What brings our days down? #Contamination in the #recycle bin, that’s what... 🧐😩
Don't bag your recyclables!
We know it's not Friday (sorry we missed last week 😑), but here's a new #contamination update!
Are you bagging your recyclables in #plastic bags? Now's the time to stop! The material recovery facilities *MRFs) where your mixed recyclables go DO NOT want your plastic bags - so don't use them. Just put your recyclables in curbside bins and drop-off containers like this one loosely. And, as always, please follow what signs say - like "no plastic film" :)
Any questions? Comments? Concerns? Sound off below! 😁
Contamination Check-In: June 29th
Welcome to our latest social media initiative - a weekly contamination check-in!
As discussed earlier this week, the recycling center featured here (located at the Salt Lake Valley Landfill at 6030 West California Ave in Salt Lake City) is changing its hours from 24/7 availability to strictly landfill hours, Mon-Fri 7am - 5 pm. These new hours are an attempt to combat the excessive, growing amounts of #contamination in our bins, like the contamination featured in this video!
Today, we're highlighting our cardboard #recycling bins - too often a place where people are dumping things that are *not* cardboard! This box was not perched up on the bin for the sake of the video - this is exactly how we found it, with the bin window flapping in the wind (speaking of wind, sorry for the poor audio :( ).
A few take home notes:
1) If a bin says 'Cardboard' please only put cardboard in it. This means removing plastic bags, bubble wrap, foam packaging, etc. If the package was excessively taped, please take the time to remove a little bit of it - n0 need to remove all tape, but the more the better!
2) Folding cardboard isn't always easy, we know, but the flatter this cardboard sits, the more we can get in each bin, the less we have to transport the bins, the less fuel we have to burn for transportation (it does add up, trust us), and the less likely it is that you'll come to drop off cardboard and be missing the bins 'cause they're gone for delivery!
3) Generally, treat the recycling bins as if they were your own - becuase they sort of are! Our new recycling center hours are a reflection of increased contamination. The less contamination/mis-treatment of these containers, the more you'll have access to them, and the more likely it is that we can have community recycling bins around the county!
Have any questions about contamination? Anything in particular you'd like for us to feature in coming contamination check-in videos? Sound off below!
Here is a video of our compost Operation from start to finish! #SLCo #ReduceReuseTHENRecycle!
Compost Operation at the Salt Lake Valley Landfill