That milk carton you just washed, the yogurt container you’re ready to toss, or the empty plastic water bottle. Do these items get trashed or recycled?
Recyclepedia is a new virtual tool promising to help Miami-Dade County residents navigate differing recycling standards in all 34 municipalities.
In the City of Miami, for example, clean milk cartons and water bottles go in recycling bins — yogurt containers don't. In Hialeah, on the other hand, the yogurt containers are accepted after being rinsed and cleaned.
" It isn't that people don't want to recycle. It isn't that people don't want to do the right thing" said Barbara Martinez-Guerrero, Dream in Green executive director. The non-profit created the tool.
She told WLRN that recycling guidelines differ from one municipality to another.
"We realized that that was the main issue: Education and knowing what exactly goes into that bin."
The website has an interactive map of the county in which users can select their city and see if and how cans, papers, plastic bottles, glass and more can be recycled and — 'rinsed and cleaned' or 'clean and dry' in the bin. Speciality items, like batteries and electronics, require being dropped off at specific locations to be properly discarded.
Recyclepedia gives users the most up-to-date list of items that are accepted in their curbside recycling bins and provide county residents with a guide to help maximize waste diversion and environmental stewardship.
"We want this website to not only be used by adults, but also serve again as an educational opportunity for families as a whole," Martinez-Guerrero said.
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Discarding waste improperly runs the risk of more garbage ending up in landfills, which can contaminate local environments and cause health issues for people and wildlife who live nearby.
Among the most common recycling mistakes, or wish-cycling, items a lot of people hope are recycled, is throwing items in a plastic bag that will be tossed into the bin, according to Nick Ciancio, resilience division director for the county's Department of Solid Waste Management.
"Bag materials alone account for nearly a third of all contamination in Miami-Dade County, so a lot of our residents very well may be recycling right and putting cans, bottles, tubs, jugs, cartons, cardboard and paper in their recycling cart," Ciancio said, "but simply by putting it in plastic bags first, none of those items are getting recycled."
It's also a risk for the recycling facilities, Ciancio said.
"...They can get tangled in equipment and cause the plant to shut down," he said. "Improperly recycling can even be a hazard. If someone's putting lithium batteries, for example, in a recycling cart, it could lead to uncontrollable fires either in the recycling truck or at the recycling facility itself."
As part of Miami-Dade County's Zero Waste Master Plan focused on waste reduction, diversion and recycling, Ciancio is hosting workshops where residents can ask questions and give feedback. The upcoming workshop is at North Dade Regional Library on Nov. 18 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Another will be hosted on Dec. 1 from at the Cutler Bay Town Center from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Recyclepedia is available in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole and features a calendar of local community events to help residents get involved and become more sustainable.
