Guide for Recycling Do's and Don'ts

Every quarter, I send the LS team home with a little brainstorming assignment. I pass along a handful of questions to help us all grow. 

1. What made you look forward to coming into work?
2. What don’t you look forward to coming into work?
3. Something I can do to help you achieve your goals?

 Etc.. :)

Our first week back we order all the bagels and put aside a chunk of time to dive in and share. So much comes out of it, and one big topic was RECYCLING. 

As a paper company, we are extremely conscious of our carbon footprint and want to improve that in all areas of studio and personal life. There’s always room for growth, and we did a ton of research!

You have entered a judgment-free zone here people. (I learned where to look for the plastic # - it’ s embossed on the bottom of most plastic items with the recycling arrows symbol. And if not, it’s not recyclable!)

We're all here to learn more! 

Since I retain information through actions and pictures, I originally made this guide for our studio. But with it being Earth Day, we couldn’t wait to pass it along to you as well. I hope it’s useful!

We based it off Denver, so always check with your local recycling center, different cities can accept different things!

Below are some other cool things we learned while researching:

* Denver has an awesome tool where you can type in an item and it tells you where to dispose! It looks like this

 

* Remove lids from glass jars (metal and plastic lids can usually be recycled, but take them off the jar), Milk Carton plastic lids are too small to recycle, place those in the trash. Take sleeves and lids off of coffee cups but all can be recycled.

 

* Rinse plastic and glass - recycled items get washed eventually at the facility but rinsing helps ensure your item gets recycled AND helps to keep smells and animals out of recycling. 

  

* You know we love pizza here, but grease and cheese can contaminate recycling, so Denver asks us to cut grease stains out of things like pizza boxes if they’re soaked through.  

 

* And above all, reduce and reuse!!! Avoid recycling altogether by using reusable! Leave paper bags in your car so you always have them when grocery shopping. Use a refillable coffee mug or a water bottle from our fav S’well bottle.

Even more cool things we learned

* Plastic bags are Denver’s #1 recycling contaminant. (Retail, carryout, produce, newspaper, bread, sandwich and dry-cleaning bags) But! If you don't keep them to use as doggy poop bags, many grocery stores have plastic bag collection bins (I take mine to sprouts)

 

* 100% of glass bottles recycled in Denver become new glass locally.

 

* 306 pounds of recyclable materials are sent to the landfill by the average Denver household. 

 

* Only 50% of aluminum cans in Denver get recycled. Denver asks that you don’t crush them.

Download our printable chart! Print it out and display it in your recycling area.

Don’t forget to look up your local recycling rules. Use it as a family project or a homeschool assignment. I give you permission to doodle all over it to make it as useful as possible for your household.