Have you ever pondered this recycler’s dilemma? Have you asked yourself – how clean do my recyclables have to be?  Do we need to rinse items before they go in the recycling? These are important questions, especially with local utilities preparing for a potential statewide drought and encouraging water conservation measures.

The answer is no, residents do not need to rinse recyclables with water before placing in the recycling. To recycle right in San José, make sure to empty and scrape any remaining food from recyclable containers such as yogurt or hummus tubs, peanut butter jars, or plastic takeout containers before placing in the recycling. If items are not emptied and scraped, and they are soiled with food or liquid, they should go in the garbage instead. Placing soiled items in the recycling can ruin otherwise clean items and prevent them from being recycled.

Watch this video and see how to empty and scrape a plastic takeout container before recycling.

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Did you know that textiles – such as clothes, shoes, and towels – are taking up more and more space in landfills every year?  According to the EPA, Americans threw away over 11 million tons of textiles in 2018.

In San José, textiles are not accepted in curbside recycling bins or carts. However, that doesn’t mean that items like used clothes and shoes need to go to the landfill – there are many options to reuse, upcycle, or recycle your discarded items after you’re finished with them:

1. Donate – If your items are in good condition, consider donating them. Just be sure only to donate items that still have some life left in them. You can also check with friends, family, or neighbors to see if they’d like any items.
2. Turn them into cash – Clothing that is still in good condition can be turned into cash through online resellers or taken to a local consignment shop.
3. Give back – Before donating or selling, it’s also good to check whether your clothing brand takes back its old clothes. Some retailers also accept clothing for recycling and offer benefits such as discounts on your next purchase.
4. Repurpose – If your clothes are too worn to be donated, sold, or given back, consider repurposing them as cleaning cloths. Instead of buying reusable rags or washcloths, you can make your own from cut-up pieces of clothes.
5. Last Resort: Place in the Garbage – If you have tried options one through four and still need to discard your items, put them into your curbside garbage container.

Once you’ve cleaned items from your closet, you’ll want to ensure you don’t have to repeat the exercise very soon. Be mindful of what you buy – favoring quality purchases that will last and that you’ll look forward to wearing for many years to come. Consider shopping secondhand for clothes in thrift shops and consignment stores. If you just donated or sold your clothes, this will contribute to this more sustainable system.

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Ever wonder why San José doesn’t have a separate curbside container to put food scraps, compostable paper (e.g. paper towels, paper napkins, some takeout containers, coffee filters) and other organics? San José has a unique system by which all residential garbage is first taken to a facility where organic materials, like food scraps and compostable paper items, are separated for composting. Once the organics have been separated out, they are delivered to a compost facility right here in Santa Clara County. Leftover materials that can’t be composted – called “residue” – are taken to the landfill. This system is referred to as “backend processing” and is why you don’t have a separate organics bin or cart at home.

San José residents should place all food scraps and compostable paper in their curbside garbage container, and the collection companies and processors will take care of the rest. Finished compost is used on landscaping and median projects, returning nutrients to the soil, improving soil structure, and conserving water. This system of recycling organic waste fights climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and helps the City comply with state regulations to reduce organic waste disposal. Watch the GreenWaste Materials Recovery Facility in action here.

What if I Set Out Yard Trimmings in a Pile or Cart?

If you set out yard trimmings either in a loose pile in the street or use a green yard trimmings cart, these are for yard trimmings only. Yard trimmings include items like branches, prunings, leaves, palm fronds, and grass. Do not place food scraps or compostable paper items in your yard trimmings pile or cart. For that matter, dog poop bags do not belong in yard trimmings piles.

Residential yard trimmings are collected and processed separately from the organics separated from your garbage. Yard trimmings are shredded, mulched, and made into a higher-quality compost, commonly used for local agriculture. Watch this video to see how residential yard trimmings are transformed into compost.

Compost at Home

Interested in composting at home? Residents are encouraged to try home composting to turn organic material into compost for their yard or garden. To learn home composting basics and sign up for a free composting class (currently held online and tentatively in-person later this summer), visit the Santa Clara County Composting Education Program website. Home composting bins will be available for purchase at the workshops.

Stop Food Waste in the First Place

Even though San José’s residential food scraps are composted, it’s still important to avoid wasting food in the first place – check out our food waste reduction tips and tricks.

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Have a tough recycling question? We’re here to help! Ask the Experts » 

Q: How do I recycle cardboard? Does it need to be broken down before being placed in the recycling? Can shiny or waxed cardboard be recycled? 

A: Great question. Cardboard boxes should be broken down before placing them in your recycling container. Flattening the boxes makes it easier for workers and recycling facilities to handle, and they take up less space, making more room in your recycling container (and therefore reducing costs) as they travel to the recycling center. If you can’t fit the cardboard in your cart and can’t wait until the next week to fit it in, flatten and cut it into pieces no larger than 4’ x 4’ and lean them against your recycling container.

However, be mindful that not all cardboard can be recycled. 

• Food and liquid-soiled cardboard is not recyclable and should not be put in the recycling. Soiled cardboard can ruin otherwise good recyclables and make an entire load of materials unrecyclable. Therefore, food and liquid-soiled cardboard belongs in the garbage. If you can rip or cut off the soiled parts, place those in your garbage container and recycle the clean pieces in your recycling container. 

• Waxed cardboard cannot be recycled. Waxed cardboard is a multi-layered cardboard coated with plastic and is mostly used by retailers for shipping produce, so unless you’ve brought your groceries home in a produce box, you most likely don’t have it in your home. 

• Unlike waxed cardboard, paperboard and shiny cardboard can be recycled. Some common examples of items in this category include:

• Cereal 
• Cookies and crackers
• Toothpaste
• Tissues

If you are not sure whether you are dealing with waxed cardboard or shiny cardboard, simply give it a scratch and see if any waxy residue comes off on your fingernail. 

Now that we know what types of cardboard can be recycled, let’s cover how to break down the boxes: 

1. Remove and separate any extra packaging materials such as plastic foam or bubble wrap. Reuse or place these in the garbage. 

2. Use a box cutter, knife or scissors to cut through any tape or along the edges to flatten the box as much as possible. You do not have to worry about removing tape, staples or adhesives. 

3. Cut or break down until cardboard is flat and can fit into your recycling, then toss it in! If you have more cardboard than your cart will hold, please save any extra for next week’s collection. If it really can’t wait until next week, flatten and cut it into pieces no larger than 4’ by 4’ and lean them against the cart. Tie pieces together with string, twine or packing tape (not duct tape).

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Arleen Arimura, a 35-year resident of San José who lives in Willow Glen, has committed to recycling right in her home.

“I recycle right at home because I don’t like the idea that I’m filling our landfills with waste,” she said. “I try to tread lightly on the earth.”

She regularly goes online to check recycling guidelines to make sure she knows what items go where. SanJoseRecycles.org is an online resource where residents can check hundreds of items to find out if they go in the recycling, the garbage or have some other disposal process.

“I know a lot of work goes into preparing recyclables for sale,” she said.

Recycling reduces waste, keeps recyclable materials out of landfills and helps protect the environment. It also saves energy and valuable natural resources, and creates jobs. The efforts contribute to quality of life, health and wellness as well as supporting the local economy.

It also helps the City of San José make progress on its goal Zero Waste Resolution adopted in 2008, in which the city committed to diverting 90 percent of waste to recycling by 2022. Residents have contributed tremendously to this effort.

Making sure the right items are sorted into recycling bins or carts has become even more important as the global market changes for recyclable materials. Before 2018, recycling collectors were able to sell bales of recycled materials more easily to overseas processors than they can today. In 2018, China enacted a new policy that the country would no longer accept imports of recyclables that are mixed with trash, the wrong type of materials, or low-quality materials like food-soiled papers and plastics so it now costs more to sort materials and more bales are rejected if they are contaminated.

Since that policy started, our local recycling companies have a harder time selling recyclable materials and often sell them at a lower price. Processing soiled items and non-recyclables increases costs for the recycling companies, which is why recycling right helps keeps service rates down.

David P. Hott, the director of Operations at Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen, is a native of Santa Clara County who has been in San José for more than a decade.

“I believe I have a responsibility to my children and to Mother earth to be mindful of the effects of not recycling,” he said.

Hott said he has set up protocols at home and at work to educate people on the importance of recycling and the need to change behavior.

“We all have a responsibility to be part of the recycling process,” he said. “We have to be sure that we do our part to protect our planet and become more responsible members of the entire sustainability system.”

One of the key concerns for recyclables is ensuring items are emptied and scraped before they go into recycling bins or carts.

Recyclables that have too much food or liquid increase processing costs:

• Sorting garbage or soiled recyclables from the recycling stream requires more time and labor for recycling companies.
• Food or liquid-soiled recyclables may contaminate otherwise high-quality recyclables, making them unable to resell.

San José residents can do their part to help clean the recyclables stream:

• Empty and scrape containers before placing them in your recycling cart or bin.
• Place food-soiled containers, such as dirty takeout containers, into your garbage cart or bin.
• Place food waste into your garbage cart or bin so it is sorted and made into compost.
• Visit SanJoseRecycles.org, a searchable database with hundreds of items, to learn what goes where.

Keep extra garbage out of recycling carts and bins. Residents with single-family service can purchase an extra garbage sticker available at San José Lucky’s and Safeway stores for $6.25 each. Place extra garbage in a 32-gallon plastic bag affixed with the Extra Garbage Sticker and set out next to your garbage cart on collection day.

Read in Spanish (Español) and Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt). 

For over 50 years, the world has come together every April for Earth Day, to celebrate our planet and protect its future. In San José, we’re excited to recognize Earth Day this year, and share some important actions we can take to protect our environment and #keepSJclean. 

Recycling is a simple and easy thing you can do every day to make a positive impact on the planet. Recycling is important because it reduces waste, keeps recyclable materials out of the landfill and helps protect the environment. Recycling also saves energy and valuable natural resources, and creates jobs.

To celebrate Earth Day, we are challenging all San José residents to take the #Pledge2RecycleRight. It’s quick and easy to participate – to complete the pledge, visit our digital pledge page and choose a few simple recycle right actions that you’ll commit to trying for Earth Day this year. Examples include subscribing to our bi-monthly newsletter, The Loop, emptying and scraping containers before recycling, or completing some fun and educational family-friendly activities. 

Take the #Pledge2RecycleRight here. Together, we can celebrate Earth Day and help #keepSJclean for years to come. 

Need some pledge inspiration? Check out local community members making their pledge and committing to recycling right. You may just see some familiar San José faces! 

Want more recycling and waste-related content? Subscribe to our bi-monthly e-newsletter, The Loop, for the most current recycling, garbage and waste reduction news: bit.ly/TheLoop_signup