Recycling 101

The most common item made from iron is the steel food can.  Rechargeable batteries must be recycled.  A recycled aluminum can is usually back on the grocery shelf in about sixty days. Approximately 11% of household garbage is compostable.  The easy open aluminum can has been around since 1962.  It has been estimated that more than 275 million dollars worth of uneaten turkey becomes garbage around the Thanksgiving holiday.  Paper egg cartons are now recyclable in Fillmore County.  Twenty-five percent of the annual food waste in the United States occurs between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.  The average American generates 106 pounds of food waste annually.

Worn, torn, or faded American Flags are NOT garbage.  They should be given to a veterans organization to be disposed of properly during a dignified ceremony.

Ninety percent of the atmospheric mercury that falls into Minnesota lakes and streams that make some of our fish unsafe to eat comes from outside the state.  Plastic caps from plastic bottles should be sent with landfill garbage.  Nearly 45% of rural Minnesotans still burn their garbage on site.  Bread bags and potato bags can be taken back to a store along with your plastic shopping bags.

Each nine-volt battery must be put into an individual zip lock bag and be wrapped in tape to keep it from causing sparks during storage or disposal.  Many batteries that seem to be dead still have enough power to cause problems.  Keep all batteries in original packaging until you are ready to use them.

Of all the materials recycled, paper products account for 71% by weight.  Steel and aluminum cans make up only 5% by weight.  Eighty-eight percent of plastic bottles are not recycled, but instead find their way to the landfill.  Only one in five Americans recycle.  If the label on the container of a household item has the word “danger,” “poison,” “warning,”  “corrosive,” or “flammable” on it, it should be considered a hazardous substance.

Mark your calendar now.  The fall hazardous waste day is scheduled for Tuesday, October 3,  just a few short weeks away.  As usual, the celebration will begin at noon and end at 5 p.m.  Please watch for the notices that will be published in the Fillmore County Journal as well as other newspapers throughout the county.  These notices  will list what can and cannot be accepted as HHW.  A Recycling 101 article is scheduled to published prior to the date as well.