Does your neighborhood offer curbside recycling services? If so, you might want to double-check the contents of that big blue bin before you wheel it out to the curb this holiday season.
Single-stream recycling (when all materials go in the same bin) is the system currently used in most St. Louis–area municipalities. The problem is that buyers of this material, mostly in China, have been tightening regulations around just how much “contamination” is allowed. Contamination is anything that can’t be recycled: items soiled with food or liquid, or anything that is otherwise dirty. In recent years, this contamination rate has dropped to just 0.5 percent. “We’ve had to slow our lines by 30 percent,” says Tony Lamantia, municipal account manager at waste-disposal company Republic Services, in order to pick contaminated material out of the line. And when shipments are rejected by Chinese buyers? That is a huge economic burden on waste management companies, who must then get those shipments back to the U.S.
While this issue has gotten some attention locally, there is still a lot of confusion about how to adjust to the new guidelines. And especially around the holidays, when boxes, wrapping paper, and ribbons abound, it can be hard to know what should go in the blue bin—and what must be tossed in the trash. We talked to three local experts about which items should be recycled—and which should be trashed—this holiday season.
Plastic
Rachel Greathouse is a recycling program specialist with Saint Louis City Recycles, and her biggest tip is this: Don’t put plastic bags in the recycling bin. “Either throw plastic bags in the trash or take them back to the grocery or retail store to be recycled," she says. "Plastic bags jam the machinery, which causes the production line to be shut down for hours to cut plastic bags out of the equipment.”
What about packaging for all those gifts and household items you’re buying? Lamantia says: “Typically at Christmastime, we’re inundated with different materials. Look for a recycling symbol on the packaging.” Plastics #1–7 can go in the bin, except for Styrofoam, which needs to go in the trash.
Greathouse says that her team doesn't stress checking the numbers on plastics so much as making sure people know that only plastic bottles and containers should be recycled—never plastic bags, which are also stamped with a number.
Cardboard boxes
All those Amazon boxes you’re getting for holiday shipments? Flatten them out and stick them right into the blue bin. You don’t even need to remove stickers or tape, says Greathouse.
However, if you want a break from holiday cooking and decide to order pizza, keep in mind that greasy pizza boxes are considered contaminated material and need to go in the trash.
Wrapping paper
Yes, you can recycle wrapping paper, but please leave out the ribbons, bows, and tissue paper. Although these items are not accepted in recycling, they are easy to reuse. Any paper that goes in the recycling bin should be clean and dry.
Beyond the holidays
Feeling overwhelmed with the new rules? Jean Ponzi, green resources manager at the Missouri Botanical Garden, can help put things into perspective: “We don’t tend to think about the stuff that goes out of our lives because we're so used to thinking it's just going to go away, but we have the capacity to be responsible.” Ponzi describes recycling as an economic engine. “Keeping that engine fueled with the right stuff—not the stuff that we can't use—is what we are talking about.”
If you’re in a pinch and unsure about whether a particular item is recyclable, the new standard is actually the opposite of what it used to be: Put it in the trash. It might feel wrong, but it's the best practice for now to help our waste management providers to meet that 0.5 percent contamination rate. If you have a problem putting something in the landfill, then Ponzi advises to consider your purchasing decisions while still at the store.
One of the best guidelines for recycling this holiday season and beyond is to “Stick to the Six.” This outreach program, created Saint Louis City Recycles, aims to educate people on the six items that are easiest to recycle in single stream: paper, flattened cardboard, plastic bottles and containers, glass bottles and jars, metal food and beverage containers, and food and beverage cartons. If you have more questions about what can go in the bin, you can contact your local government, your recycling provider, or Saint Louis City Recycles.
