That plastic is not collected in any recycling program that I have ever heard of. It needs to go in the garbage. Sometimes it will even have the recycling symbol on it, and it may be technically recyclable, but not in reality.

Tom and Tom cover it well. Perhaps in the future when recyclables have become highly important resources this might be a way to capture more of them.

CD and DVD cases are not recyclable in Seattle's curbside program. Reuse is the best option. CD resale stores might be interested...

If the pizza box is greasy or has any food in it, please put it into the food and yard cart. Otherwise, the box goed into the recycling.

If you are highly ambitions or dedicated, you can remove the greasy/food soiled part and put that into food and yard waste for composting, while recycling all the clean part.

Prescription vials that are amber or orange are made of a plastic material that shreds and is useless for recycling. They are not accepted.

Empty plastic bottles that contained vitamins or medicine are accepted into recycling, no matter what the number is. The lids (smaller than 3 inches) go into the garbage.

Styrofoam food take-out containers are now illegal in Seattle. If you find a restaurant using them, please send the name of the restaurant and the address to Pat.kaufman@seattle.gov 

Ask for green catalogues from office supply stores - Office Depot has a large online green catague with products that are rated for several green attributes: less toxic, Post-consumer content, emissions, etc. And many other suppliers have this too. Ask for it! 

www.greenseal.org  has a good green report on many office supplies.

You're already using Office Depot but maybe this link would be useful: www.officedepot.com/yourgreenoffice

If your non-profit is a charity, you may be able to use the City of Seattle's purchasing contracts: http://www.seattle.gov/html/business/contracting.htm 

Thanks for your commitment to recycling and the planet through taking this important step.

Yes, we have plastic decking too and love it! So low maintenance and very attractive. No rot!

Ditto with Tom for Seattle

Sometimes the landfill space fact is the only thing that gets some people's attention, but you're right - it is not as critical as sustaining life on the planet through keeping habitat thriving, climate change mitigated, and reducing energy/water/resource use to create products. Waste prevention, recycling and composting have a big role to play in these crucial issues.

For instance, using recycled paper to make new paper can reduce water use by 60%, energy use by 70%, and pollutants by 50%. This, of course, means the high importance of buying paper made with "post-consumer" content to make recycling really work. 100% PC paper is best!

In addition, new systems-based accounting of greenhouse gases (David Allaway), rather than sector-based accounting, demonstrates that waste prevention and recycling play a far bigger role than previously suggested in climate change. The "upstream" impacts of getting resources (mining, oil, deforesting) plus the manufacturing process plus transportation plus disposal add up to a whopping impact on greenhouse gases. Think before you buy that next thing - is it truly needed? Remember, every single product is "embedded" energy and resources.

In addition, organics in the landfill create methane which is a greenhouse gas at least 22 times the impact of CO2 on the atmosphere. Put food and yard waste into your food/yard cart to send it to the compsot facility instead.

You specifically call out plastics. While I am not highly knowledgable about plastic, I can only imagine it is better to recycle old bottles for new products rather than demanding more and more new crude oil for that purpose.

It sounds like you're doing all the right things. That Grays Harbor recycled-content paper, Harbor 100, made right here in Washington state, is wonderful. We use it in my office also.

I would check with the main local suppliers of office supplies for businesses - Keeney's and Corporate Express - and see what they can do for you, although they may have minimums, as you mentioned. Both of those actually carry a nice variety of recycled content and "green" supplies, as do Office Depot and some of the other chains and smaller independent office supply places.

One Seattle-based manufacturer of recycled-content office supplies you could consider supporting, if you don't already, is ReBinder (http://www.rebinder.com), formerly known as the Sustainable Group. They make binders, folders, etc. As their website notes, "Assembled by a local, AbilityOne certified disabled workforce, all ReBinder product materials are sourced from responsibly managed forests and verified FSC and SFI certified sources."

Thanks for using recycled-content products! That's what makes recycling succeed.

Thanks for this great question! Every year schools have a great opportunity with leftover supplies.

First thing, create a re-use center for anything that could be used again by staff or students. Make it ongoing as a supply center. You could also feature a fun event a couple of times a year for "exchanges" or "shopping."

For items that cannot be reused here are answers to your questions:

1. Spiral notebooks are NOT accepted in Seattle's recycling program as the wire can jam up machinery. The paper is welcome; just remove it from the spiral.

2. Stapled paper is definitely accepted in recycling.

3. Three ring notebooks and plastic pencil cases are not recyclable in Seattle's program. If not reusable they go into the garbage.

4. Destroyed books: Paperbacks are okay in the recycling bin. Hardbooks are not accepted in the general recycling program due to the glue in the spine. However, there are private recycling companies who will take them. Search "Recycling hardback books Seattle" on the web.

5. Lots of stickers and tape items go into the garbage.

Consider signing up your school for the Washington Green Schools certification program at www.wagreenschools.org. A reuse center can be a project to win your schools points!

King County Solid Waste Division has a Web site called "What do I do with..."

http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/wdidw/

A search for "DVD cases" gives results for "Tapes and Disks," which isn't exactly what you have. But it does list several computer recycling services that would probably take your cases.

You could also try InterConnection, a groovy computer reuse center near Gas Works park. http://www.interconnection.org/

There is also GreenDisk, who recycle technotrash for a reasonable fee - http://www.greendisk.com/

Some of these are debatable, but my opinion:

- I would go ahead and put the spiral notebooks, stapled papers and old books in with mixed paper recycling. The paper pulping process should be able to screen off the metal spiral thingies, the staples and hopefully any contaminants in the book bindings.
- If they can't be reused, put in the garbage the 3-ring notebooks and plastic pencil cases.
- Also put in the garbage anything with lots of stickers or tape on it, if you can't easily get them off.
- If non-recyclable items are placed in the recycling bin, they typically get sorted out, but that process is time-consuming and not perfect. Try not to put in non-recyclables, but if you get it wrong once in awhile, don't worry about it.

Thanks!

But maybe it shouldn't be:

http://rcswww.urz.tu-dresden.de/~gehring/deutsch/dt/vortr/040929ge.pdf

Apparently the paper contains high concentrations of Bisphenol A, which could be potentially hazardous in products made out of recycled paper intended for daily use, such as toilet paper and paper towels, and could enter the food supply if composted into fertilizer. I'm not a chemist and I have no idea how severe these risks are, but perhaps one of the experts would wish to weigh in on this with whatever knowledge they have about the subject.

Most commonly, plastic bags that are collected for recycling get turned into composite plastic lumber used for decking (Trex and ChoiceDek are major brands). That decking material also includes reclaimed sawdust along with plastic bags and plastic film (like shrink-wrap from businesses). Our deck at home is actually made of Trex, and it works great.

For more thorough answers, Ask Jeeves or Google. Or visit the EPA'S web site.

There is a whole range of costs and benefits of recycling depending on the material. For example, recycling aluminum cans is AWESOME. You don't need to dynamite or use cyanide to mine for the metal, and the recyclng process is so efficient, that you can put your pop can in a recycling cart, and that metal will be remanufactured and back on the store shelf in a six-pack in about sixty days. AND, you can recycle aluminum FOREVER. There are probably pop cans out that have been recycled 10,000 times!

On the other end of the scale, say, glass bottles, are not as awesome. It's heavy to ship, the process to remake it requires energy. How much more energy than making glass from sand? I dunno. Ask Jeeves.

I do know, however, are some good "landfill hogshit" numbers you loathe. The EPA thinks 90% the greenhouse gases that are generated by America's solid waste management system (recycling, composting, landfilling) is generated from landfilling. I'm not a math whiz, but to me,that means recycling wins!

You are right on all points. First, yes, if it’s dirty it’s not recyclable; unless it’s compostable, it’s garbage. So the dirty yogurt containers you mentioned should have gone in the trash.

As you noted, Starbucks hot cups – in fact, paper hot beverage cups from any shop – are lined with a thin layer of polyethylene. That means that when empty they should go in recycling. Some hot cups are labeled compostable, but that just means the liner is a corn-based bioplastic. They’re still mostly paper and so they, too, should go in recycling. That keeps it simple. All hot cups go in recycling.

We’re disappointed to hear that the event organizers you worked with apparently did a pretty poor job of planning and managing the recycling and composting of the food service products being used. Event recycling is much harder to manage than residential recycling. The residential recycling guidelines allow a wide range of materials and require cleaning of all materials because it is likely that there is convenient access to sinks and wipes to clean food residue from the recyclable containers.

Seattle Public Utilities is working with as many event organizers as possible to help with signage and bins for recycling and compostables so folks can properly discard food service products when they’re done with them.

We understand that the transition to new compostable and recyclable food service products is a big change for a lot of people, so it’s important this year for event sponsors to clearly mark bins and in most cases have volunteers out there monitoring them and helping people discard things properly.

With regard to compostable serviceware, the same challenges exist regarding communicating the guidelines and increasing the understanding of what is compostable and what is garbage. You are correct, the system is being inundated with non-compostable food and beverage packaging that is plastic coated. There is a website that lists all the “approved” compostable packaging, but there are also a number of packaging items that do not fully compost, therefore are not approved, but they appear to be compostable by their appearance.

It is very important that food service businesses select the appropriate packaging for their food and beverages.

Your pharmacy should take them but I'm not sure what they do with them. I seem to recall a big sign at Bartel's offering free pill bottle recycling. Maybe call a few pharmacies?

Great question. There is a place that recycles styrofoam for a reasonable fee for businesses and hospitals, if you want to get activist about it (hope so) and lobby the VA to consider it. According to their site, hosptials/labs have a lot of styro which is why they distinguish the needs of general biz from hospitals on their site. So maybe a movement to consolidate all styro at the VA could be successful if you identify your green colleagues?
Check it out:
http://www.styrorecycle.com/services/hospitals.htm

You can also drop smaller loads off (no charge) at their Ikea drop off location.

The ban on those disposables takes effect 7/1/10.

Also see:

"What's the deal with some restaurants still using styrofoam take-out containers?":
http://questionland.thestranger.com/questions/2455-whats-the-deal-with-some-restaurants-still-using-styrofoam-take-out-containers

My understanding is that the VA, being Federal property, is exempt from local laws such as this.

Excellent question!
Seattle's waste streams can be divided into seperate categories: Residential, Commercial, Industrial, and Construction and Demolition (C&D, also referred to as CDL or Construction, Demolition, and Land clearing). That can be even further divided but this is sufficient for this scenerio.

The vast majority of our messaging is for the residential sector. We have hundreds of thousands of residential customers and only several thousand commercial. We regulate virtually all of the residential waste stream including recycling. We do not regulate or directly control commercial recycling.

Residential recycling is very cheap to our customers. Free, actually. To control costs we need to control the material as best we can. This includes being able to guarantee to the processor (Allied/Republic Industries) that the material we are sending them is very clean. Allied's process for Seattle's residential stream is predicated on getting clean material. It's one of best ways to control cost.

Commercial recycling (which is what the event you describe would be) is a different ball of wax entirely. The cost for commercial recycling is much more than residential for most materials. Single stream aluminum you may actually get some money for and the cardboard market is pretty good as well. Everything else is going to cost you money to haul away. The commercial recyclers are able to generate revenue through pickup fees, container rental fees, etc and are less dependent on revenue from the material itself. As a result they may be more inclined to take material that is less than clean (though I do not want to speak for them; there are other factors in play as well). They don't like it, though. In addition, commercial customers can shop around for a hauler that best fits their needs and some may more willing than others to take a chance on potential material condition issues. All of our commercial recycling haulers can and do reject loads for pickup if they are too contaminated. What, exactly, that threshold is varies but I supect that special events are given a bit more latitude than other accounts would be.

The Cedar Grove issue is very much on our radar (as well as Cedar Groves!) and we are working on getting the messaging correct. It is true that there should be no plastic of any kind (short of approved PLA products) going into the food waste bins. Cedar Grove will reject loads that are contaminated if it is a recurring problem. As this is an event I will make some assumptions including that Cedar Grove (or whatever hauler was used) was expecting a less than perfect load and made arrangements to deal with it. Those folks are usually right on top of it and know what they are doing. Part of their process for composting is removing contaminants like coffee cups. It is expensive and less than perfect, however, so we must take this type of contamination seriously.

This may be a good time to bring up another feature of our composting program that is pretty awesome. That is that the food waste we collect here is actually used to create commercially available products (top soil, compost, etc). Other cities that collect food waste use their material for what we call "ADC" or alternative daily cover in a landfill. It is composted and then dumped in the landfill to cap it. Here in SPU we don't even consider that recycling at all. As a result, however, it becomes even more important to ensure a clean stream of material being processed so we need to be vigilant both in our messaging and in our actions as we expand the composting effort.

Fnarf is correct is stating that we do not use the number system. This is because the number only tells you what the polymer is but not the extrusion process used which changes the nature of the polymer. For instance, "6" is PS or polystyrene. The most common extrusion is for Styrofoam. Not recyclable. However, those clear clamshells you often see at salad bars etc. are also "6" polytyrene and are reyclable. Those are blow molded and keep much more density than the foam process. Same polymer, different extrusion process and so different recyclabilty.

Bringing your own container for takeout is becoming more and more common though some restaurants hesitate to allow it. "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" are the "3 Rs" of solid waste management and they are in the order of importance. Reducing the amount of wasteful products is the most desirable as you never have to deal with the consequences of materials or items you never have in the first place. Reusing those items you do need is the next priority and few things are as reusable as tupperware! Failing that, recycling is the next best option.

Some restaurants are uncomfortable with allowing their customers to use their own to-go containers. This is because restaurants spend a lot of time, energy, and money ensuring that the food you get is uncontaminated. They are responsible for making sure their customers do not get sick from what they are selling. As they do not have any control over the customer's container before it is given to them some feel that that is a potential liability for them and would rather you used one of their products which they have more faith in.

Folks do indeed wash out their clamshells. Dirty recycling isn't recycling. It's garbage. Some recycling is so valuable it may be worth washing or cleaning is some way (aluminum) but the economy of scale with recycling does not normally allow for extra steps in the processing.

Messaging around recycling becomes more nuanced the more sophisticated our programs get. It can be confusing, especially for folks that are visting or just moved here. We do try to be as consitent as we can with our messaging and make it as simple as possible. Unfortuneately, it is not always that simple or cut and dry and we very much appreciate the questions we get as it shows folks are paying attention. Even I thought we could recycle dog food bags years ago and I was wrong.

I think they're allowed to use up whatever existing stocks they have of the styrofoam ones. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of places are "finding" more stock "in the back" as time goes on.

Seattle doesn't use those numbers. They don't care. Don't look at them.

It's all about categories here. Plastic food containers ARE recyclable. Styrofoam is not. Also, any kind of plastic bottle, plastic plant pot, or plastic lid wider than 3".

Please put receipts in the recycling cart - they are paper.

You're both wrong. Or, you're both right. It's a wee bit nuanced.

There is no law stating that restaurants, or "food service establishments (FSEs) must compost all food waste. There is a law on the books saying that there can be no paper, cardboard, or landscape/yard waste in the commercial garbage stream. Food waste does not fall into those categories. However, it is significantly cheaper to have compost service vs similiarly scaled garbage service. There are many options.

There are three haulers that currently offer commercial food waste service in Seattle. These are Cedar Grove, Waste Management and Cleanscapes. You can hire any of them to haul your food waste. SPU has a non-exclusive contract with Cleanscapes and it specifies a rate for the service. It works out to be about 33% or so cheaper than a comparably sized garbage container. This is largely because there are no taxes and ancillary fees associated with food service while there are with garbage. Waste Management and Cedar Grove can charge whatever the want, but it, too, tends to be much cheaper than garbage.

We have a contract with Cedar Grove to offer training to any customer that signs up with any hauler for food waste service though the other haulers do their own training as well. We offer lots of posters and other materials in at least 7 languages to make the training easier and help it stick. Check out resourceventure.org for more information.

SPU also offers a low cost option for smaller generators of foodwaste. If a business only needs up to two 96 gallon containers of food waste dumped weekly they may request that they become part of the residential program. The cost of the residential program is about $7.85 per month for one 96 gallon container picked up once a week. The regular commercial charge would be about $50.00/month for a similiar service. There are some big differences, though. For instance, if you use the residential program than you must make sure that the container is placed within a few feet of the curb for pickup on that neighborhood's pickup day. The commercial service option offers far more flexibility than the residential option can.

The landscape changes somewhat on July 1st of this year. Last year SPU banned styrofoam for single use consumer products in FSEs. As of July 1 there is a requirement that those containers be made out a recyclable or compostable material (we prefer compostable) and that if the FSE uses the single use service-ware for their dine-inn guests (as most fast food places do) then that restaurant must offer recycling and/or compost disposal options for their customers. We call this "front of house" while anything that happens in the kitchens is "back of house". This would essentially require that all such restaurants have either recycling service or food waste service.

There are about 4500 Dept of Health permits for food service in Seattle held by about 3200 or so restaurants, grocery stores, event facilities, caterers, etc. There are more permits than food service establishments because many have more than one permit. A Safeway may have one for the deli, another for the bakery. Safeco field alone may have 100 of them for all I know... Of these approx. 3200 FSEs about 1650 have signed up for food waste service so we are above 50%. These FSEs are sending about 35,000 tons/year of food to Cedar Grove for processing (I'm awaiting a report now). In 2006 it was virtually 0 so we're doing pretty well. I hope we will be at virtual market saturation within a few years.

Yes, Seattle does offer free commercial recycling assistance through Resource Venture.

However, it sound like your building management might be a first place to start. Once you find out what kind of arrangement they have for recycling, please suggest they call Resource Venture at (206) 343-8505 or www.resourceventure.org and they might be able to help them out to improve tenant recycling.