This post originally ran last holiday season, but I think it’s an important reminder to everyone…
Driving all around town shopping for holiday gifts is a resource hog – too much time, too much gas, too much hassle.
That’s why I’ve turned to Amazon.com year after year to help reduce my trips into the seasonal chaos. And while this is a welcome convenience, all those boxes do generate a mountain of waste – think of how many shipments Amazon makes each holiday season!
Fortunately, most of this packaging material is recyclable. Here’s a quick rundown on how you can recycle your Amazon.com packaging:
- The cardboard box is 100% recyclable. Store the broken down boxes with your other cardboard, and take them to a Charleston County Recycling drop site for recycling.
- Recycle the invoice. There really isn’t any personal info on the invoice that can’t be found via Google, so toss it into your blue bin with your other paper recyclables. If you’re worried about identity theft, shred then recycle.
- Amazon.com marketing materials are recyclable too. Yep, those glossy paper pamphlets they throw into the box are 100% recyclable. So after you’re done reading about Amazon Prime (a great program BTW), toss those brochures into your paper recycling bin.
- Recycle the brown paper padding. Some boxes will come from Amazon.com stuffed with crumpled brown paper to protect your purchases. This material is similar to brown paper bags, and can be put in with the rest of your paper recycling.
- Dream of recycling the plastic #4 bubble padding. OK, this is the one thing from your Amazon.com purchase that can’t be recycled (along with the shrink wrap around book orders). Unfortunately, plastic #4 isn’t collected in our area.
In the end, I have to give Amazon.com credit for using recyclable materials – except for that #4 bubble pack (Hey Amazon…get on that!) The good news is we can all help keep this stuff out of the landfill. So as the packages start showing up these next few weeks, stop to think how their contents could end up in your blue bins instead of your trash bins – and make it happen. Happy holiday recycling!
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Anyone know if the #4 bubble pack can be recycled at grocery stores that take back their own plastic bags for recycling? Is it the same kind of plastic?
I doubt it, simply because it seems like a different type of plastic #4. I did recently get an email saying that Waste Industries Inc. in Summerville will accept plastics #1-#7, as long as they are sorted. I am going to call to confirm that the materials are actually being recycled…
I got a large number of packages this year. I freecycled all the boxes and packing material (including peanuts and brown paper) to a family that’s moving to New Jersey (details on my blog).
Now the treadmill I bought has a ton of waste:
several plastic bags with no recycling number (the biggest problem)
bits of foam packing material (trash, a few pieces saved for later re-use)
plastic ties (trash)
metal bits (can these be recycled somewhere in Charleston county?)
cardboard (recyclable)
wood! (where can I recycle this, short of leaving it outside to decompose?)
I’ve posted the above on my blog at http://www.thesatya.com/blog/2009/01/recyclingpackaging.html
Love the post. Keep them coming. I’ll definitely be checking back for updates.
You CAN recycle #4 plastic bags at the grocery stores. This also includes newspaper bags/sleeves, dry cleaning wrap and even paper towel and toilet paper packaging. Yes, the county doesn’t accept #4 packaging, but then again they don’t recycle plastic bags either. The stores have their own recycling processor and don’t use the county to recycle their plastic bags.
So remember to recycle all of your clean plastic bags and plastic film the next time you go grocery shopping!
Links to information:
http://www.harristeeter.com/about_us/sustainability/recycling.aspx
http://sustainability.publix.com/what_we_are_doing/recycling.recycling_efforts.php