TCSWMD -- What would Tompkins County Solid Waste Management Division recycle?

So I bet you're thinking, it's been a few weeks and I haven't heard anything from Trashy Woman. She's probably run out of ideas or decided that it was too hard to reduce her garbage output to zero and gave up. Well, naysayers, you could not be farther from the truth. I have been hard at work doing research, recycling, composting, hanging out with friends, working at my full time job and generally being patient.  Good garbage reduction takes time.  I can't just go all willy-nilly and buy all the different flushable dog poo bags that are out there (That would be exciting, though, wouldn't it?)! So, while I'm waiting for the funding to come through on my latest project (that would be the paycheck after I pay the mortgage...) allow me to indulge myself with discussing something in which I am already successful. It will help me with the whole patience thing.

A boring picture of my paper recycling

Recycling in Tompkins County is a wondrous marvel of modern science. Have you seen the latest Tompkins County Recycling Guide? I can't believe the changes that have been made in just the last two years. You can recycle so many different things, it's not just bottles and cans and newspapers these days, no sir!  The curbside pick up for residential areas has a dizzying array of acceptable items now.

3 jars of peanut butter in this shot, cleaned out by my dog

Some recent additions to the growing list of recyclables include;
-jar lids
-plastic flower pots
-small, hard plastics, like toys
-take-out containers
-hard cover books

These items are quite a boon to avid recycle-rs  like myself.  In fact, I just tossed an old pair of sunglasses in the bin that had a broken arm. And flower pots! Wow, that was a big one for me. You can't imagine how many flower pots I used to throw away every day at my workplace. I used to try to save them and donate them every year to the big local plant sale but they just build up and take up space and you get to a certain point where you're just like, ok, enough damn pots sitting around in boxes around here, Trashy, this is a business, and it needs to look like one. Oh, did I mention I work at a flower shop with a huge plant selection and that we make our own dishgardens on-site? Lots o' pots.

Not my favorite book

As for hard cover books, I've had a few that were so bad they deserved to never be read again, but I've always passed them on for someone else to decide their fate. Who am I to criticize what someone thought was good enough to publish? One woman's trash, after all, is another woman's beach read. Books that have been given to me that are too embarrassing to even try to sell to the used book store usually go to the laundromat or bus stop. I like to leave them anonymously around town and hope that someone will take them home and enjoy them more than I did. 

So there are some things that appear to be fit for the bin, like the ice cream cone and mushroom foam containers pictured below.  Notice the recycling symbol and I believe it was a #6 stamped on there.  However, Styrofoam is still not allowed. According to the Tompkins County guidelines, #1 through #7 plastics are bin worthy. So, I threw them in. 

Recyclable or not?

I had a wonderful conversation with a friend last night who suggested we should take a tour of the recycling facility if they allow it. It would be very interesting to see how the single-stream recycling works, how different items get separated and what happens to everything once it's been organized. Where does it go to get turned into all the things that are made from our garbage? 

I can't wait to find out!