When I lived in Guelph, Ont. a few years ago, I enjoyed using a garbage system that seemed rather enlightened. They’ve since shut the system down due to the cost of operating it, I believe, but here’s how it worked. You bought two types of bags: big blue bags for “dry” garbage and small green bags for “wet” garbage. Dry was recyclables and wet was compostables. There were no black bags. The city would not take them. But they would take your wet bags and dry bags, and they provided a lot of employment for the people who, along with a bunch of machinery, would sift through the dry things, sorting recyclables and setting aside items for donation. I know that, at the end of the assembly line, there was still garbage. But it seemed like a thorough approach to waste diversion, and it was pretty easy on the citizen side of things.
Every city, town and hamlet has its own way of handling recyclables, and the rules about what can be recycled seem to change a lot. In the city of Toronto, where I live, I had the idea that we could recycle most everything. But I’m realizing that “everything” has a big asterisk next to it. The Toronto Star’s Trash Talk column sorts out recycling issues; writer Ellen Moorehouse recently reported that recyclers have trouble with containers that have a lid attached that’s made from a different material, so now I’m unscrewing metal lids from glass jars, plastic lids from juice cartons.
A few other surprises regarding what doesn’t belong in Toronto recycling bins:
- Paper bags with linings intended to keep food fresh, such as cookie bags
- Plastic plant pots. Some garden centres will take these back; according to this Star article, Loblaw even offers some financial incentives: If you bring in 25 plastic containers, you get a $5 coupon you can use toward the purchase of $50 or more in garden products.
- Plastic shopping bags can go in, as long as they don’t have drawstrings or metal handles (although you can cut these off). But milk bags, sandwich bags, bread bags, produce bags and dry cleaning bags don’t belong in your blue bin.
- Clear clamshell containers used to hold fruits and veggies. This one really surprised me because these have a recycling number on the bottom. I know some farmers will take these to put their fresh produce in, and my organic food delivery service will take these back.
- Paper coffee cups. Think of how many of these are purchased each day! I assume they can’t be recycled because of the wax lining on the inside.
Does your municipality recycle any of these items? Have you had any surprises about what you can’t recycle?
