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Don't Contaminate Your Recyclables With Nonrecyclable
Items
Contamination of recycling loads is a major problem. During
a recent week, ALL of the recycling loads that South Valley
brought to the recycling processing center were rejected.
If you have a question about whether or not something is
acceptable for recycling, call South Valley at 842-3358 and
ask for further direction.
Don't Recycle These!
Plastics: The only plastics that should be placed in the recycling bin are containers that have a #1 - #7 on them and certain types of plastic bags. Acceptable plastic bags are grocery, produce, dry cleaning and newspaper bags. This includes most plastic containers and even polystyrene (a.k.a. styrofoam.) If you do have little foam peanuts, please seal them in a plastic bag before placing them in your toter. All other plastics need to go in the trash or recycled at other locations. If you would like information on recycling opportunities for other plastics, please call the Santa Clara County Recycling Hotline at (800)533-8414 or visit www.recyclestuff.org
Metals: Cans made of aluminum, tin, steel, and bimetals should be placed in the recycling container. Scrap metals such as pots, pans, toasters and other large metal items can go into the same container. Unacceptable metals will be microwaves, car parts and small metal pieces such as nuts, bolts and hangers.
Yard Trimmings: Please do not put plastic bags in your yard trimmings recycling toter. Plastic bags do not compost and are a major contamination problem. If you use a plastic bag to transport your yard trimmings from the yard to the toter, dump the bag out and either reuse it for another load, or if you prefer, put it in the trash.
Paper: Paper and cardboard contaminated with food should not be placed in the recycling bin. These items should be placed in your yard trimmings toter.
Remember, If you have a question about whether or not something is acceptable for recycling, call South Valley at 842-3358 and ask for further direction.
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