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You already know if newspapers, tin cans, or plastic bottles
get picked up on your curb for recycling, but what about similar items?
Chances
are phone books, aluminum foil, and other hard-to-know-what-to-do-with items
can be mixed in with your curbside recycling.
Every town has different rules so you’ll need to check with
your local waste or sanitation department to find out the specifics for your
area.
In most cases, it’s easier to recycle these five unexpected items than you
might think.
- Phone books. If your city takes mixed paper, then phonebooks can
generally be recycled, according to Jennifer Berry at Earth911. Be sure to
remove magnetic inserts or any other non-paper elements before you toss. Has
the Internet rendered the yellow pages obsolete in your home? You can choose
not to have directories delivered in the first place or limit how many you
receive. Here are 17
creative things to do with phone books for those who prefer to reuse or can’t
easily recycle. - Aluminum foil. It’s just as recyclable as aluminum cans, but not accepted by all
municipal programs. Check with your local waste department before you throw
foil in with your metals. Make sure it’s clean first. Many people wash foil off
with soap and water and reuse it for storing food. Or try crumpling
up old foil and throwing it in the clothes dryer to reduce static cling. - Aerosol cans. You can include EMPTY
aerosol cans with other metals. If it has any product in it don’t toss it
in your bin. Ask your local recycling center if they’ll accept partially filled
cans or bring them to your local hazardous waste facility. - Labels. Labels aren’t a problem on bottles and cans, says Berry, because recycling
facilities are already set up to handle them so no extra steps are needed. It’s
also okay to throw slightly
dirty glass, plastic, and metal containers into your bin. So don’t let that
lime wedge or last bit of peanut butter stop you from tossing a container into
your recycling bin. - Metal clothes hangers. Some communities, such as
New York City, Phoenix, Houston, and Portland, OR, accept metal clothes
hangers in curbside bins. In most cities there are plenty of recycling
centers where you can drop them off. Better yet, bring them back to your local dry cleaner so hangers can be reused.
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