It makes sense that if the plastic packaging my new hairbrush comes in doesn't have a recycle triangle on it, I throw it away. So wouldn't it also make sense that if it does have the triangle, I recycle it?

Look, I hear you. I wish it worked this way! Until I started my job, I thought it did.

How it really works depends on the program in your area. Every city or institution has its own rules for recycling based on two things: the processing facilities they have to deal with the things you throw into your recycle bin, and the companies that buy or otherwise take the recycled materials from the recycling facility.

This makes sense, and I figured the recycling industry worked this way to some extent. However, I also figured that even if I put in something that wasn't acceptable in my local program, better safe than sorry, right? Wrong again.

In many facilities like OSU's, if too much of the incoming material is waste according to our facility policies, the whole bin has to get thrown away. Ouch...

In this sense, it is best to remember this phrase: "When in doubt, throw it out."

If you have to question in an instant which bin to put something in, the safest and most environmentally beneficial option is to put it in the garbage can.

Here are some links to accepted recyclable materials in areas where most of my readers come from:

ResLife Recycles (residential halls on the OSU campus), OSU Recycles (non-residential areas on campus), What's Recyclable? - Stillwater, OK, Lawton Recycling and Disposal (it is probably easiest to take everything to Target, though!), Edmond Recycles, OKC, OK - What To Recycle (curbside), OKC, OK - What To Recycle (drop-off locations), and Recycling in Weatherford.

Oklahoma State

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