Really dumb recycling question

[serious-noir.livejournal.com]

I'm shredding years worth of old financial docs for recycling but discover that I don't have any paper bags to put the shreds in. I read on the S'ville recycling site a few weeks ago that plastic bags *aren't* supposed to go in recycling. Or at least I thought I read that.

Have I completely got it wrong? Can I put my paper shreds in a plastic trash bag and dump that in my Big Blue Bin?


(see - told you it was a dumb question... )

Comments

[ron_newman]

I didn't realize this! I thought all the paper got reduced to pulp before turning back into new paper.

[real-green-tea.livejournal.com]

It degrades the fibers. cf http://earth911.com/news/2011/04/19/is-shredded-paper-recyclable/ (http://earth911.com/news/2011/04/19/is-shredded-paper-recyclable/) and other resources for more info.

Somerville is pretty special in that it does accept shreds, with the special rule about clear plastic bags (noted by another commenter above).

There are actually a number of other items Somerville accepts in regular recycling that I found surprising, including small household batteries! I had no idea until I checked out http://www.somervillema.gov/departments/dpw/trash-procedures (http://www.somervillema.gov/departments/dpw/trash-procedures) just now, myself... not all the info is included on the yearly 311 leaflets, that page is really worth a look.

[ron_newman]

That page says that ordinary non-rechargeable batteries should go out with trash, not with recycling. Rechargeables have to be disposed of as hazardous waste, not in normal recycling bins.

MIT has a battery recycling bin in the Stata Center lobby, so I sometimes save my batteries up to bring there.

[real-green-tea.livejournal.com]

Oh... right. I totally misquoted info from that page. (Sorry if I confused anyone!)

A bunch of people told me I have to bring household batteries to MIT if I want them recycled. Thank you for letting me know that I can do this at the Stata Center. (The MIT campus is big, and I was just going to bring a handful of leaky batteries down there and wander around till I found a recycling box. Or you know. Ask at the student center or a library. Both of which are kinda far from the Stata Center.)

[ron_newman]

I'm sure MIT has other battery-recycling bins; that's just the one I know about and use. This page says there's another one in the Student Center first floor.

(Whether they want the leaking batteries, I don't know.)