Ideal Bite

I currently work at a Lowes Home Improvement store while I am in college and I am extremely unhappy that they do not recycle anything except for the tons of cardboard that we recieve product in. We have a seperate cans garbage but it just gets thrown out with the trash. Someone once tried to recycle them but he got yelled at and was almost fired for stealing from the company. We also recycle none of our paperwaste as well. It is very frustrating, I take all of my food and drink containers home to recycle them and I encourage others to do the same. I will be leaving the company in a week because I am graduating, but I plan on writing a letter to the newspaper of the surrounding cities because in general my campus and city is VERY into recycling. I guess I am encouraging people to look into these large retail stores and see if they recycle, some how they slip under the city's radar.

This is more of a question...What is the best way to get rid of leftover/unwanted or expired liquids, such as sunscreen, medicine, or old non-green cleaning products found in plastic bottles? I'd like to recycle the plastic, but am VERY hesitant to dump the stuff into the sink and or toilet. Would it be safer to throw it away in the plastic and hope the chemicals degrade, (or whatever), by the time the plastic does? Please advise. Thanks much.

for unwanted cleaners etc, if its not too old, you could freecycle it @ freecycle.org for expired stuff i guess you'd have to go to toxic disposal? (or see what it says on the container)

The American government DOES PAY MILLIONS for not recycling in Germany. I am sure there are some bases that require the same stringent recycling rules as the German Nationals, but I live on the most populous base in Germany and recycling is not untilized, promoted or even talked about. We have the paper/cardboard bins next to the trash bins and people can't even get that right. I am an avid recycler and seperate everything and have to haul it to the "recycling center" which my neighbors didn't even knew existed and most people just dump their trash there indiscriminately. They are all pigs here; it makes me sick.

Hi everyone, I have a recycling question. Many condiments, such as mayo and mustard, come in both glass jars and plastic bottles - both of which can be recycled. Which is the better option? Does recycling one use less energy vs. the other? Please help me choose the best packaging! Thanks!

I believe glass is better, it's more natural. Many plastics cannot even be recycled, and if they are, they cannot be recycled indefinately. Then there's the petroleum issue too. I would go for glass.

Watch out, I'm about to go really radical on you... If you're buying condiments, try to buy them in canning jars. The jars can then be reused by someone who makes their own sauce, jam, whatever. If you buy relishes at the farmer's market, for example, they are usually in canning-type jars. They may be willing to take your old jars too. You can mix up your own mayonnaise and mustard. Mustard powder can be bought in bulk. An easy starter recipe is 1 Cup regular mustard powder (4 oz. by weight), 3 fl. oz. vinegar, 3 fl. oz. cool water, ½ tsp. salt, and 1 TB. honey. (from: http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-penzeysmustardpowder.html) They also advise letting the mustard mellow for 6 weeks at room temperature, then refrigerate. The longer you leave it, the milder it is. For mayo, see this link: http://homecooking.about.com/od/saladrecipes/r/blcon64.htm And who can forget ketchup: http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/blcon74.htm I would keep a few plastic squeeze bottles on hand for dispensing these items. And remember to refrigerate; they aren't full of preservatives like their manufactured replicants. Especially, use up the mayo in a week. Hope this helps!

Hi, for Christine-in Indiana where I live, there is The Lake Michigan Districts Household Hazardous Waste Mobile collection unit that goes once a month to different areas of our county.They take:batteries, solvents, expired/wanted meds,oils,pesticides, old CFL bulbs(mercury) etc.I gather up my stuff until they come by me( which happens to be this Sat 6-23).Maybe you might have something like that near you. Much better than it going to the landfill! They dispose of those things properly. Good luck.

I cannot find the source for where I read this and am hoping someone can verify for me. We have single-stream recycling in my community and our Service Provider accepts office paper, junk mail, newspaper, etc. Is it true that if these items get wet with liquids, say for example, laundry detergent or soda from a pop can that they will become contaminated and not be recyclable?

Can you find out from the recycling provider where the paper goes after it's been sorted and baled? I ask, because different paper mills have different rules on what they'll process and why. What happens, in a nutshell, is the stuff is slurried according to fiber type (e.g. newsprint, white ledger, corrugated). There's machinery that skims off the non-recyclable content (such as the metal from spiral bound notebooks, plastic windows on envelopes, plastic film from frozen food boxes, glass bits, metal and plastic residues), and at a certain point, the equipment starts to have problems when the contaminants get over critical mass, which cases breakdowns (this is part of why some of the paper mills are refusing to buy paper from single-stream programs, by the way). Liquid contaminants aren't as big of an issue at the mill as say a ton of broken bottle shards, and gads of plastic film would be. Because the stuff is slurried. But a lot of food contamination is a problem. Detergents might be problematic, but I haven't seen data on that. As the recycling provider for more information, if you can. If they cannot answer your questions, see if you can find out who processes the paper after it leaves their hands. And so on.