That's strange..........our local recycling (the street department), has a huge open metal bin for cardboard. It gets wet all the time.
That's strange..........our local recycling (the street department), has a huge open metal bin for cardboard. It gets wet all the time.
Yeah, that was news to me, too. We only recently received a covered bin for recycling (once we went to non-sorted recycling); before that, if it rained or snowed on recycling day, stuff got wet. Given what the recycling company would not take (and for which they left little nastygrams), I can't think they would take wet cardboard they could not use.
On top of that, there is a cardboard-recycling facility not far from here where pallets and bales of cardboard are clearly visible in the open through the chain-link fence as front-end loaders work with it. If they could not use wet cardboard, I don't believe they would go to the expense off managing it.
Perhaps it's that wet cardboard is not as high a grade as virgin cardboard; on the other hand, with the increasing amount of recycled cardboard boxes around and being recycled, perhaps the entire chain is seeing reduced cardboard quality.
Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington
Recycling is not practiced here to any extent so it's a non-issue. We continue to recycle just about everything the way we were "trained" back home so it's just an automatic thing for us which many here don't share. I knew about the wet cardboard, pizza boxes and various plastics that aren't accepted. I discussed recycling with a neighbor here once and she said it all goes to China anyway so why bother. Huh? The community garden where I volunteer has no fences so the homeless (excuse me, the vagrants) who camp nearby help themselves. I mostly keep my mouth shut even though these kind of things/people bother me.
Here's a thought. If it matters to you that others see your cardboard (after being wet) in the dumpster, go ahead and put it in the recycling bin. At the recycling center they will sort it and THEY can put it in the dumpster if it is not up to recyclable standards! I helped out (volunteered) in a recycling center this Summer for awhile and they do sort. So, let them make the call. Your neighbors need never know!
"Like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in the midnight choir, I have tried in my way to be free." Leonard Cohen
I learned two things:
Wet cardboard - bad
plastic straws not recyclable (oops - must dig through bin)
IL do you not have anywhere in your two yards that you need to mulch? I use cardboard as weedbarrier everywhere. I have to build up gardens (have about 1-2" dirt max on this rocky glade). Current project is a 40' berm for a pollinator garden.
OK...I'll be less "judgie" of my neighbors when I see cardboard in their trash bins. Maybe they too know something I don't....though I doubt it. No curbside recycle here so most people are just too darn lazy to drive to the recycle bins or center.
Float On: My "Happy Place" is on my little kayak in the coves of Table Rock Lake.
I watched a special on TV about how much time and money is spent sorting the recycling because people don’t know what they are doing so I disagree with SEL.
Yes, Hermann’s recycling bins for cardboard are open to the elements.
This morning I quieried the recycling person in our city for confirmation of the wet cardboard idea.
I only learned this about a year ago,and was not happy to hear it. I will let you know what she says.
and keep in mind, each recycling company has different standards, so what is true in my area may not be true in yours.
I was wrong about the cardboard, sorry! Here is the amswer from our city’s recycling guru:
“Great question! As long as the cardboard is dry and most importantly-not moldy,, you can recycle it your Blue Bin. Thanks!
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)