HOW TO COLLECT AND SORT YOUR RECYCLABLES
(You may print this listing and post it in your
home recycling area for future reference)
| Newspaper |
 | Flat piles in brown paper bags or in boxes |
| Newsprint catalogs and magazines (recycle glossy covers with
magazines) |
|
| Cardboard/Fiberboard |
| Please break down and flatten boxes |
| Brown paper bags are recycled with cardboard |
| Cereal boxes and other paper board - Please Flatten |
| No waxed milk or juice boxes |
|
| Magazines |
| Anything printed on shiny paper, such as catalogs, magazines,
flyers, inserts, brochures |
|
| Office Paper |
| Copy paper, any color |
| Computer paper, notebook paper, envelopes, note cards, manila
folders, NCR paper (carbonless forms) |
| Staples and paper clips are acceptable, but remove book covers,
plastic or spiral wire bindings |
| Junk mail - sort into office and magazine paper
NO plastic windows |
| NO coloring books, painted or crayoned paper, construction
paper, book covers, plastic or spiral wire bindings, no waxed or
plastic coated paper |
| NO molded or pulp paper (However, we do currently
save egg cartons for a local farmer) |
|
Glass Containers
(Proceeds go to Home Extension Chapters) |
| CLEAN |
| Clear, brown, or green glass, bottles and jars only |
| Remove lids - labels are OK to leave on |
| NO window glass, ceramics, mirrors, drinking glasses, light
bulbs, dishes or blue glass |
|
| Aluminum |
| Pop and other beverage cans |
| Aluminum foil, pans are OK; however, separate and clean them |
|
| Tin Cans |
| CLEAN, labels are OK |
|
Plastics - #1 and #2
(Sorry, no #3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 accepted) |
| Sort plastics as follows:
 | #1 (Clear PET, i.e., liter pop bottles) |
| #2 (i.e., HDPE milk jugs) |
| #2 colored HDPE (i.e., detergent jugs) |
|
| RINSE, remove lids and crush as much as possible (rinsing with hot
water before crushing helps) |
| NO other plastic, such as cottage cheese and yogurt
containers, food trays or plastic bags |
| NO motor oil or cooking oil containers |
| We can take shrink wrap |
| In general, we can take any plastic bottles with a neck or a seam on
the bottom and recycling symbol #1 or #2 |
|
Helpful Hints
| Keep a container for recyclables near your dishwashing sink (A
medium-to-large wastebasket work well). Wash or rinse out cans,
bottles, milk jugs, etc., while you are cleaning up after meals, or run tin
cans and glass jars through the dishwasher. |
| Sort your container full of recyclables into individual bags or boxes
where you have more room, such as in the garage or basement. |
| Plastic jugs and bottles compact more easily when rinsed out with hot
water. |
| Because we only haul out loads of materials every three or four weeks, it
gets very smelly in Lovely Downtown Mason City if milk jugs and food tins
are not clean. They attract bugs, varmints, complaints from the neighbors
and visits from the Health Department. Milk jugs should be washed or triple
rinsed. |
| Glass does not need to be sorted by color, but we cannot take blue glass |
| In general, remove lids and caps from glass and plastic |
| In general, labels are OK. |
| Aluminum cans make the most difference as to whether we go in the hole
financially. Please bring as many as possible! |
| The best way to get the hang of recycling is to help out on a collection
day. Any and all help is greatly appreciated! Besides, it FUN! |
Close this Browser Window to Return to the Mason City SOAR
Home Page
|