Saturday, September 5, 2015

September 5

Today I threw out: this straw. But I used it to drink iced tea from a reusable cup! 


Could this trash have been avoided? I suppose so, but I really like straws. They make cool drinks more refreshing, and it's much easier to share drinks with my kid when I'm not worried about spills or excessive backwash (the less said about that, the better).


I did some baking tonight, which involved throwing out a butter wrapper (recycled the box), a cream cheese wrapper (recycled the box) and two toothpicks. Stay tuned tomorrow and the rest of the week for a constant stream of cupcake liners. Does anyone know if cream cheese foil wrappers are recyclable?


Tonight I threw out: this. What is it? I don't know. I just found it in my kitchen, orphaned and alone. Could it have been avoided? Well, I certainly could have avoided throwing it out, but ignoring random trash doesn't answer any of my trash questions.


Tonight I threw out: empty milk carton, the little stopper from the new carton. Could this have been avoided? Considering how much money we spend on organic milk (at least $75/month), it feels weird that we just throw the cartons away, but is there something else we can do with them? I doubt the coated cardboard is recyclable, and the plastic spout doesn't give me any info whatsoever. I assuage my guilt by flattening the cartons before I throw them out.

ETA: I just remembered that I threw out another cheese wrapper yesterday but accidentally deleted the photo. We love cheese. 

ETA: Also this: 


The box is probably recyclable? Though it has a weird coating on it. But the metal spout fell inside and I didn't know if I should saw the box in half to get it out, along with the remnants of dishwashing powder. 

2 comments:

  1. A lot of things can be put in recycling without being deconstructed. Juice/milk cartons, toss them with the plastics intact. Baguette bags, toss them in with the paper, intact. Don't worry about the coatings inside or outside of the cardboard packages (i.e. dishwashing powder box), just toss it with the plastics. The facility has the ability to separate these things. In reality, the only thing that really needs to be separated in our part of Jersey is paper. That goes to a different facility. But everything else can be recycled together, including cans, aluminum, and the like. And don't stress too hard about what to recycle. If it has the recycle arrows, then recycle it, if not then trash it. Remember, more recycling can lead to more jobs.

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    1. Good to know, thanks! I guess if all the plastic, glass and metal is mixed together, they do a fair amount of sorting at the recycling center anyway, and if any trash gets in there they will take care of it. Right?

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