What can you recycle?

a post and a craft from Harriet

At my Girl Scout troop meetings, we learn about a lot of different things. First of all, we learn to be kind, to be honest and fair, and to be courageous.

Sometimes we also go places or have guests who come to talk to us. We’ve learned about people’s jobs, like police officers and pharmacists. We went to a Camporee where we learned how to cook food outdoors. We’ve also learned about taking care of nature. We did a cleanup by the Haw River, then the next week we met with a recycling expert from Chatham County. She told us some important things about what can be recycled where we live.

The rules might be different where you live, so check with your recycling expert. But here’s what we learned about our county:

Aluminum cans (like seltzer and soda cans) are some of the best things to recycle. That’s because a can goes from the recycling bin to back on the shelf in six weeks.

Plastic is harder to recycle. It’s made out of oil! Like, gasoline oil. It does get recycled, but it’s harder.

That’s why it’s better to not to buy as much plastic. But here’s how to tell if your plastic item can be recycled:

Does it have a litd? Can the lid go back on? Then it can probably be recycled.

If the mouth is smaller than the base, then it’s a bottle. YES it can be recycled. Put the lid back on put it in the recycling bin.

If the base is smaller than the lid and it has a lid that can go back on, it’s a tub. YES it can also be recycled. Put the lid back on put it in the recycling bin.

Milk cartons made of plastic or paper can be recycled. If you have a milk carton with a plastic lid, put the lid back on and put it in the recycling bin. My mom asked about things that are part paper, part plastic (like pasta boxes with plastic windows or cartons with plastic lids). The recycling factory can separate those things, so YES you can recycle them.

Here are some things that CAN’T be recycled where we live:

Plastic clamshell boxes, like what lettuce from the store comes in.

Pizza boxes (if the top is clean, you can recycle that).

Any paper smaller than a regular-sized sticky note.

Aluminum foil! It’s very light, so the machines think it’s paper.

Most paper ice cream tubs have a lining that means they can’t be recycled.

It’s better to reuse things if you can, and use less plastic. In the STEM lab at school, I made a phone out of cardboard with my friend Gigi. Then I showed my mom how to make one:

1. Take some cardboard and draw the shape of a cat head:

1. Cut it out.

2. Decorate it with markers.

   

3. Glue colored paper on the other side if you need to do that, and cut it in the same shape.

4. Draw buttons, screens, anything you need on a phone!

My mom and I have a cat phone and a dog phone:

We use them in the garden to stay in touch.

Hope you have a great Memorial Day, Frog Troublers! Get outside if you can!

Lots of love from us.