How Empty is Empty?

Recycling should be a process in which clean, empty recyclable materials are sorted and baled then sent to the world market for reuse. Contaminants, however, prevent this process from not only going smoothly, but sometimes prevent it from going on at all.

Some commodities, such as metal, glass and sometimes even plastic, go through processes where small amounts of debris or contaminants don’t adversely affect the final product.

Small amounts of food or liquid left in soda bottles, vegetable cans or pickle jars will most likely not be at a contamination level that would render the whole load of recycling unusable.

Are Spiral Notebooks Recyclable?

Spiral notebooks, regardless of whether they have a plastic or a metal spiral binding, are recyclable. The preferred way to recycle them, however, is to remove the spiral binding prior to putting the notebook itself into your recycling bin.

Recycling centers may not have the sophisticated mechanisms necessary to remove the spiral binding as the notebook is traveling through the sorting process, but the bindings will eventually be separated from the notebook. This may happen after it gets baled, sold and has begun the

Can I Recycle Hangers?

Today’s clothes hangers are modeled after an early rudimentary design by Albert J. Parkhouse in
1903. He was an employee of Timberlake Wire and Novelty Company in Jackson, Michigan.

Parkhouse created the device that we now know as the coat hanger because co-workers had “complaints of too few coat hooks. He bent a piece of wire into two ovals with the ends twisted together to form a hook.” He patented his invention but it’s not known if he actually profited from it or not.

The Role of Magnets in the Recycling Process

“Paper and paperboard have always had high recycling rates for bulk newsprint, office paper, and old cardboard.  Metal, however, is the material with the second-highest MRF-related recycling rates at over one third.”

 

Machines in recycling facilities designed for the purpose of separating recyclables are made up of several components.  Among these are different types of magnets to sort and handle metallic materials.  The most popular and widely used are overbelt magnets, electromagnets and eddy current magnets.

Is Metal Bakeware Recyclable?

A century ago, baking used to be done on stone or clay bakeware.  Modern aluminum or metallic
bakeware made an incredible difference in how people cooked.

"Metal pots are made from a narrow range of metals because pots and pans need to conduct heat well, but also need to be chemically unreactive so that they do not alter the flavor of the food. Most materials that are conductive enough to heat evenly are too reactive to use in food preparation."