It's Florida Recycles Week, and Florida's top recycler has some tips

By Dawn McCormick on November 11, 2020

For Florida Recycles Week, some dos and don'ts of recycling

Florida Recycles Week (Nov. 9-15) and America Recycles Day on Sunday, Nov. 15, are great times to celebrate the tremendous environmental benefits of recycling and personally commit to doing our part to recycle right.

As North America's largest residential recycler, Waste Management managed the recycling of more than 15 million tons of aluminum and steel cans, cardboard and paper, and plastic bottles and jugs in 2019.

These recycling efforts saved 196 million trees, 46 billion gallons of water and avoided 29 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions — the equivalent of removing 6 million cars from the road each year!

While it's important to recycle, it's especially important to recycle right.

In Florida, that means recycling only clean and dry paper and cardboard, bottles and cans in your curbside residential recycling container.

Do not recycle plastic bags or plastic film such as dry-cleaning bags or bread bags curbside. They cannot be separated at the recycling processing center, jam up the machines and can cause fires and injuries to our workers. Instead, take plastic bags and plastic wraps back to a retailer that can recycle them separately.

Also, do not bag your recyclables, or they won't get recycled because we can't see what is inside. Place recyclables in your container loose and dry.

While the recycling markets have been challenging the past few years with China closing its door to most recycling material, Waste Management is still finding markets for good, clean recyclable material. In fact, 100% of the plastic bottles we recycle are staying here in the United States and being remade into new plastic bottles, park benches and playground equipment.

And while the cost of recycling has gone up due to challenging markets and too much garbage being placed in recycling containers, Waste Management is working cooperatively with the counties and cities we serve to keep recycling environmentally and economically sustainable.

You can do your part by recycling right — “When in Doubt, Throw it Out." And remember to buy products made from recycled content, too!

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/letters/fl-op-letters-florida-recycles-week-biden-unity-20201111-sxjrln5sifhs5jfojgkhyfg2zu-story.html