A British study found that paper and cardboard recycling rates decline by 40% during the winter. Why is that? Much of it comes down to contamination from snow and ice. The problems occur both in curbside collections and at recycling facilities. RecycleNation helps you take steps to prevent recycling from ending up in the trash.

 

Winter’s Impact on Curbside Collections

Winter’s impact on curbside collections is caused mostly by the weather. Here are some of the impacts winter weather has on curbside pickup.

 

Frozen Paper and Cardboard

If paper and cardboard are exposed to water and freeze, it can cause paper and cardboard to stick to other items. This happens when a jar, can, or container still has water in it and drains onto paper products. You might have a recycling bin without a cover that allows snow and rain to hit the recyclables. Water and ice ruin a load heading to a recycling facility.

 

Consider Separating Items

Separating different recyclables helps prevent contamination, too. If you have cardboard and paper separated from potentially wet cans, bottles, and containers, you eliminate the risk of wet paper items. 

 

Difficulty Reaching Homes

Another problem is that the snow and ice on roads makes it hard for trucks to get to different homes. If your home is one of a few homes on a road, a truck may not feel it’s worth trying to get down that road if plows haven’t been through.

 

Shorter Days

Winter’s daylight hours are often shortened. When workers have a full route to run, but the daylight hours start at 7 a.m. and end at 4 p.m., it makes it harder to get work done in time. Many drivers and collectors end up working in the dark, which increases the risk of getting hit by traffic or missing bins.

 

Slip and Fall Accidents

If the area around your bins is icy, a trash and recycling worker may slip and fall. That injury prevents recycling from being picked up. It also puts you at risk of a lawsuit if the fall occurred on your property.

Make sure you’re keeping the area where your bins are placed sanded and clear of snow. If you don’t have time to clear it, consider holding your recyclables and trash until the next week or bring it to the facility yourself.

 

Wind Creates Litter

Windy winter days can create a lot of litter as the wind blows recyclables around. With snowfall covering those items, cars may hit things in the road, damaging them and making it difficult to recycle them once they’re broken or smashed.

 

Winter’s Impact on Processing Recyclables

How does winter impact the work completed at a recycling facility?

 

Damaged Equipment

At the recycling facility, frozen items may cause damage to the recycling equipment. It’s not as common, but if a can has liquid remaining and a part of it is frozen solid, that can lead to costly damage and down times. If several cans are stuck on a box, that can be damaging.

 

Frozen Equipment

Any recycling equipment that requires oil to operate correctly is at risk of not starting if it’s too cold and freezes the oil.. The ice and snow that comes in with recyclables may get into the equipment and freeze, creating damage that must be repaired.

 

Hard-to-See Bags

When you put out your trash and recycling, make sure the trash bags are in a bin, if you have one. If not, white bags are hard to see against the snow. You don’t want bags sitting on a snowbank for weeks. Use bags that are easy to see, such as black or red trash bags. 

 

Salty, Dirty Items

You have your recyclables out and ready for pick-up services, but a town or city plow goes through and sprays everything with salty slush. That load is now coated in dirt and salt, so it’s no longer clean and cannot be recycled.

 

Tips That Improve Recycling in Terms of Both Collections and Processing

How can you make sure that the recyclables you put at the curb are going to be properly recycled? These tips help.

 

Allow Wet Containers to Dry First

Make sure cardboard stays dry by separating it. Let bottles, cans, and containers dry in a drainer before you move them into a recycling bin. If you mix wet bottles, cans, and containers with paper and cardboard, they’re going to end up sticking together and freezing in the cold weather. Once that happens, the load is often contaminated and goes to the landfill instead.

 

Break Down Cardboard

Cardboard boxes take up a lot of space in a bin. If you cut down boxes into smaller squares, it will take up less space and prevent crowding that makes it hard to close a lid.

You may have neighbors looking for cardboard boxes for gardening projects, moving boxes, or school projects. Post on local forums and see if someone could use them. If you garden, cardboard is a great way to line the bottom of a raised bed garden.

 

Contact Your Hauler

Make sure pick-up service hasn’t been delayed due to the weather. There’s no point in setting things out in the snow and ice if they’re not planning to drive to your house that day. Find out when the rescheduled pick-up is.

 

Cover Open Bins

If you have containers that sit on the ground without a cover, check with the recycling facility about covered wheeled bins. If they don’t exist, ask if it’s okay to cover your bin with a small tarp. Most drivers would rather have dry, easy-to-recycle items than a bunch of recyclables that will end up in the trash.

If you have a wheeled, covered bin, the wind can blow them open, exposing the recyclables to snow and rain. Most haulers allow you to put on straps or cinder blocks, which prevents containers from blowing open. 

 

Familiarize Yourself with the Area’s Recycling List

Ask for a guide from your hauler. If you’re recycling items that aren’t meant to be recycled, it can lead to a truckload of recycling going to a landfill. Part of responsible recycling is researching what is and isn’t recyclable. If you keep recycling items that aren’t accepted, you could lead to a load of recyclables being rejected and sent to the landfill instead.

If you can’t reach your hauler by phone or email, use Recycle Nation’s recycling facility tool to find where to recycle the different items you’ve set aside. Curbside service often takes glass, paper products, and a few types of plastic, but policies differ from one area to the next. Enter your ZIP code and items you need to recycle to learn where to bring them or if they are all curbside recyclables.