1. You’re Supposed to Crush Your Cans Before You Recycle Them.

While it used to be necessary to crush cans before recycling them, you no longer need to. Crushed cans can cause sorting issues in a recycling center—most facilities sort materials into two groups made of flat and non-flat materials.

Recycling facilities are more likely to missort crushed cans as flat items, contaminating the recycling stream.

2. You Can Put Plastic Bags in Your Recycling Bin.

Plastic bags are recyclable but are not allowed in recycling bins. Why? Well, when plastic bags get into the machinery in sorting facilities, the machinery can jam. When this happens, it wastes time and resources on getting people to remove them.

Not sure where to recycle your plastic bags? You can typically find drop-off bins for them in your neighbourhood.

3. You Can Put Electronics Into the Recycling.

Many people think that you can throw any recyclable item in the recycling bin. That’s not the case. Electronics like smartphones and batteries cannot go into the recycling because they can explode or cause a fire.

While electronics can go into the recycling, items like computers, smartphones, and more must go to specific facilities that handle electronics.

4. You Can Only Recycle Materials Once.

Quite the contrary – many materials can go into the recycling bin multiple times. Plastic is a material that has a short recycling life. Other materials like aluminum and glass can all go into recycling multiple times.

Whether a material can go into the recycling multiple times depends on the facilities that can sort these materials. It all depends if there is a market for the materials.

If a facility can’t sell recycled glass to make it a new product, they will not recycle it.

5. Any Item With a Recycling Symbol Can Go in the Recycling Bin.

This one might be a little confusing, and we understand why.

One of the biggest recycling myths is that any material with a recycling symbol on it is recyclable.

Many factors determine if an item is recyclable, and a resin identification code check is just one of them. That code tells you what type of plastic the material is. Many other factors determine if it goes into the recycling bin.

6. You Don’t Have to Separate Trash From Recyclables.

Non-recyclable items can contaminate an entire recycling stream, which causes damage to the recycling equipment.

These items can clog up the recycling equipment, which can result in costly repairs.

Check with your local recycling center if you’re unsure of what you can or cannot recycle. You can also check online.

There are many contributors to plastic pollution, including mass use of single-use plastics, low recycling rates, and lack of education on discarding and recycling plastics properly.

Today, plastic is used all over the world in countless different applications. Because its use is so widespread, people tend to disregard the material’s effects on the environment.

Chemicals made from non-renewable resources comprise most plastics. Producers create 300 million tons of plastic every year and 40 percent of which are single-use plastics. These products, like plastic grocery bags or straws, have a small lifespan but can stay in the environment for hundreds of years if not recycled properly.

Other single-use plastic products include:

In Alberta, beverage containers holding 1L or less allow a 10 cent deposit per container, while beverage containers that hold over 1L equal a 25 cent deposit.

The revenue recycling fee for recyclable containers in Alberta supports the costs of collection, transportation, handling, and processing of recyclable containers. Fees differ from container to container because the price and cost to process each container vary based on the material type.

Recyclable containers maintain and preserve a clean environment by preventing pollution. In addition, when we return recyclable containers, we save energy and reduce the demand for raw materials.

In Alberta, bottle depots are an essential service. Most of them remain open during the pandemic, although some may have reduced hours. Click here to find an open bottle depot near you. Be sure to call your local depot first to ensure that the hours of operation listed on the website are up to date.

1. Protects Ecosystems and Wildlife

When we recycle, we lessen disruption to the natural world. When we cut down fewer trees and forests, we are preventing harm to animals. By reducing disruption and damage to the natural world, we help preserve ecosystems and wildlife. :

2. Conserves Our Natural Resources

Some of the world’s natural resources are in short supply, and when we recycle, we help conserve these natural resources.

When we recycle paper, we save forests and trees. When we recycle plastic, it takes up a lot of solid waste and can take centuries to break down. In addition to this, most plastic comes from fossil fuel hydrocarbons.

Recycling metals reduces the need to extract new metal ore while recycling glass reduces our need for certain raw materials like sand.

3. Saves Energy

Making products from recycled materials requires less energy than making them from new, raw materials. It takes much less energy to make products out of recycled materials than from raw materials. For example, recycling one glass bottle saves enough power to light a 100-watt light bulb for four hours.

4. Reduces the Need to Harvest New Materials

When we recycle, it reduces our need to harvest raw materials. Our increasing demand for these raw materials also displaces people who live near forests or around river systems. When we recycle, we reduce the possibility of damaging someone else’s land or community.

5. Reduces Carbon Emissions

Recycling takes up less energy, which reduces our carbon footprint and emissions. Reducing our carbon footprint helps minimize methane-release waste from landfill sites, which contributes to climate change.

6. Saves Money

Recycling waste is much cheaper than regular waste collection and disposal. The more we recycle, the more money we can save. Deposit returns can also help add financial incentives to recycle.

Recycling can help protect the environment while conserving natural resources. It is critical to recycle and minimize the amount of waste we are putting into the atmosphere. Doing so can help save energy, reduce landfill waste, and protect our environment.

7. Brings People Together

Recycling brings communities together and helps people raise money for schools, colleges, hospitals, and more. These recycling drives make towns and cities happier and cleaner.

8. Educates People About the Importance of Protecting the Environment

When communities come together to raise awareness about recycling, it teaches people about the importance of protecting the environment and how to do so. Educating people about protecting the environment can help equip future generations with the knowledge and understanding they need to reduce pollution.

9. Creates Jobs

Recycling creates new jobs every year. Jobs in recycling include sorters, drivers, mechanics, technicians, and more. 

10. Reduces Incineration

When we recycle, we reprocess materials to make new products, reducing the amount of waste sent for incineration.

1. In an average year, North Americans throw out enough trash that can circle the earth 24 times.

Did you know that millions of people around North America do not correctly recycle their trash? Millions upon millions of recyclable items are thrown in the trash every day. Experts estimate that Americans alone throw out almost 100 million steel and tin cans every day.

2. 17 trees are saved every year by recycling one ton of paper. 

Are you aware of the vital role that trees play in the earth’s health? One single tree can filter up to 60 pounds of pollutants found in the air every year. 

By recycling, you can save trees and, in turn, help significantly reduce pollutants in the air. 

3. By recycling aluminum cans, you can save 95% of the energy required to make new ones.

By recycling just one single aluminum can, you can save enough energy that can power a 100-watt light bulb for a total of 20 hours. 

Due to modern advanced technology, today’s recycling facilities can process over 3500 pounds of aluminum per hour. This aluminum is then recycled in other types of products.

4. Over 5 billion styrofoam cups are thrown into the trash every year.

Can you guess how long it takes styrofoam to decompose in a landfill?

500 years.

By simply switching to mugs or reusable cups, you can save all of that time and help support a healthier planet. Many people use mugs or reusable cups for years and years on end.

5. Millions of plastic straws are thrown away every single day.

Plastic straws tend to contaminate recycling waste streams. Even though plastic straws are made from recyclable plastic, most recycling machines can’t recycle them because they’re too small and light, so they are often disposed of as garbage through the recycling process.

Plastic straws cannot be recycled because of the chemicals they are made of. Because of this, they cannot be broken down and end up in waterways, causing large amounts of unnecessary plastic pollution.

6. Every year, over 10 million tons of glass jars and bottles are thrown into landfills.

Glass is 100% recyclable, but many people throw it in the trash because they do not have available curbside recycling for glass. This is why it is recommended to use glass containers.

The energy that is saved from recycling glass can reduce air pollution by 20%. It can also cause 50% less water pollution. In addition to this, modern glass bottles take over 4000 years to decompose.

7. There are more plastic pieces in the ocean than there are stars in the entire galaxy.

Did you know that there are 51 trillion microplastic particles found in the sea?

Plastic does not biodegrade when it reaches the ocean, while other materials like paper do. Plastic only breaks down into even smaller plastic pieces. These small pieces of plastic are called microplastics. 

Not only do these microplastics make their way into the ocean, but they also get into our bodies through our food and groundwater. 

8. Every ear, 1 trillion plastic bags are used around the world.

Despite the fact that plastic bags can be recycled in separate waste streams, most people throw them into the trash. These plastic bags meanwhile sit in landfills around the world.

This is why it is becoming more and more important to use reusable bags or reuse plastic bags and recycle them when they are no longer usable. This will significantly reduce the amount of plastic bags that sit in landfills.

9. 46 gallons of oil are saved by recycling one ton of cardboard.

Online shopping has increased tremendously, particularly since the start of the pandemic. Every single day, millions of products are being delivered in cardboard boxes. 

Recycling cardboard uses significantly less energy than creating new cardboard. In fact, recycling cardboard only takes 7% of the energy needed to produce cardboard out of new materials.

10. Americans use more than 80,000,000,000 aluminum cans every single year. 

Most of these cans end up in landfills. Every month, Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild the commercial air fleet. When an aluminum beverage can is recycled, it can return to grocery store shelves as new cans just 90 days after collection.

Which recycling facts surprised you the most?

When you organize recycling, it helps ensure that different materials do not end up in the same mix. 

By sorting out our recycling, items like non-deposit containers are sorted from the trash and unloaded in another area at the facility.

Materials like paper and cardboard go to remanufacturers while the metal, plastic, and cartons go through their shipment.