is back! To kick-off the competition we turned to public information specialist Clyde Trombetti from the Baltimore County Bureau of Solid Waste Management to help answer a few of the most common recycling questions.
Are all plastics 1 – 7 accepted? If not, what are the exceptions?
All plastic bottles and wide mouth (non-Styrofoam) containers numbered 1-7 are accepted. Note this is different than all 1-7 plastics.
What is the recycling rule for plastic cups?
We do accept all disposable plastic cups, including the clear cups.
Should you dump out liquids before recycling your bottle or can?
It is best to empty containers before putting them into the recycling.
Can you recycle plastic utensils and/or straws?
No you can’t recycle them. Note that at Towson University dining facilities offers compostable utensils and straws.
Do I need to wash my plastic container if it has some food left in it?
We only ask for a quick rinse of materials. We don’t want people wasting resources (mostly water) to clean material that will be cleaned in the recycling process.
Can plastic clam-shells be recycled?
We do not accept clam-shell containers no matter the number on the container. The buyers plastic bottles consider the clam-shells as a contaminate. Note that Towson University Dining Services offers compostable clamshells, made from plant-based materials.
Can you recycle a pizza box?
Pizza boxes are acceptable if no food has soaked into the paper. If the bottom of the box has grease or sauce soaked into the paper but the top is clean, throw the bottom in the compost bin and the top in the recycling.
My plastic grocery bag has a number 4 recyclable symbol on it. Why can’t it go into my single stream recycling?
We don’t accept plastic bags or any type of plastic film because it causes problems for our sorting equipment. It gets wrapped around the rollers in the equipment much like a string gets wrapped around a vacuum cleaner roller. When this occurs it does not allow the equipment to sort material properly and leads to more contamination in the sorted material. We do encourage people to take their plastic bags back to stores that accept these bags. The majority of this material is used to make plastic and composite lumber.
When can aluminum foil be recycled?
Aluminum foil and all the aluminum foil pans, such as pastries come in, are acceptable. However, if the foil is covered by a heavy layer of baked on grease it is better to place that in the trash.
What happens if a load of recycling gets contaminated with non-recyclables? How often does this happen?
If we know a load of material is heavily contaminated with trash the load may be dumped as trash. However, every load of material has some contamination in it and the sorting facility is designed to handle this situation. This type of contamination is infrequent because of our collection methods.
Do you have other questions regarding recycling at Towson University? Send them to gogreen@towson.edu and we’ll find the answers!
CONTACT INFO FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO KNOW MORE:
Daniela Beall, Graduate Assistant for Environmental Initiatives, dbeall1@students.towson.edu
