Recycling and sustainability procedures are incredibly important to the LUX culture, in fact our efforts are award-winning! Proper recycling helps reduce CO2 emissions, saves energy, and helps conserve raw materials. We know proper recycling habits can be hard to decipher sometimes, so we’re here to give you tips and tricks on how to live a more sustainable lifestyle!
Did you know there are many household items that cannot be recycled? If items like these end up in the recycling it may contaminate the whole load and be diverted to the landfill instead of being recycled.
Item number one that cannot be recycled is plastic bags – this includes grocery and garbage bags!
In order to combat this, most grocery stores offer a plastic bag recycling option that allows you to take your bags back to the store and dispose of them properly. Another thing to consider is asking for paper bags when checking out or using reusable grocery bags. Some stores even offer a small discount if you shop with a reusable bag!
Rather than throwing your recycling into a plastic garbage bag consider creating a separate bin for your recyclables out of a paper grocery bag, that way you can throw the bag and the contents into the recycling bin when it’s full!
Glass is another item not allowed in standard recycling bins because it requires a different breakdown process. Multiple Utah cities now offer the option of a different recycling bin just for glass. If you’re not interested in paying for additional recycling you may consider taking your glass recycling to a public glass recycling facility. You can find a list of options here: https://utah.momentumrecycling.com/recycling-services-homes/#dropoff
Other household items that are commonly mistaken for being recyclable in your standard blue bin are styrofoam, electronics and batteries, animal waste, light bulbs, hazardous waste, etc. Those items cannot be recycled in your recycling bin at home. There are local vendors who can help with the disposal of most of these products!
While those are just a few suggestions to get you started on a sustainable track we encourage you to do your own research and find what works best for you and practices you can adopt into your current lifestyle! You can see some of the steps we have taken to incorporate sustainability into our practices by clicking here!
