The breakdown and what can and cannot be recycled.
By: Joseph Harvie
There are many misconceptions about what can and can not be recycled and Nancy Paquette, township recycling coordinator, wants to clear them up.
She said there are many types of plastics that are not recyclable and residents should sort through their plastics before placing them in the container for commingled plastic, glass and aluminum.
"On the bottom of containers there are arrows with numbers inside of them," Ms. Paquette said. "Only number ones and twos are recyclable."
The arrows form a triangle and inside the triangle there will be a number.
Number one containers are polyethylene terephthalate, and are commonly found in plastic soda bottles. Number two containers are high-density polyethylene and are commonly used to make milk and juice jugs.
Ms. Paquette also requested that residents not throw plastic bags in recycling bins or place recyclable materials in plastic bags before placing them in recycling containers.
Ms. Paquette said when the bottles and cans are separated at recycling plants, air is used to separate them by weight, and the plastic bags will get blown around and slow down work at the plants. There is one exception to this rule though.
"I know I said residents shouldn’t use plastic when discarding recyclable materials, but when recycling shredded paper, we ask residents to place it in plastic bags because without a bag, it becomes a litter issue," Ms. Paquette said.
Ms. Paquette also said that, even though the township has weekly pickups, residents that do not have a lot of recycling should wait an extra week before putting it out at the curb.
"Especially on a windy day residents should either wait a week to put their recycling out or bring it to the recycling center so the yellow buckets don’t blow around," Ms. Paquette said.

