...what do you mean I can't recycle THAT?!

As I may have mentioned, Rhode Island's Resource Recovery Corporation recently underwent a HUGE renovation at their Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), and are now able to accept all plastic containers.  Here in Rhode Island, we can now mix all of our recyclables together, thanks to the new machinery at the recycling facility. 

However, through the facilities marketing campaign, I learned something about recycling that I DID NOT KNOW! :O I know. and I thought I knew it all. 

So I found out that here in Rhode Island, and in MANY recycling facilities across the country, refrigerator and freezer boxes ARE NOT recyclable. Trust me, I did not want to believe it. These boxes are something that I have been recycling... um... since I knew what recycling was. So I had to go do some leg work, before I could bring myself to find another path for my 'waxed cardboard' as they are called.  

NOT RECYCLABLE!

SO... cardboard packaging that is used for refrigeration or freezing, is pumped (or coated) with wax.  As you may know, in order to recycle paper products, the paper is pulped, meaning ground up and mixed with water.  The wax in these products does not dissolve in water (which is why they can handle refrigeration and freezing), so they cannot be recycled.  This all makes sense to me, and you can tell when handling these boxes that there is more than just paper there... 

My next dilemma was then about cartons. If I can't recycling my soda can box because it needs to be water/condensation proof, how can I recycle a carton that is both insulated, and made to HOLD liquid in the refrigerator.  After much digging, I finally found a website that could explain this to me. If you haven't seen the site Earth911, check it out... seriously. 

The article I found on their site is Recycling Mystery: Milk and Juice Cartons

 


What I learned, is that cartons are NOTHING LIKE wax cardboard.  They have no wax. They use plastic and aluminum instead.  

There are two different make-ups of these cartons, one includes aluminum, and the other does not... 

Through the pulping process, the plastic and aluminum separate from the paper, and they are able to recycle all three parts! I am as amazed by this as I am depressed by the fact that I cannot recycle my refrigerator/freezer boxes. 

Looks like I'll have some more materials to make into projects. haha Keep an eye on homemadehappens.blogspot.com, for wax cardboard projects. They'll be there soon enough!