Okay, so those First Two R’s… the most important ones… I’m working on those. From turning off the power strips (with the printer, router, TV, phone charger, etc.) to TRYING to remember those nice grocery bags, to packing my lunch in old containers that used to hold, say, sliced ham (okay, they’re really knockoff Glad containers, but I like the idea), I’m slowly chipping away at lowering my consumption and reusing what we’ve already got. I’m also recycling what I can, as well. About half of our waste stream is actually recyclable. If only we could recycle dog poop we’d only be throwing away food packaging, which I’m going to try targeting next. Here’s a list of everything that the good ol’ District of Columbia picks up for recycling:
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Aerosol cans
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Aluminum foil and aluminum pie pans
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Aluminum food and beverage containers
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Books (including paperbacks, textbooks, and hardbacks)
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Brown paper bags (Kraft)
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Cardboard and paperboard boxes (including cereal boxes without liners)
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Computer printouts
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Corrugated cardboard boxes
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Ferrous and bimetal food and beverage containers
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Glass containers such as jars and bottles
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Junk mail
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Magazines and catalogs
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Milk and juice cartons
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Narrow-neck plastic containers (other than for motor oil) that carry plastic resin identification codes 1 through 7
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Newspapers (including all inserts)
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Non-metallic wrapping paper
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Office paper (including typing, fax, copy, letterhead, and NCR) and envelopes
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Plastic bags, e.g., grocery bags, newspaper bags, and shopping bags. Please put your plastic bags into one plastic bag then place it in your recycling container. We will accept more than one bag of plastic bags.
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Rigid plastics including plastic milk/soda crates, plastic buckets with metal handles, plastic laundry baskets, plastic lawn furniture, plastic totes, plastic drums, plastic coolers, plastic flower pots, plastic drinking cups/glasses, plastic 5-gallon water bottles, plastic pallets, plastic toys, and empty plastic garbage/recycling bins
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Telephone books
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Wide-mouth containers such as peanut butter, margarine/butter tubs, yogurt, cottage, cheese, yogurt, sour cream, mayonnaise, whipped topping, and prescription (remove the identification label) and over-the-counter medicine bottles. (note that the lids and caps do not need to be removed.) Please do not include Styrofoam meat trays, lunch “clamshells” or foam packaging, such as “peanuts.”
I’ve highlighted some of the exceptional things in GREEN because that’s how I roll. I’m excited about the wide-mouth containers, like the used yogurt container that I wiped out and put back in my lunchbox, just so I can take it home to recycle (work only has aluminum/glass, and only in the cafeteria, I’m so disappointed.)
Note the last sentence about foam packaging, packing peanuts, etc. Luckily, there’s a drop-off for EPS (expanded polystyrene) foam (# 6), although apparently the recycling process is very sensitive to contaminants like leftover food, etc., so food containers are out.
There’s a (fairly) local organization – the Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers http://www.epspackaging.org/info.html based in Crofton, MD. They recycle EPS foam (expanded polystyrene) number 6, and have a list of drop-off and return-mail places that accept used, clean EPS #6 packaging (and maybe packing peanuts?). The list is incomplete, though, so they refferred me to earth911.com to find the location nearest me. There’s actually a number of them in the area, but it’s also dependent on where you live. Since I’m a resident of DC, I can take my stuff to Ft. Totten, but non-residents can’t. There’s three locations for residents of Fairfax Co. VA, a place in Silver Spring, MD, and the list goes on. I was a little surprised not to find the City of Alexandria, Arlington, or other Northern Virgina counties / cities listed, though. Maybe they ‘count’ as Fairfax Co. and can take them to the Bellvue or Annandale locations.
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