America Recycles Day: Get Inspired to Recycle More of Your Everyday Plastics!

Every plastic item that enters our home is recycled. The plastic bags along with other plastic bag type packaging are returned to the store. All plastic packaging yogurt cups, pickle jars, salad dressing bottles, ketchup bottles, butter tubs, etc. are all in our full 35 gallon recycling bin every week.

We recycle Plastic bottles with the # 1 and 2 on them. I take my plastic bags to the store when I Get enough of them, but I use the grocerybags in my little trash cans in the bathrooms and to pick up my dogs mess in the back yard and on walks and for trash bag in our cars. We use the plastic bags also to put our wet clotes and towels in when we go to the beach. Those are just a few things we do to reuse and to recycle pllastic bags. I know it isn’t much but I feel I’m helping out .I just wish there was a place here to recycle the other numbered plastics ( # 3, 5 ect.) I just hate throwing those away.

Milk and other dairy containers (butter, yogurt, sour cream etc); shampoo, conditioner and liquid soap bottles; cleaning products spray bottles; plastic shopping bags (when I absolutely have to get a few, but most of the time I use the green bags); plastic bags from my daily newspaper, as well as from bread and other groceries; and the list goes on. And btw, I do not recycle water bottles because I DO NOT BUY THEM! (Using water filter instead :))

I have been recycling my water bottles for a while now, but I just recently learned that I could recycle my laundry detergent and softener bottles too! How exciting!

We recycle pretty much anything that can’t be repurposed in some way. One small thing we do is separate the small bottle caps and save them in a bag. Aveda will recycle those and make caps for their products. Many people don’t know that the recycling centers won’t recycle those with all the big stuff.

This Christmas, we are asking our friends to give us a plastic item to build our Christmas tree. It can be anything, as long as it is plastic or has plastic on it. My kids and I plan to photograph and blog the items to see what crazy stuff we get!

We recycle plastics through our city’s comingled curbside recycling program, and plastic bags at the grocery store. But this is the last step. We reuse what we can, using many methods (lots of ideas on the internet) We consider plastic as a crafting supply, among other things. WE also recycle through Terracycle where the plastic is reused to create new products and also helps support individuals in third world countries by providing a source of income to them. Seldom will any plastic go into our trash bags and to the landfill. (too bad the trash bags themselves are plactic!!!)

Why do things made from recycling, almost always cost more than things made from new raw materials? This seems backwards, it should cost less to re use materials rather than buy/process new materials.

Charlie: I agree with you , Styrofoam should be banned, it is one of the fastest brake down plastic. It puts poisonous chemicals into the ground (water/water table) quickly. while most plastics take thousands of years to break with little chemical pollution, but this plastic can break down in as little as days. making things even worse most recycling places (trash Co. and centers) won’t take it so it winds up in the land fill (earth). I also recycle lots of cardboard for free.

I RECYCLE ON A DAILY BASIS, I REALLY ENJOY IT

I’m making a concious effort to get better at recycling everyday. I recycle the usual; platic bags and bottle, but I’m looking more into giving used plastic items a redefined purpose.

We recycle everything from water to scraps to garbage – I’d love to try a composting toilet but I fear my family would revolt

Recycle all bottles, plastic, newspaper, and papers. Recycle car oil. Also donate used clothes and goods to charity thus no landfill for them.

Hi, we don’t have separate containers for different recyclbles it all goes into one Blue Can, and i think that is great, they take just about everything paper, plastic, glass and Cans, they Did have our recycle center on TV and the only thing they asked us not to recycle was the plastic bags you get from the grocery store! i found that odd but the Guy had said that they Clog up the machine and they have to stop and start too much fixing it. He did not give a way for us to recycle them So… I save them up and put the bags in it anyway but only when i get a lot of them in one big bundle so they are easy to pick out…after all they are recycble too. :)

In our home, we have seperate trash and recycle bins. We recycle all plastics – #1 – #7, along with newspapers, magazines, cardboard, glass, and aluminum. On pickup days, our recycle bins are overflowing, while our garbage can could go a couple of weeks without even getting dumped! It’s a great way to teach our kids about taking care of the earth.

I take my plastic to my daughter’s home to recycle as in our town there is no recycleing in apt complexes

We recycle just about everything. 6 pk can holders, egg cartons, milk bottles, shampoo, conditioner bottles, toilet paper rolls, beverage cans & bottles, cardboard from every food package we use, cans, batteries, newspaper, magazines, compact lightbulbs, laundry detergent jugs, pet food bags, ice cream containers. And the list goes on and on. We also have a compost pile for vegi and fruit scraps. We are extremely passionate about the environment.

We recyle just about everything! Our city is not very recyle friendly at this point. We do plastics, glass, paper, cardboard, newspapers, magazines, aluminum, steel, etc. We also compost all our vegi and fruit scraps for great compost for our garden in the summer and fall. We also use reuseable bags for shopping! We are very committed to being good stewards of the earth! :-) We have 7 acres and a lake that we set up for a wildlife refuge for any wildlife that would like to stay or visit us! The Earth is our only home so we better take care of it!

It must be nice to be able to get curbside recycling tubs and are picked up.But if you live in suburbs, say 8 miles from a big town there isn’t any service. So I save everything plastic and whenever I found a bigger product of shampoo or conditioner on sale, i’ll buy it and pour it into those empty shampoo containers and conditioners. So instead of buying 2 of each bottle ending up with four empty’s in the end so instead buy 2 to reduce the amount. Another way to reuse those empty plastic shampoo bottle is to refill them with bleach after you have clearly marked the new label on it. That way you have a handy little bottle of bleach needed for those disinfection times. Glad to hear somebody find another use for all those bags. In my state those bags are eventually gonna be banned from stores from using them, due to mass amounts that aren’t recycled. I use deck boards made from plastic bags, I got them for free so i’m reusing them on my new deck.

We recycle everything we can. Plastics, unfortunately, are not great for recycling as paper and metal are. Most plastics are not recycled, even if they’re deposited into a recycle bin, because the polymers break down and there’s not usually an aftermarket value for the shoddy material. I just try not to use plastic at all, since it comes from petrochemicals and I’d like to see us break our dependence on oil.

we recycle plastic bags and pop bottles

If it’s plastic- it goes in the bin. I BYOB to every store I shop in, so I never bring home a plastic bag, and buy in bulk as much as possible. I tossed the water bottle habit long ago- PREcycle first~ less waste in the first place! Plastic items in my bin every week include; milk jugs, the juice jug, yogurt container(s), bulk produce bags -apple, grape, carrot and smart balance containers :O) Also added when finished are vitamin bottles, shampoo/conditioner/lotions, like I said- if it’s plastic, it goes in the bin.

We recycle all of our plastics but hate to even use them. Plastic is toxic and environmentally harmful. Glass is better and sustainable.

We put all the plastic, except cat litter buckets, out for recycling and they pick them up. I buy litter in paper bags and re-use the buckets so I don’t buy more of them, unless I have a specific need for a big bucket with a tightly-closing lid. We don’t generate a lot of trash because we recycle everything we can. I put sorted recyclables in whatever paper grocery bags I get from the store, and they go in recycling, too; and the plastic grocery sacks are re-used as trash-can liners. We live in a small town in rural Iowa, where years ago a forward-thinking woman agitated until she got the city to make curbside recycling available, and a local agency that serves people who have developmental disabilities sorts recyclables and gets them to the appropriate facilities for processing.

We are able to recycle all kinds of containers, packaging and expanded polystyrene. However I keep any plastic grocery bags I get for plarn crochet, and I do a lot of crafting with leftover materials. You can read about it in my column for Natural Life Magazine http://www.naturallifemagazine.com/handmade/index.htm.

MY HUSBAND AND I STARTED A RECYCLING BUSINESS IN OUR RURAL COMMUNITY. WE DID NOT HAVE ANY RECYCLING IN OUR COUNTY UNTIL WE STARTED OUR BUSINESS. WE STARTED AT HOME AND INSTEAD OF OUR TRASH OVER FLOWING EACH WEEK AT TIME OF PICKUP WE ONLY PUT OUR TRASH OUR ONCE A MONTH. WE RECYCLE EVERYTHING WE CAN.

My wife and I, and now the rest of our family, recycle everything we get. If it can’t be recycled, it goes to the compost. If it can’t be composted, it is usually reused in some way or goes to the trash. Our trash goes to the curb MAYBE once a month! We have also started buying most of what we need locally and try to only get items that are made from recycled materials or at least packaged in recycled material.

any and all plastic bottles and containers

We recycle everything possible! I sort of refer to myself as a ‘recycling Nazi’. Since my children were very little, I’ve taught them to put all their scratch/drawing/school papers, every toilet paper and paper towel tube, etc. into the bin. We recycle EVERY plastic, aluminum foil, every type of can, all paper food boxes, egg cartons, orange juice cartons, even the Styrofoam from meat and poultry packages and restaurant take-home boxes…you name it. After family birthday parties & gatherings, I wash & recycle plastic party cups (rescuing them from the trash if I see them in there). When I first started recycling several years ago, our home’s trash production was reduced by about 50-70%. I take the plastic grocery bags to either of 2 local grocery stores to deposit in their bag collection bin, and I TRY to remember to use my canvas shopping bags to avoid using more plastic bags. The only things that our curbside recycling program doesn’t take in our regular weekly collection is colored glass and heavier cardboard boxes, like pizza boxes and UPS/FedEx boxes, etc. We have to save the colored glass for an annual collection at our state fairgrounds, but we rarely use things with colored glass anyway. We can drop off the cardboard boxes anytime at the local recycling center, and if you bring in aluminum cans, they pay you for them by weight. :-)

We recycle all we can, including making a weekly trip to the co-op where they accept plastics of all types for recycling.

We recycle plastic drink bottles, and cans. We are very lucky that we can put all of our items to be recycled in the same container and they separate them.

WE RECYCLE EVERYTHING THAT WE CAN ALSO. I FIND IT A FUN THING TO DO AS WELL AS HELPING THE ENVIROMENT. WISHING EVERYONE A BLESSED CHRISTMAS.

(I don’t think my earlier comment posted) We recycle everything we can from papers to plastic jugs to aluminum cans.

Just about everything is recyclable except we don’t have composting. Next best thing is bringing it to Whole Foods.

I recycle empty soda, milk, orange juice bottles, newspapers, glass jars, and food cans.

We recycle bottles, cans; plastic, glass, and paper; at home and work.

Make it a habit to recycle that it becomes second nature to you to it everyday!

We recycle every possible thing and start the process by using items that have minimal packaging and are made from recycled material.

Every two weeks we have recycling pick-up #1 & 2 plastics, as long as the neck is smaller than the container, which was once explained to me. Also, no to fiberboard, like cereal or frozen food boxes, but corrugated cardboard is recyclable. I’ve sent several shipments of #5 plastic to Preserve. In 2010 sent Green Disk Services.com 2 or 3 shipments of recyclable items (computer monitor and a CPU tower, peripherals, VHS tapes and audio tapes). The last shipment used up the supply of foam peanuts, I had accumulated (aha). Seeing the CPU tower, or not seeing it in our living room was very nice!

We recycle everything made of plastic and paper. That includes newspapers, milk and juice containers, yogurt containers, contiment containers, etc.

we reclycle all plastic

lets start