I recently had the chance to chat with nearly 400 lively 5th and 6th graders from Southwest Minnesota about recycling. We jazzed things up with a Q&A game featuring the ever-popular Plinko — because who can resist those bouncing discs?
Now, let’s see if our local folks can outsmart these bright young minds by tackling the questions we threw their way. We started with some easy questions and had to throw in a few harder ones to challenge our students. Answers are at the end—no peeking allowed!
Can you recycle a paper shopping bag? Can you recycle newspapers?
Ready for a couple of harder questions? Out of every 10 beverage bottles or cans (pop cans or sports drinks, etc.) guzzled in the U.S., how many get recycled? (Hint: 2, 4, or all 10?) Which beverage container is recycled and material is made back into a beverage container leading it back to the shelf in just 60 days? (Plastic, aluminum, or paper?) And, when it’s not reborn as a drink container, which material often finds a second life as carpet or clothes? (Plastic, aluminum, or paper?)
Do you need to crush aluminum cans before recycling? Can you toss an old cellphone in the recycling bin? Should glass spaghetti sauce jars (most have metal or plastic lids) go in recycling with the lid on? How about garden hoses? Dirty diapers? Plastic bags? Paper towels?
Ready for the answers? Yes, you can recycle paper bags and newspapers! Most paper is fair game, except for shredded paper and books, which need to take a trip to the Household Hazardous Waste Facility and brought inside the facility during office hours.
As for those beverage containers, only four out of 10 get recycled nationwide, but we’re doing better in our area. Aluminum cans are the speedsters of the recycling world, back on the shelf in 60 days often holding your favorite beverage once again!
Plastic containers often transform into carpets, clothing, and even park benches. Keep your aluminum cans uncrushed— robots get confused thinking that a crushed can is paper! And no, cellphones or anything electronic with rechargeable batteries shouldn’t go in recycling or trash—they’re fiery troublemakers if the battery is broken open.
Glass jars can join the party with lids on. But watch out—garden hoses, dirty diapers, and cat litter are trash-only!
Plastic bags should either be reused, returned to the store and recycled there. They’re no good in recycling because they love to tangle up with the machinery. If you need to, they can be thrown away but see options 1 and 2 first!
Paper towels and their tissue friends are trash, but you might compost them if they haven’t mingled with household chemicals.
And there you have it! How did you score?
And please remember, in particular, a note about plastic recycling. Plastic recycling is hard because so little of it can actually be recycled. There just isn’t a market for most plastic items. Plastic tends to be mostly trash only. Please recycle only clean, empty food containers or personal care items (shampoo bottles, lotion, detergent, etc.).
Ignore any labeling that you see that might lead you to think it is recyclable. It most cases, it is not!
For more information on recycling or disposal, please go to the website at www. lyoco.org or call the Lyon County Environmental Department at (507) 532-8210. The Lyon County Landfill can be reached at (507) 865-4515.
