The Waste authority urges you to keep these helpful hints and tips in mind while recycling at home, school, and work.
At Home
- Make visiting the local recycling location a part of your regular routine.
- Have a yard sale or donate unwanted items.
- Use food scraps, yard trimmings, and other organic wastes to create a compost pile.
- When you mow, “grasscycle” by leaving grass clippings on your lawn instead of bagging then. The clippings will return nutrients to the soil.
- If you have a wood burning fireplace, save your ashes instead of throwing them away. Once cooled, wood ashes can be mixed into your compost heap.
- Use insulation made from recovered materials.
- Buy rechargeable batteries.
- When moving, use boxes with the highest content of recycled paper and bubble wrap containing recycled plastic. Be sure to recycle packaging materials after your move.
- For cleaning chores, buy reusable mops, rags, and sponges.
- Set aside storage for your recyclables. This storage doesn’t have to be inside but it should be clean and out of the weather.
- DO NOT crush or flatten bottles or jars.
- Rinse recycle beverage and food containers to keep insects away.
- Buy products made from or packaged in recycled or returnable containers. Some packaging made from recycled materials is marked with a recycling symbol.
- Buy items in the largest possible size because you’ll use fewer containers this way.
- Avoid a disposable product when a reusable one will work just as well.






At School
- Purchase and use school supplies made from recycled products.
- Keep waste out of landfills by using school supplies wrapped in minimal packaging and buying in bulk.
- Save packaging, colored paper, egg cartons, and other items for arts and crafts projects.
- Package lunches in reusable containers, carry food in reusable bags, and bring drinks in a thermos.
- When buying lunch, grab only what you need. Too often extra ketchup packets and napkins go to waste.
- Set up a composting program.
- Make posters that remind students what can be composted or recycled.
- Use both sides of a piece of paper during classroom activities.
- Allow parents to receive communications from the school by email rather than printed mail.
At Work
- Save hard copies of documents to your hard drive or email them to yourself to save paper.
- Change your printer settings to make double-sided pages.
- Pay your bills via e-billing programs when possible to save paper.
- Use paperclips (over staples) when possible.
- Reuse envelopes with metal clasps and reuse file folders by sticking a new label over the previous one.
- Check for organizations that may be able to use your old equipment or try donating the equipment.
- Make space next to your trash bin(s) in your break room and kitchen areas for a recycling container.
- Purchase paper, pencils, and other products that are made from recyclable materials.
- Buy energy efficient items with the ENERGY STAR ® logo or items that are EPEAT registered.