Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Made in Minnesota

This post is long overdue...I get many phone calls from people wondering what happens to their recyclables when they are collected. Thankfully, they are made into new products right here in Minnesota! I borrowed some information from our friends at Anoka County on this list, but here is a sample of what some recyclables are made into and where they are made:

Glass Bottles - goes to Anchor Glass in Shakopee to be made into new glass bottles and jars.
Newspaper - goes to Rock-Tenn in St. Paul to be made into cardboard liner board.
Cardboard - goes to Liberty Paper in Becker to be made into cardboard boxes and paper bags.
Metal Cans - goes to Gerdau Ameristeel in St. Paul to be made into rebar for construction.
Plastic Bottles - goes to Master Mark Plastics in Paynesville to be made into plastic lawn, garden and building supplies.

So, there you have it, your recyclables are at work here in Minnesota!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Cardboard

It's not glamorous and if you have a bunch of it, it is a pain to get rid of it. On trash day there is quite a bit of it out there. What is it?...Cardboard. Many things we buy come in cardboard boxes, but overall we don't do a very good job recycling cardboard. Is it because the box is too big? Do we forget? Don't we care? Well, we try to make it as easy as possible to recycle cardboard - just put it in your recycling cart. If it doesn't, fold/cut it down into a bundle 3 foot by 3 foot by 6 inches thick and tape/tie the bundle and place it next to your recycling cart. We'll take as much as you have!

Remember, you have to put it out on trash day anyway, but how about putting it in the recycling cart instead of the garbage?