If you have been purchasing blue or clear “recycling” bags to put in your City of Austin blue recycling cart, I am sorry to say you have been wasting your money. Bagged recycling is prohibited in the City of Austin blue curbside single-stream recycling carts. They’re also prohibited at most apartment complexes. Recycling should be…
One of the grocery store chains in Texas is HEB. It happens to be the grocery store located in my neighborhood so it’s the one we use. We walk to it when we can. It has a recycling station. This is what the recycling station looked like before this week. You’ll see they used to…
I’m so excited to share that after one of the neighbors asked, I received the exciting answer that six pack rings, or 6-pack rings depending on your spelling or preference, are recyclable in plastic bag store drop-off containers. Please do not put these in your single stream recycling carts or they will tangle the sorting…
This came up again last weekend so I wanted to remind you all that in the City of Austin, black Styrofoam and black plastics can be recycled! Black Styrofoam The Recycle & Reuse Drop-off Center will accept most foams. It will not accept the 80’s/fluffy/disintegrate-y type foam shown above on the right, but it will…
TerraCycle® is a social enterprise Eliminating the Idea of Waste®. In 20 countries, we tackle the issue from many angles. We have found that nearly everything we touch can be recycled and collect typically non-recyclable items through national, first-of-their-kind recycling platforms. https://www.terracycle.com/en-US Austin is fortunate to have the capability to recycle all that we do. We…
By far the most popular question I get right now is for help with plastic bags and films. There are many types and people are overwhelmed. It is confusing, there are lots of types, and the directions change a bit to try and correct contamination levels. I’m going to share with you all what I…
Here is the information shared about where, when and how to recycle Christmas trees and Christmas lights in Central Texas this holiday season. The City of Austin’s website for Christmas Tree Recycling is http://www.austintexas.gov/department/christmas-tree-recycling. Details below are from Austin EcoNetwork’s EcoNews 12/19/19 and Austin Resource Recovery’s site: Christmas Trees: If you’re an Austin Resource Recovery…
Bulk Collection will happen in my neighborhood next week. Information on what can and cannot be accepted is available at http://www.austintexas.gov/department/residential-bulk-collection. Sign up for collection reminders, including Bulk and Brush, at http://www.austintexas.gov/page/my-collection-schedule. You can add your schedule to Google, iCal or Outlook, or you can print it. You can also sign up for text (and…
A new but recently frequent topic I’ve been asked about is if plastic berry, salad/greens and sushi boxes can be recycled in the blue single stream carts. Yes they can! You do not have to remove the stickers, just rinse, dry and throw them in the recycling cart. Reminders: Pull the berry juice pads/the white…
In case you didn’t know, the entire spray bottle should not be put as-is in the recycling carts. The bottle bottom is okay to drop in the recycling cart. The entire lid/spray mechanism is best tossed in the trash. There is a metal spring in the pump mechanism enabling it to actually spray. If you…