November 15th is America Recycles Day!

Boro-Wide Recycling Corp.

Maspeth, NY 718-416-1656

www.BoroWideRecycling.com

Did you know that tomorrow, November 15th is America Recycles Day?  It’s a nationally recognized day chosen to raise awareness on why recycling matters and to encourage people to get involved.  The day serves as a perfect platform for recycling education. 

We’d like to share a few tips we found on America Recycles Day’s website:

Tip #1: Plastic bottle caps are usually recyclable along with the bottle! Check with your  local solid waste & recycling office to be sure, but many recycling programs accept bottle caps, made from #5 and #2 plastics.

Tip #2 Half is better than none! Although you can’t recycle your whole pizza box, you can tear off and recycle the top half, as long as it’s grease-free. As always, check with your local solid waste and recycling office to be sure. Keep this tip in mind if you’re picking up a pizza or ordering in this weekend!

Tips #3: When it comes to recycling,every community is different. Do some research to make sure you’re recycling all the materials accepted in your community. Check with your local solid waste and recycling office or americarecyclesday.org/find-recycling for information on your local recycling options.

Tip #4: A trick up your sleeve: Many recycling programs don’t accept paper cups because of the waxy lining. Don’t forget to recycle the cardboard sleeve!

Tip #5:  Look beyond the daily paper. Does your community recycling program accept cereal and tissue boxes? Magazines? Mail? Check with your local solid waste and recycling office to make sure you’re doing all you can to save trees!

Tip #6: Plastic bag and film recycling doesn’t stop with grocery bags. Recycle your dry cleaning, newspaper, & bread bags and also the plastic film on products like paper towels. 

Tip #7: Reduce and reuse first to shrink your environmental footprint! Reduce your unwanted mail by unsubscribing via CatalogChoice.org.

Tip #8: What you don’t put in your recycling bin is just as important as what you do recycle. Know what’s recyclable in your community so you don’t contaminate the recycling process.

Tip #9: Keep bags for both trash and recycling in your car. Pre-sorting makes it easier to recycle on the go.

Tip #10:  Recycling: it’s not just in the kitchen. Don’t trash your and shampoo bottles and toilet paper rolls just because they’re in the bathroom!

Tip #11: Can it! Metals are among the most valuable materials in the waste stream and almost all recyclers welcome aluminum and steel. So, recycle your cans!

Tip #12: Answer the call to recycle your wireless phone! 100 million of them go out of use each year, according to the U.S. EPA. Donate your out-of-use cell phone to a local charity or find a drop-off facility near you (AmericaRecyclesDay.org/find-recycling).

Tip #13: Don’t exclude your food. Not ready to dive into composting just yet? Toss your egg shells and coffee grounds into the garden instead of the trash. You’ll be diverting a little waste and enriching your soil at the same time.

Tip# 14: Close the loop by buying recycled content material. Recycling is the first step in the cycle, then the material is processed, and the last step is up to you:  Keep recycled content products in demand.

Tip #15: You don’t need to rinse out your glass bottles and jars before recycling!

We hope you'll take the time to spread the word.  Looking for a recycling or waste management solution?  Call Boro-Wide Recycling at (718) 416-1656 today!

5 Things You Didn't Know About the Recycling Industry

Dropping a plastic bottle in the recycling bin can be very simple, which is why most people do not think about what happens to it after.  Where does it go?  It falls into the hands of a $500 billion global industry that impact the life of every American, and likely employs more people than any other industry except agriculture.  Here are 5 things you need to know about recycling if you hope to understand how and why it is already transformed your world, whether or not you practice good recycling habits. 

1. Only around 60% of the recyclable waste generated in the US annually is recycled in the US.  The rest is exported, mostly to China.
2. China is both the top importer of recyclable waste, also the world's top recycler. 
3. Before the USA began exporting its recyclables around the world, the world sent its recyclables here.  In the 19th century, when Americans were desperate for steel to build the nation's railways, steelmakers imported hundreds of thousand of tons of steel scrap from Europe. 
4. The media has depicted the so called e-waste (electronic waste like computers, smartphones etc.)  as being dumped on the developing world by the US.  Earlier this year, the US International Trade Commision released the most comprehensive study of the American e-wast industry ever.  It concluded that only .13% of the 4.4 million tons of e-waste generated by America in 2011 was exported for "final disposal.
5. The American automobile is still the world's most recycled product, by weight. 

Remember that the next time you bring your recyclables to the trash room, you are not only committing a good deed on behalf of the environment, you are contributing to a global trade that predates your grandparents.  For more information on the facts above please visit http://goo.gl/Rkjnvo.

Call Boro-Wide Recycling for all of you recycling needs, residential and commercial.718-416-1656.

NYC Restaurant Challenge

Boro-Wide Recycling Corp.

Maspeth, NY 718-416-1656

www.BoroWideRecycling.com

New York City is one of a handful of cities that is working to keep food waste out of landfills.  Mayor Michael Bloomberg has a lot to do with the recycling efforts of many of NYC's citizens.   This year 100 if the city's 24,000 restaurants signed on to the city's voluntary pilot program and committed to recycle their food scraps.  Mayor Bloomberg has recently introduced legislation to the city council to mandate the City's largest restaurants to separate their food waste by 2014.  The head of the New York State Restaurant Association worries that the infrastructure is just not available to accomplish this lofty goal. Find out more about the NYC Restaurant Challenge: Recycle All Food Waste here: http://goo.gl/5vwt91

Call Boro-Wide Recycling for all of you recycling needs, residential and commercial.
718-416-1656.

Producers Should Shoulder More of the Recycling Cost

Boro-Wide Recycling Corp.

Maspeth, NY 718-416-1656

www.BoroWideRecycling.com

Over the past 11 years, Mayor Bloomberg has made great progress to help improve the environment for New York City, like planting hundreds of thousands of trees, reducing indoor air pollution by banning smoking in restaurants and bars, and creating more than 350 miles of bike lanes in the five boroughs.   These are great strides to improve our environment, but he has neglected the quantity of waste that the city sends to landfills, until recently.  The outgoing Mayor announced a major expansion of the types of plastics New Yorkers can toss into their recycling bins. 
Why should the burden fall upon the taxpayers?   Who should be responsible for what happens to consumer products and packaging when we're through with them?  For the most part, our current systems is very lenient with producers of single-use plastics, allowing them to offload costs related to disposal onto the taxpayers.  The taxpayers pay for collection and transfer to recycling facilities, or landfills. 
Things are changing, more states, cities and concerned individuals have begun voicing their demands that producers of consumer goods take a greater responsibility for their products at the end of their useful lives. For more information on the problem at hand and what is currently being done please visit http://goo.gl/I3wPg2.

Boro-Wide Recycling is dedicated to creating a better world through recycling.  Please contact us for all your recycling and waste removal needs, residential or commercial!

Things You Never Knew Were Recyclable

Boro-Wide Recycling Corp.

Maspeth, NY 718-416-1656

www.BoroWideRecycling.com

Sometimes recycling takes creativity and also some knowledge of the industry.  It can be confusing deciding what is recyclable and where to dispose of it.  Recycling can really help our environment and also make it a healthier place for us to live.  It is not always easy to know exactly what can be recycled, there are some great recyclable items that are available in your everyday life that you would never think to recycle. 

• Hair- Human Hair is compostable and recyclable.  The hair from your brush or fur from your pet holds a lot of useful nitrogen that can be thrown in a compost pile.  You can donate your hair to create booms that soak up oil spills.
• Jeans- Donating your jeans to Goodwill is always a good option.  But if they are too raggedy, they can be recycled to make insulation products, to be used for interior and exterior walls and ceiling applications. 
• Cotton Swabs- Cotton is also a good material for a compost bin.  Cotton balls, cotton swabs, lint from the dryer and even old shredded cotton and wool clothing can go into your compost.
• Keys- Keys are made of valuable metal, programs like Keys for Kindness raise money for Multiple Sclerosis through recycling keys.
• Golf Balls- Most golf balls are made in two or three parts.  A two piece ball is composed of just rubber and plastic which are obviously recyclable.

For a full list of obscure recyclable items please visit http://goo.gl/n7yHVH.  Call Boro-Wide Recycling for all of your recycling and waste removal needs residential or commercial. 

People Don't Recycle Damaged Goods

Boro-Wide Recycling Corp.

Maspeth, NY 718-416-1656

www.BoroWideRecycling.com

The growth of the recycling rate in the United States is growing, but the progress is much slower than it should be.  The recycling rate has risen by less than 6 percent in the last ten years, but why is it so slow?  A recent study, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, seeks to answer this common question by looking beyond the typical answers or excuses, like curbside recycling access and confusing plastic resin codes.   This study looks to examine the thought process that leads consumers to toss recyclables in the trash.

The study found that consumers are already hardwired to believe that damaged or incomplete products, like small or ripped paper and dented cans, no longer retain their value.  After testing their theory through a field study as well as four laboratory studies, they found that once a recyclable item ceased to retain its whole form, users tended to throw it in the garbage.  This process is formed out of habit, the only way it can be overcome is by helping consumers realize a product's true value.  This could be shifted to a larger scale by designing product packaging to preserve a whole and undamaged appearance after opening.  Read more about the study here: http://goo.gl/nTC0kv.

Tell us what you think about this concept below, or on our Facebook page!

Mayor Bloomberg Plans to Double Down on Recycling

Boro-Wide Recycling Corp.

Maspeth, NY 718-416-1656

www.BoroWideRecycling.com

New York City has made significant progress in it's recycling efforts over the last couple of years, but to continue the progress they need capture the attention and interest of the market.  Mayor Bloomberg has done a great job reducing the city's carbon footprint, he has been a leader among  big city mayors on this important issue. 


Recently Bloomberg has launched an aggressive plan to virtually double the amount of material the city will recycle in its residential program, to 30% by 2017, with a public campaign called "Recycle Everything" that includes bus and subway ads to raise awareness among New Yorkers.  His efforts include the idea to increase food-waste composting, which send a powerful message that the city intends to do everything it can to get more materials out of the waste stream.  This is a great push toward the greater good at the end of his term as mayor, but what we need is for the next mayor to pick up where he left off.  For more information on recycling plans for NYC please visit http://goo.gl/g6fiDq.

Call Boro-Wide Recycling for all of you recycling needs, residential and commercial.
718-416-1656.