Recycling is a great way to do your part to help the planet, but it's not always easy to know what items can go in your recycling bin.
Thankfully, the Wisconsin-based Outagamie County Recycling & Solid Waste posted a TikTok video on its channel, Outagamie County Recyc & SW (@ocrecyclingsolidwaste), to clear up any confusion about recycling.
@ocrecyclingsolidwaste Our sorters in the Pre-Sort Room are crucial when it comes to removing unacceptable materials ♻️ #OutagamieCounty #trashtok #foryou #cheese #recycle ♬ original sound - Outagamie County Recyc & SW
The scoop
More cities are starting to offer recycling to reduce the amount of waste entering landfills and improve the planet's health.
However, "wishcycling" — putting nonrecyclable waste in the recycling bin in hopes it will be recycled — can hamper the sorting efforts of waste management centers.
That's why it's important to know the do's and don'ts of recycling to make the process go more smoothly.
In the video, a worker sorts through a pile of materials moving quickly down a conveyor belt.
Text on the video says, "Materials that do not go in your recycling carts."
The nonrecyclable items listed included plastic wrap, shredded paper, wood, holiday lights, plastic bags, and cheese — believe it or not.
The video's caption says, "Our sorters in the pre-sort room are crucial when it comes to removing unacceptable materials."
🗣️ What confuses you most about recycling protocol?
🔘 Which materials I can recycle 📦
🔘 How clean the material needs to be 🧼
🔘 What the plastic numbers mean ♻️
🔘 Nothing at all 😇
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
How it's helping
Making information about recycling available to the public helps immensely with recycling efforts. Recycling correctly can keep more money in your pocket by reducing your taxes, as News 12 New Jersey reported.
The more time workers spend sorting through trash, the more economic burden for cities and residents.
Reusing or recycling items also benefits the planet by cutting down on waste in landfills, which generates heat-trapping gases like methane as it decomposes.
In turn, extreme weather events and plastic waste clogging the oceans will become less of an issue as the planet cools and pollution declines.
While a Greenpeace USA report recently called plastic recycling a "failed concept," finding that only about 5% of plastic materials get recycled, it's still worth it to make the effort.
You can ask your city if it offers recycling drop-off locations for items such as plastic bags and thin plastics that can't go through sorting machines.
If you're unsure what items your city recycles, it's always best to check your city's website for more information. You can donate, sell, or swap unwanted items such as clothing, electronics, and shoes for cash or store credit.
What everyone's saying
Commenters were in disbelief about the attempt to recycle cheese and surprised about other nonrecyclable items.
"Stop recycling shredded paper," one person said. A commenter replied, "I literally had no idea. I've been throwing my shredded paper away for years."
"Can they teach proper trash and recycling disposal in school?! Ugh, that's so aggravating," another said.
Someone shared, "People forget that recycling is 1/3 of the reduce, reuse, recycle equation. It's not meant to be a 100% solution."
Join our free newsletter for cool news and actionable info that makes it easy to help yourself while helping the planet.
Cool Picks
