LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Crews at Republic Services recycling and waste centers are hard at work this holiday season. According to them, household waste increased by 25 percent during this time, but they say the best way to decrease that waste is to recycle.
It's about much more than just recycling, though. Republic Services says it's about recycling the right items and recycling clean.
“So let’s say, for example, you throw in something like a pasta sauce jar or a soup container, and you don’t rinse it out, well if that residual food or liquid spills on paper or cardboard, that stuff is fragile and if it gets soiled, we do have to throw it away," said Republic Services Sustainability Ambassador Jeremy Walters.
That's adding to the around 1 million tons of trash Republic Services says can be created during the holiday season, but recycling the wrong items can also damage the machines they use.
“Like flexible plastics, again bubble wrap and grocery bags, they wrap and tangle around the sorting equipment," said Walters. "We’re using lots of highly mechanized pieces of equipment with big shafts and rolling disks.”
According to Republic Services, most plastic, cardboard, and paper items can be recycled, plus glass bottles and glass jars.
Plastic straws, plastic bags, clothes, paper towels, and more are not recyclable and need to be thrown in the trash.
For a full list of items you can recycle, click here.
Republic Services urges people to cut down on trash as well by reusing items and saving leftovers. Something one Las Vegas local is using to help the community.
“The rest of the food that we can’t use, we portion it out to the homeless," said Las Vegas local Adam Saxer. "I’m giving it to the people that need it. I’m not going to waste it.”
Republic Services provided a few tips to remember this holiday season:
- Stretchy plastic, like bubble wrap, cannot be recycled, but you can recycle the cardboard box your online order comes in.
- Wrapping paper is tricky. Republic Services says the fancier it is, the more likely you can't recycle it. Some are wrapped in foil or even laminated, which can't be recycled.
- Christmas lights can't be recycled. It will jam up the machines.
