sorting the recyclables and what do these numbers mean?

My daughter and I spent yesterday afternoon going through our recycle bin. I know that sounds a bit like dumpster diving, but we had a purpose, honest we did!

One of the sad things we found out when we moved here is that they only pick up recyclables once every two weeks. For a family that fills up a large trash can of recyclables once a week this can lead to problems. So we are doing our best to conserve space and recycle along the way.

The first thing we sorted out was the aluminum soda cans. We had quite a few of these since we drove here and the move in processes. These got their own bag and smashed down to size. We are going to save these and turn them in separately. There is a local place that will buy these. Puts a little change in my daughters pocket, and a bonus she enjoyed smashing them.

Second we took out all the paper and cardboard. Newspapers, cereal boxes anything along that line got it’s own little box. For some reason they won’t take pizza boxes. I have 3 of these and have to figure out a way to repurpose these.

We took out all the tin cans and took the bottoms off as well as the tops and flattened them. That made a lot more room.

Next we separated the glass from the plastic. Many places won’t take all the plastics. So we have to sort by numbers. What are all these numbers on the bottom of our plastics anyways? Well today I received and email to enlighten me. Thought I would share.

1.. PET - 2-liter and mouthwash bottles, boil-in-bag pouches.

2. HDPE - milk jugs, trash bags, detergent bottles, some yogurt cups.

4. LDPE - grocery bags, produce bags, food wrap.

5. PP - diapers, straws, yogurt containers.

6. PS - CD cases, egg cartons, Styrofoam.

3. PVC - cooking-oil bottles, meat packaging, office binders.

7. Other - other types of plastic, plus things made from more than one type of plastic

Any of the containers they would take we made sure we flattened and put in the bin.

Well so for this two weeks I am down to two bins, a box of paper stuff and a bag with flattened soda cans. I think I need a bigger bin. Maybe there is somewhere I can take them to myself on the off week?

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