How to Recycle in The City of Rockville - Pt. 3 of 5

It really isn't garbage till you mix it all together. It really isn't garbage till you throw it all away. Just separate your paper plastic compose glass and metal. And then you get to use it all another day. Let's get into recycling. Rockville is a single stream recycler. All recyclables can go into the brown cart. "Recycling is great for the planet. Recycling saves space in landfills also saves the city money." These days we can recycle just about anything. You can recycle virtually all paper and cardboard. We even take shredded paper. We recommend you place it in a paper bag to keep the small paper shreds from blowing around your street. That includes cereal boxes, cake mix boxes, milk cartons, juice, frozen food, and pizza boxes. Plus you no longer have to break down boxes particularly if they fit in your cart. That's one reason we offer the larger carts. If you do have a box that doesn't fit, just leave it out next year brown cart. Exceptions to recyclable paper and cardboard are: used paper products such as paper towels, napkins, and tissues. Other no-nos candy wrappers and cigarette packs. These days you can recycle more household metals than ever before. Metal lids and caps, pet food cans, canned food containers (both aluminum and tin), cookie tins. They're all good if they're rinsed out. You can even rinse and recycle foil wrap, aluminum foil, and aluminum pie plates. Even aerosol cans if there empty. Glass bottles of any color may be recycled and their metal caps placed loosen the brown cart. Glass such as dishes, lightbulbs, and ceramics must go into your refuse cart. The biggest news these days is how we handle plastics. We can take virtually any plastic from cd and dvd cases to patio furniture. Bottle caps, straws, and yogurt and margarine containers. You can even keep the lids on the containers as long as everything inside is rinsed out. We can even recycle plastic bags cereal box liners bubble wrap and clear wrap. You must place all soft plastic bags in a single plastic bags securely tied. We can't accept plastics that have held harsh chemicals motor oil and antifreeze... industrial plastics such as PVC pipe and vinyl siding, or styrofoam and molded plastic containers, often called clamshell containers. In fact if you find yourself throwing a lot of these in the refuse, please consider using your own reusable plastic cups, and your own plastic containers when you eat out. And take reusable bags to the grocery store. Remember Rockville makes money on recycling, andy pays money to incinerate refuse. And it's all up to all of us to reduce the amount of non-reusable items in our environment. By making the most of the recycling, we keep the service fee down. Most important do not mix refuse in with your recycling. "It's important to keep your trash separated from your recycling The person who takes our recycling wants as pure recycling product as possible. If they have a certain percentage of trash that ends up in the recycling facility that causes them problems and they may actually ultimately reject the load or even tell Rockville to no longer interested in doing business with us." The more we recycle the more money we save, and the more money we save the lower we can keep the collection fees. Also never place recyclables into plastic bags. That goes for yard waste too. No plastic bags. Plastic yard bags don't degrade. These days we take all of our yard waste and either composted it or make it in to mulch. Please put leaves, small limbs, and grass clippings into paper lawn bags or refuse cans. No needed to tie larger limbs into bundles. Just make sure they're eight feet or under in length and less than two feet wide. Make sure you're not including dirt, rocks, or sod and remember that old mulch, as well as pumpkins and tree fruit, needs to go bagged into the refuse cart or your own compost. Rockville does seasonal leaf collection twice a year in fall and spring. Watch our website or Rockville Channel 11 for the dates. On the collection days you'll need to bring your lawn materials to the curb by six am or set them out and paper bags or standard refuse cans. And one of the benefits of being a Rockville resident you can pick up free mulch at the county transfer station anytime. "I love this program. And the most important thing. I love that its free." Of course, by composting your own grass clippings and other non meat materials you're not only helping the City of Rockville your also making a really great topsoil. "And I separate paper, plastic, I do the best I can uh... try to help them out... try." Recycling in the City of Rockville is expected, but who knew it could make you feel so good. "Recycling is great for the planet. Recycling saves space in landfills and also says the city money." How can you find out more about helping Rockville recycle and reduce waste? Give us a call at the City of Rockville recycling program, 240-314-8568, or write to us at refuse@rockvillemd.gov also, check out our Recycling and Refuse Guide online and thank you for carrying about Rockville. It really isn't garbage till you mix it all together. It really isn't garbage till you throw it all away/. Separate your paper, plastic compose, glass and metal. Then you get to use it all another day.