Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Recycling non-recyclables

[Fred-List manager (fholson]

Claudia Fabiano <claudfabiano [at] gmail.com>
is the author of the message below.  It was posted by
Fred, the Cohousing-L list manager <fholson [at] cohousing.org>
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Many materials are hard to recycle, or even if you follow proper
recycling rules, they don't actually end up getting recycled. So ideally:
1) you avoid acquiring plastic bags and styrofoam and other hard to recycle
items in the first place, but that's not always possible. To avoid a lot of
packaging- look for Zero Waste grocery stores and online stores (like
Package Free Shop), or you can try Loop, which allows you to send back the
packaging for many products for reuse, but is not available everywhere yet.
2) Second best is finding a way to reuse them. In my area (DC), many of
these items can be offered in Buy Nothing groups for people in your
neighborhood to reuse (for example, moving boxes/bubble wrap/packing
paper/padded envelopes, plastic bags for people with dogs, household items
you no longer use, etc) but you can also think creatively about businesses
in your area who can reuse things- ice packs and any kind of bags to orgs
who redistribute food, berry clamshells and egg cartons are accepted by
many farmers at farmers markets for reuse, etc.
3) If you can't reduce or reuse, then the third best option is recycling,
when possible. If your local municipality doesn't take something, grocery
stores often take plastic bags for recycling, and then there are the paid
programs like Terracycle and Plastic Tree (which I haven't personally tried
because I'm trying really hard to cut down on acquiring single use
materials in the first place). I'm happy to help think through other ways
to avoid creating waste that can't be reused or recycled easily- feel free
to contact me with more specific questions- claudfabiano [at] gmail.com