What kinds of wrapping paper are recyclable?

From our mailbag:

What kinds of wrapping paper are recyclable? I specifically wonder about the shiny, metallic paper that my wife likes.

Thanks for your timely question, M.! Metallic and foil papers do create a fine-looking gift presentation! But, as much as I hate to introduce any domestic discontent, please tell your wife (gently!) that we cannot accept foil- or plastic-coated papers for recycling. We accept all other types of gift wrap paper (minus the bows and ribbons!).
In a related question, B. asked:

Can you tell me what can be done with tissue paper?

Sure! That can go into your wheeled cart or paper recycling bundle, right along with the rest of your recyclable paper.

A note about the photo: that roll of gift wrap is labeled "polywrap". It looks like foil paper but... it's actually a thin plastic film. If you have or receive any of this type of wrap, please dispose of it as trash once you are finished using (and reusing) it; we cannot accept plastic films in our recycling program.

When it snows... watch for our announcements

Excited about last night's Winter Storm Watch, my boys were ready. They had their snow pants out, and their boots lined up.

I was ready, too: I had a laptop and cell phone, fully charged and standing by.

As we saw this morning, neither set of preparations was called into play. Still, it was good practice for a future weekday morning on which snow blankets the ground, or ice makes streets too slippery for recycling and trash collection vehicles.

If County-provided recycling or trash collection needed to be delayed or suspended due to weather on such a morning, I'd press that laptop into service as soon as I received the phone call to let me know that there was a collections change. I would update our website, and send a note to our announcement subscribers. You can receive notifications as email, a text message, or as an RSS feed.

Are you on our subscriber list? If not, I invite you to join our Collection Change notification list

Community Shred in Gaithersburg, December 13, 2008

The NBC4 Safe & Secure Community Shred rotates its locations.  This month, it returns to Gaithersburg!

Saturday, Dec. 13, 2008
8 a.m. to 11 a.m.
at the Montgomery County Agricultural Center (enter from Perry Parkway)
Safe & Secure Community shred details and driving directions

You may bring up to 5 boxes of personal papers, CDs and old credit cards for shredding -- no business or commerial materials, please. Your car must be in line by 11 a.m. in order to be served.

Compact fluorescent bulb recycling is now easier

Yesterday, I received this blog comment:

You should never throw your cfl bulbs in the regular trash because it contains mercury. It takes just one teaspoon of mercury to contaminate a 20 acre lake forever. It is also illegal to throw them into the trash in many states.

Were you writing in response to this blog entry about compact fluorescent light disposal? In the year that has passed since that entry was posted, our CFL recycling opportunities have expanded.

We have identified eight local retail stores which accept residents' CFLs for recycling. That's in addition to the Hazardous Waste drop-off at our Solid Waste Transfer Station and our community Household Hazardous Waste collection events. (Our community events have ended for 2008; we'll post our 2009 schedule as soon as it's announced in the Spring.)

We'll continue to update our map of local CFL recycling locations, and other CFL disposal tips as this information evolves.

Thanksgiving Day Holiday 2008 - modified schedule

Thursday, November 27, 2008 - Thanksgiving Day - is a recycling and trash collection holiday. All County-provided recycling and trash collections normally made on Thursday or Friday will be made one day later this week.
If you have any questions or concerns about your County-provided collection, please contact our Customer Service staff online or call 240-777-6410.
Note: if you (or your community) have a private contract for your trash collection, or if you live in a municipality, these schedule announcements may not apply to your trash service -- check with your hauler or community manager.

Solid Waste Transfer Station Holiday Closings

Solid Waste Transfer Station hours and other details

• Wednesday, November 26, 2008: will close at 5 p.m.
• Thursday, November 27, 2008: closed
• Friday, November 28, 2008: will reopen with normal hours

Beauty Spot Holiday Closings

Beauty Spot locations, hours and other details

• Saturday and Sunday, November 29 and 30, 2008: open

Recycling Center Tips: Only metal cans and foil products in your blue bins, please

Another installment of learnings from my trip to our Recycling Center...

Remember that metal conduit? Unfortunately, it is often in the company of other metal items that poke and prod the equipment at our Recycling Center. Here are some examples:

A metal roasting pan and metal piece with sharp edges (the round item at the top left is a tea kettle, also in the "thanks, but no" category for blue bin curbside collection)

Here is a piece of what looked like part of a metal frame (plus that tea kettle again!)"

The thing is that our sorting process and machinery are set up for accepting metal only in the form of cans and foil products. Oversize items can jam up the works. And, those sharp edges and pointy bits can damage the machinery (more on that later...).

Tip: We provide curbside scrap metal collection for large items at no charge. And, we set up a handy shortcut for details about this popular service: www.montgomerycountymd.gov/scrapmetal. If you have smaller amounts of scrap metal, or prefer to transport the metal yourself, use the scrap metal recycling area at our Solid Waste Transfer Station, also at no charge.

Compost bins are available; Leaf vacuuming is underway for 2008

The leaves are falling from trees in full force! My household had an industrious weekend of raking. The casualties included a snapped rake and some sore muscles. But, we're delighted that our "Vintage 2008" batch of compost is in progress.

If you need a compost bin for your yard, stop in at one of our bin pick-up locations. We've made sure that they are well-stocked for your visit.

Leaf vacuuming collection began on November 3, 2008, and will continue for several weeks. Our colleagues in Highway Services are posting updates on their crews' leaf pickup progress. Also, check out the do's and don'ts that will help keep your neighborhood safe while your leaves await collection, and enable crews to work more efficiently.

We've gathered the links for grasscycling, composting, compost bin locations, and leaf collection in one handy place for you: www.montgomerycountymd.gov/yardtrim

Our November 2008 TRRAC Newsletter is available

TRRAC is our program for recycling and waste reduction at apartment and condominium properties.

The November 2008 issue covers:

• Recycling Seminar: Training, Tips, and Tricks
  (register online)
  
• America Recycles Day: November 15 (event details)
  
• Montgomery County Expands its Plastics Recycling Program
• Recycling Enforcement
• Recycling in the Mailroom

Interested in reading back issues? Visit our TRRAC Newsletter Archive.

Recycling Center Tips: flexible metal conduit is not a blue bin material

Another installment of learnings from my trip to our Recycling Center...

We accept metal cans, tins, and foil products in our weekly curbside recycling program.

Sometimes, people expand that, thinking "if it's metal, it must be ok." And, they drop their metal item into their blue bin.

But, it's not ok. For example, flexible metal conduit bends and pokes when it is intact. And when it unravels, as it inevitably does, it bends, pokes, and wraps around bits of the Recycling Center's sorting machinery all the more. It would make great "hair" for a wild Halloween costume, or for a sculpture. However, please keep it out of blue bins.

Tip: Please recycle flexible metal conduit (and the rigid type, too) by taking it to the scrap metal recycling area at our Solid Waste Transfer Station.

Recycling Center Tips: empty your bottles

My camera and I recently spent a morning visiting our Recycling Center's Operations Manager. I wanted to find out more about those "thanks, but no" items -- things which residents send to the Recycling Center, but which we cannot accept.

In preparation for my visit, Recycling Center staff had pulled aside a pile of items for me to see. Sporting my borrowed hard hat, I strode out onto the tipping floor with the manager. This is the area in which the recycling trucks which collect material from your blue bins and wheeled paper carts dump, or tip, their contents.

The time passed quickly as we proceeded through our show-and-tell; it was fascinating to hear about the do's and don'ts of Montgomery County's recycling program from the manager's very practical operations perspective. My many questions were answered patiently, and I completely filled my camera's memory card with photos. I look forward to sharing my learnings with you in a series of "Recycling Center Tips" blog entries.

The day of my visit was pleasant and sunny, with few clouds wafting about. It had not rained in several days. Yet, a large puddle covered a section of floor quite a distance from the building entrance. Puzzling... what could possibly have been the source?

When the sorting workers find bottles with water, juice, or soda remaining inside, they pull these bottles aside. When the bottle container is full, it is dumped out on the tipping floor. The front-end loader then runs over the bottles, crushing them, and allowing the liquids to drain out... thus forming the puddle I saw.

The crushed, and now empty, bottles are then put back onto the conveyer belts for sorting.

Tip: please empty beverage bottles before adding them to your blue bin.

Please put construction debris into cans for collection

Each weekday, and on Saturdays when we have a "slide" due to a holiday, we have field staff out in your neighborhoods. Their contacts with collection crews and residents, and their own observations as they drive through their assigned areas, help us monitor the recycling and trash materials set out for collection, and the collection service itself.

Last week, the field staff supervisor sent me this note:

Construction Debris: The crews are finding a lot of this in plastic bags. Nails and other sharp objects are cutting the plastic and either creating litter during collection attempts or potentially injuring the collector.

The remedy is to put your construction debris into trash cans when you set this material out for curbside collection. For reference, I have added this information to our trash service details webpage.

Thank you for helping to keep our collection crews -- and yourself! -- safe, and your neighborhood clean of potential litter, when you prepare your construction debris for pickup.

Pillow disposal/recycling/reuse: a follow-up on the follow-up

After finding our blog in a webseach, and reading these posts about pillow disposal, a blog reader sent me this note:

When I contacted my local animal shelters about old pillows, they told me they cannot take them, as the animals shred them and can accidentally ingest the filling.

Thank you for the opportunity to do a little more research. I contacted two shelters local to our office.

One shelter responded with:

We do accept pillows. We also accept blankets (no wool), comforters, bathroom rugs, towels, beach towels, carpet squares, and mattress pads (no electric blankets).

The other wrote back, noting:

I am not a fan of pillows because the stuffing is usually not good for animals and is hard to clean because of its thickness. We desperately need blankets, towels, and sheets.

So, as is the case with many donation opportunities, check with your prospective recipients to confirm that they are able to use what you wish to give them. Our Use It Again Guide is one resource to help you direct your donations, and we're happy to receive your donations of tips to help us expand the Guide even further.

Old refrigerators doors from Montgomery County become art at the National Building Museum

When the folks planning the U.S. Department of Energy’s ENERGY STAR^® Recycle My Old Fridge Campaign Art Exhibition needed refrigerator doors earlier this summer, they came to us. Specifically, they turned to our Solid Waste Transfer Station, the facility which receives refrigerators for recycling. And, our Transfer Station staff was happy to assist with their request.

The refrigerator door art has been created, and the show, titled "The Art of Recycling: The Coolest Show in Town", opens this coming Monday! It runs from August 25 through September 2, 2008, at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC.

Calculate the amount of energy used by your refrigerator, learn about ENERGY STAR^® models, and more at the Recycle My Old Fridge Campaign. If you decide it's time to replace your refrigerator, remember that we provide curbside pickups at no charge through our scrap metal recycling program.

Labor Day Holiday 2008 - modified schedule

Monday, September 1, 2008 - Labor Day - is a recycling and trash collection holiday. After the holiday, all County-provided recycling and trash collections will be one day later than normal.

If you have any questions or concerns about your County-provided collection, please contact our Customer Service staff online or call 240-777-6410.

Note: if you (or your community) have a private contract for your trash collection, or if you live in a municipality, these schedule announcements may not apply to your trash service -- check with your hauler or community manager.

Solid Waste Transfer Station Holiday Closings

Solid Waste Transfer Station hours and other details

• Monday, September 1, 2008: closed
• Tuesday, September 2, 2008: will reopen with normal hours

Beauty Spot Holiday Closings

Beauty Spot locations, hours and other details

• Saturday and Sunday, August 30 and 31, 2008: closed

On Chocolate Zucchini Bread and plastics recycling

I was looking forward to the arrival of the season's first zucchini, so that I could use it in a batch of Chocolate Zucchini Bread. This past weekend, I got that zucchini, whipped out my recipe, and set to work.

In the process, I used the last of my baking cocoa. Typically, I would have stood there in the kitchen, considering whether I had any possible uses for the empty cocoa container, generally decided that I already had more than enough empty plastic containers awaiting reuse, and then gently placed it into the trash.

This time, I cheerfully rinsed the container and lid, and put them into my recycling bin (after taking this photograph for you!) for collection in our expanded plastics recycling program. And, yes, the bread turned out well also.

Our Summer 2008 SORRT Newsletter is available

The Summer 2008 issue of our SORRT Network Newsletter is available on our website. Our Non-Residential Recycling Program publishes this quarterly newsletter.

This issue's topics include:

• Celebrating Recycling Awareness Week in Montgomery County
• Annual Business Recycling Awards
• Focus on: Mixed Paper

Interested in reading back issues? Visit our SORRT Network Newsletter Archive.

Are tofu containers recyclable? Yes.

Is it, or isn't it accepted in our expanded plastics recycling program? In this case, the object of our affections here in the Division of Solid Waste Services office was... a tofu container!

We learned that, unlike our clamshell container, this tofu container is accepted in our new program.

For the curious -- yes, we count ourselves among them! -- this white container was stamped with #2, which is high-density polyethylene or HDPE.

More on recycling berry and other "clamshell" containers

Last Thursday, I wrote about recycling (or not) "clamshell" containers used for packaging berries.

Over the weekend, we received this note:

You stated in your answer that berry containers can't be recycled because they are polystyrene (#6). However, some, including one I planned to recycle, are PETE (#1). Can these #1 clamshell containers be recycled?

Thanks, S., for the opportunity to clarify this topic further. Sorry, we cannot accept the #1 clamshell containers either. So, in summary: no clamshell containers in your blue bins, please.

On Saturday morning, my family and I went blueberry picking. I noticed that one of the fellow berry-pickers near us was carefully depositing his harvest into... a large, clear clamshell container. There were still lots of blueberries ripening on the bushes, with blackberries available, too, and the promise of raspberries to come! So, there is time yet to refill your own berry containers with some tasty summer goodness before retiring them to the trash.

Are berry containers recyclable? No.

Thank you for the many questions you've been asking us about our newly expanded plastics recycling program! The program details are new to us, to, and we've been learning a great deal about the finer points of plastics recycling do's and don't ourselves.

We will continue to tweak our plastics guidance to you so that it is easy to use and understand. And, we'll be sharing advice on specific plastic items here in our blog. So, on to our first item...



One of the top questions has been "Can I recycle my strawberry / blueberry / raspberry containers?" Sorry, to the extent that you don't have a reuse for these, please put your clear "clamshell" containers from berries into the trash.
Yes, it is a food-grade container. But, it is made from polystyrene, which we cannot accept. How do you know that it's made from this resin? Look for the "6" on the container.

Check back with our blog (or subscribe to our feed). And, visit our plastics photo set for a handy reference.

Hazardous Waste Collection announced for October 18, 2008

Our first Fall 2008 Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) community collection event is on the calendar!

Saturday, October 18, 2008, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Silver Spring International Middle School
313 Wayne Ave
Silver Spring, MD 20910
(Dale Dr. & Wayne Ave.)

In addition to the HHW "satellite" events, we have our Household Hazardous Waste dropoff at the Solid Waste Transfer Station. That's open to you daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Details about our Household Hazardous Waste program

We've moved to the Department of Environmental Protection

Effective today, we -- the Division of Solid Waste Services -- are part of the Department of the Environmental Protection. All contact information remains the same.

New phone number for our Transfer Station

Need to reach the main office of our Solid Waste Transfer Station? Effective today, Wednesday, June 25, 2008, please call our Transfer Station staff at their new number: 240-777-6560.

We're bringing our expanded electronics recycling collection to you

On the heels of our electronics recycling collection program expansion at the Solid Waste Transfer Station, we're expanding electronics recycling in Montgomery County even further: we're taking it on the road!

To help you recycle your items as easily as possible, we scheduled electronics drop-off events at local Park-N-Ride Lots. We have three on our calendar at the moment, and will update you as additional events are announced.

• June 22, 2008: Burtonsville Park-N-Ride
• July 20, 2008: Comus Park-N-Ride
• September 21, 2008: Damascus Park-N-Ride

NBC4 Safe & Secure Community Shred in Gaithersburg - June 28, 2008

The next NBC4 Safe & Secure Community Shred event comes to us! It will be held at the Montgomery County Agricultural Center in Gaithersburg.

This free event will accept up to 5 boxes of your personal papers -- no business or commercial items, please. Details about accepted material and the Community Shred program

Saturday, June 28, 2008
Event hours: 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Montgomery County Agricultural Center
16 Chestnut St.
Gaithersburg, MD 20877
Map of the Agricultural Center
Text with driving and public transit directions

Recycling Awareness Week - awards given for special achievement

At yesterday's Recycling Achievement Awards Recognition Program, we celebrated recycling efforts in these categories:

• Outstanding Recycling Volunteers
• Multi-Family Property Excellence in Recycling
• Multi-Family Property Outstanding Improvement in Recycling
• Multi-Family Property Outstanding Individual Achievement in Recycling
• Excellence in Recycling -- Business
• Outstanding Achievement in Recycling - Business
• Outstanding Achievement in Recycling - Individual

Congratulations to all for helping to promote recycling in Montgomery County!

Recycling Awareness Week - Poster content winners honored

On Tuesday evening, we announced and honored 32 student artists who received awards in our annual Montgomery County School Recycling Poster Contest. Congratulations!

This year’s poster contest theme was “Don’t Throw It Away, Recycle Every Day".

Update (5/28/2008): Look at the winning posters

Award ceremony attendees admiring contest entries

Memorial Day Holiday - modified schedule

Montgomery County-provided recycling and trash collections

Monday, May 26, 2008 - Memorial Day - is a recycling and trash collection holiday. After the holiday, all County-provided recycling and trash collections will be one day later than normal.

Detailed holiday schedule and information

If you have any questions or concerns about your County-provided collection, please contact our Customer Service staff online or call 240-777-6410.

Note: if you (or your community) have a private contract for your trash collection, these schedule announcements may not apply to your trash service -- check with your hauler or community manager.

Shady Grove Solid Waste Transfer Station

• Monday, May 26, 2008: closed
• Tuesday, May 27, 2008: will reopen with normal hours
• Transfer Station location, hours and other details
  

Damascus and Poolesville Beauty Spots

• Saturday and Sunday, May 24 and 25, 2008: closed
• Beauty Spot locations, hours and other details

Our "Behind the Scenes" citizens academy graduates Spring class

Our Spring 2008 "Behind the Scenes" course class graduated last Thursday! For six weeks, participants discussed a wide range of topics related to recycling, trash, and waste reduction in Montgomery County.

Participant comments included:

• [One of the most interesting things I learned was] that the non-recycled trash runs a power plant and that a train takes it there.
• Every class was so fascinating and I would have gladly paid tuition to take this program.
• Great end-to-end coverage of solid waste management.

"Behind the Scenes" course participants tour the Solid Waste Transfer Station

Preregister to learn about future "Behind the Scenes" sessions

Compost bins now available on weekends

Need a compost bin for your yard? We have a new pickup location which is open on weekends!

The Audubon Sanctary Shop is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, and from Noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays, and offers our compost bins to you at no charge.

Audubon Sanctuary Shop
Woodend Nature Sanctuary
8940 Jones Mill Road
Chevy Chase, MD 20815
301-652-3606
bookshop@audubonnaturalist.org

Complete list of compost bin pickup locations

Why not have a bin for recycling plastic bags at the Transfer Station?

From our mailbag:

Too bad the recycling center can't accept them. Why not have an additional bin for them? Although stores like Whole Food are terminating them from their stores, unfortunately, those plastic bags are still a significant part of our surrounding.

We are constantly evaluating the range of materials we are able to accept in the recycling drop-off area at our Solid Waste Transfer Station. Just last month, we expanded our electronics recycling program to accept small electronics, in addition to the computers and televisions we were already taking.

At this time, we are unable to dedicate a collection container to plastic bags at the Transfer Station. Instead, we recommend that you take your plastic bags to recycling bins at your local grocery stores. Hopefully, having drop-off options close to home will make it even more convenient than bringing bags to us.

And, we encourage using reusable cloth bags whenever possible, which helps you avoid having plastic bags to recycle.

Thanks for celebrating Earth Day with us

What a warm and sunny day it was for our Earth Day Celebration! While the advance weather forecast included rain, those drops didn't fall until long after our event was over. (Whew!) Thank you to the hundreds of you who came out and joined us.

We are so grateful to our many event volunteers - a good number of whom were teens earning Student Service Learning hours - for your assistance throughout the day.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday - modified schedules

Montgomery County-provided recycling and trash collections

Monday, January 21, 2008 - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday - is a recycling and trash collection holiday. After the holiday, all County-provided recycling and trash collections will be one day later than normal during the week of January 21.

If you have any questions or concerns about your County-provided collection, please contact our Customer Service staff online or call 240-777-6410.

Note: if you (or your community) have a private contract for your trash collection, these schedule announcements may not apply to your trash service -- check with your hauler or community manager.

Shady Grove Transfer Station

• closed: Monday, January 21, 2008
• reopens: Tuesday, January 22, 2008
• Transfer Station hours and other details

From pretty Christmas trees to marvelous mulch

What happens to your Christmas tree after it is whisked away from your curb for recycling?

Yard trim trucks carrying leaves, grass, and brush -- and Christmas trees! -- enter the Solid Waste Transfer Station through its Truck Entrance.

After weighing in on the scales, the trucks head over to the Yard Trim area.

Look at that big pile of yard trim and trees! See those paper yard trim bags? They will be ground up right along with their contents.

Here is the grinder at work.

The pile of yard trim and trees is in the foreground of this photo; the resulting mulch pile is in the background. With the remainder of the autumn leaves, and now the Christmas trees, in the mix, January and February are excellent times to come and take home some of our mulch.

How do I dispose of an artificial Christmas tree?

A Happy New Year to all of you!

From a Live Help chat to us:

What is the prescribed way to dispose of an old artificle / fake metal Christmas tree? Thanks.

Actually, thank you for the opportunity to add to the information on our Christmas tree recycling web page.

Here is the information I have added to the Christmas tree page...

If you have Montgomery County-provided trash collection service

If you have Montgomery County-provided trash service, please request a bulk trash pickup for your artificial Christmas tree at www.montgomerycountymd.gov/bulktrash or 240-777-6410.

If you have privately-provided trash service

If you have privately-provided trash service because you or your homeowners' association have direct contract with a company, please check with your collection company for instructions.

If your artificial tree is still in usable condition

If your artificial Christmas tree is still in usable condition, consider offering it to a fellow community member on your local Freecycle Network group.