Recycle Today for a Better Tomorrow

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Keep Euclid Beautiful often gets questions about recycling.  The Do's and Dont's are different in each state and sometimes vary from city to city.  This can make recycling a bit confusing.  In this column, Keep Euclid Beautiful will do our best to answer your recycling questions based on the guidelines for the City of Euclid and the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District.

Dear Keep Euclid Beautiful:  Can all plastics be recycled?

The answer is many plastics can be recycled, but not ALL plastics are accepted at local recycling plants.  You CAN recycle all empty plastic bottles or jugs in your curbside recycling.  This includes items like water and soda bottles, shampoo bottles, milk, water and juice jugs, laundry detergent jugs and bleach bottles.  Bottles and jugs should be emptied and rinsed. Make sure to replace the cap and put bottles and jugs in your curbside recycling.  Do not seperate the cap from the container.  These small parts can stop up the machines at the recycling facilty. 

Dear Keep Euclid Beautiful:  Why do plastics have numbers inside recycling symbols if they're not recyclable?

The answer is the codes do not always mean the item is recyclable.  The numbers on plastic containers are resin codes used by the plastics industry to identify the type of chemicals used to make the container.

Some plastics that are NOT recyclable are single use, plastic cups, berry and produce containers, flower pots, cat litter containters and 5 gallon buckets and empty motor oil and antifreeze jugs.  Some of these are too fragile and break apart clogging equipment, are too large and should be reused or may have residue of the hazardous materials they once held.

All of these above items can be disposed of in your regular trash bin.

Rember. The shape of the container determines if it belongs in curbside recycling.  Please only recycle items shaped like bottles and jugs.

When in doubt, leave it out. 

Please forward your recycling questions to Keepeuclidbeautiful@cityofeuclid.com.  We will do our best to answer your questions.  Some questions may be featured in our next column.