RECYCLE WISELY We all know by now that recycling is here to stay. So we might as well try to do our recycling so that it is the most beneficial to our community. The City of Lighthouse Point has a contract with Waste Management to pick up and process ourrecyclables. The large green bins against the fences have labels on the tops that say “Single Stream Recycling”. Some bins had old labels . We called WM and they sent out a rep to replaceany old labels found. The labels are not always clear to the user so we will try guide you in yourrecycling. We should recycle aluminum and steel cans, plastic bottles and jugs, paper and cardboard , cereal boxes without the waxed paper liner, tissue boxes and glass bottles and jars without caps. Large cardboard boxes and containers should be “broken down “ and flattened . You can recycle your “junk mail “, too. Plastics with numbers 1,2,3,4,5,and 7 are acceptable. Plastic number 6 is polystyrene – foam- it is not acceptable in the recycle bins but can be recycled at Publix where there is a container for foam egg cartons, meat trays etc. Fact: 30% of material put into the bins is NOT recyclable. Contaminants like plastic bags clog the machinery and that shuts down the processing. Food and food stains can contaminate and ruin the rest of the load. That’s what stained pizza boxes do in the recycling process. No plastic bags or pizza boxes in the bins!If you collect your recycles in a plastic bag, please don’t tie it closed. Then you can dump the recycles into the bin and tuck the plastic bag in the lift bar in the front of the bin . Our maintenance staff will remove the bags for recycling at Publix. Better yet- collect your recycles in a pail or reusable bag and bring back to your apartment. It may take a little extra time to do it right , but we need to save our Planet Earth – it’s the only one with chocolate. And that makes it worth the effort.
