By Gene Ayres

As conscientious consumers, we are all aware (aren’t we?) of the importance of recycling. On the other hand, it can get confusing. Maybe recycling is what God had in mind, or whoever it was who said that “no good deed will go unpunished.” Granted, we’ve come a long way (most of us) from the days when “look out below” had real meaning, when hats were required for more reasons than just to keep rain and sun off your head when meandering the byways of London or wherever, when streets and waterways were repositories for all manner of refuse and filth, and the countryside was just a place to throw stuff. It wasn’t even that long ago that Arlo Guthrie took pride in dumping trash in a nearby landfill (i.e. the side of the road) and made a career move out of it.

But now that we live in a world in which the seas are now inundated with cubic miles of floating plastic waste, recycling certainly seems like, and is, the right thing to do. But what, exactly, are we allowed and supposed to recycle? And not? And what happens to all that stuff we don’t recycle, like old computer components, tires, batteries, and so on? But this dilemma starts long before we even get to the supermarket, with having to choose between paper and plastic. Both are recyclable, but at a cost. Paper means cutting trees, and plastic means burning oil, to put it simply. And this kind of decision making applies to the manufacturing and distribution of all our consumer goods. What kind of packaging should, and shouldn’t be used, and why? It’s amazing how much goes into wrapping and packaging even a simple product. What’s with those plastic bubble packs, for example? Those are not recyclable, by the way, and are the damnedest things ever, to open.

Anyway, just to be helpful, I paid a visit to my local handy dandy recycling bin, the one our condominium complex has so thoughtfully provided, to jot down the long list of dos and don’ts even an elephant would have trouble remembering, glued helpfully to the front of the bin. Here it is:

Yes, you can recycle the following:

Plastic bags (but only if they are “bagged”)

Paper bags (but only if clean and dry)
Juice boxes (sans juice)

Milk cartons

Soy milk boxes (but one wonders, why not, say, rice milk boxes?)

Plastic bottles

Round dairy tubs (but presumably, non-dairy tubs need not apply!)

Pill bottles (but no prescription bottles, for some reason)

Mail and paper (formerly known as junk mail, which most of us probably wish could simply be recycled directly without bothering us first)

Cardboard of all kinds (so long as it’s clean and dry)

Phone books (why not other kinds of books, a lot of which contain even less literary merit or useful content?)

Paper products, in general, including egg cartons

Aluminum cans

Metal cans (presumably aluminum isn’t metal? And are there any other kinds of cans?)

Metal hangers (but how about, say, paper clips?)

Staples (this is good to know, since a lot of paper has them stuck on)

Glass bottles (but not glassware, interestingly, maybe because it contains lead)

Don’t even think of attempting to recycle the following:

Plastic food bags

Chip bags 

Plastic cups, trays, boxes, or lids (only the bottles)

Foam products of any kind (including egg cartons)

Plastic utensils

Paper cups (because of the wax coating), plates and napkins (no wonder picnickers leave so much trash!)

Batteries

Foil and foil containers or trays

Aerosol cans (these have a tendency to explode, it seems)

Light bulbs of any kind

Ceramics (maybe if not broken, you can recycle a lot of these things at the local Goodwill Store)

Interestingly, it doesn’t say anything about things made of cloth, iron or wood. Which is ironic, since for 99% of history, that included pretty much everything. Maybe Goodwill can take those, too, along with the books.