Submitted by iloveallkittykat t3_11w29zc in pittsburgh
I currently do not have a blue recycling bin at my new apartment, how do I go about getting one?
Also, I was looking into the recycling centers as I have excessive cardboard and plastic wrap/bags from buying new pots/pans and so much else. However, it looks like they won’t take plastic wrap/bags. Is this true? How would I go about getting those recycled? TIA :)
Plastic recycling is nowhere near as effective as recycling other materials (especially paper and aluminum). If you are able, it’s better to avoid them altogether.
Usually I save up #4/LDPE bags and bring it to the grocery store drop off at Giant Eagle. That’s also what recyclethispgh says, which may have the answers to your other questions.
In the giant eagle bins it says what it takes and what it doesn't. Basically clean plastic bags and shrink wrap are fine. You're going for anything that feels like a plastic grocery bag. Like a dry cleaner bag.
>Nobody recycles plastic bags & wrap.
I live in Crafton/ Green Tree. So I can take all of the plastic shrink wrap and such to giant eagle, As well as the plastic grocery bags? Then for the recycling drop off, all the broken down/flattened cardboard, needs to be tied right? & yes it is apt with 5 units, so I should request the blue bin with my landlord? My unit neighbors have one just not us.
Yes, contact your landlord. Also contact your municipality for any drop off locations. The City ones that are linked by a previous poster are generally meant for City of Pittsburgh residents, though suburbanites aren't stopped from coming in to use these services.
I'm a garbage man for the city of Pittsburgh. We don't pick up apt buildings with more than 4 units. But you're not in Pittsburgh proper, so yea, talk to your landlord/property management.
It’s not like an apt complex, old home turned into units so I’m pretty sure normal garbage pick ups. But I will for sure reach out to them! ( I’m from FL and only been here 2 days 😂 so I’m just trynna figure things out!)
Recycling is worthless. Use less is the only answer.
Yeah I try to be conscious of it, but just relocated here, and first place on my own, so I was gifted new sets of pots/pans, dish ware, containers, etc which has a horrendous amount of plastic wrap and card board 👎
Throw it away. It doesn’t magically make it anywhere different than your regular trash
Township building sells and home Depot etc sell them. Recycling in Pittsburgh is a joke though. :) It's just a scam for the company to get more money, as they combine it all together off site.
You first need to figure out exactly where you live. If it's the city itself or another municipality. And go from there. And you can't figure that out by the zip code.
This is idiotic. Some recycling is ineffective but not all. Don't make excuses for laziness.
Don’t make excuses for not using reusables
Recycling plastic is often less useful than we would like to think, but recycling metals and paper are absolutely not worthless.
Think before making a blanket statement like this.
Any recycling company that picks up plastic wrap is either going to send it to a landfill or ship it somewhere to be incinerated. No one is recycling plastic wrap. Something like 95% of plastic can't be recycled at all, and what can be recycled can't be reused in the same type of product. Just trash it. That might actually be the most environmentally friendly option at this point, given that plastic bags tend to cause jams at recycling sorting plants. The actual goal here is using less plastic, but of course that's not entirely on you, you can't control how companies package things.
I see some comments already saying shit like "recycling in Pittsburgh is a scam" - no, it works this way literally everywhere in the entire world.
Nope as soon as that object is washed with water it is a net negative for the environment.
Oh yea I'll make sure to go to the factory and have my goods packaged in reusable packaging instead of cardboard. Cardboard is extremely recyclable and the actual recycling rate is pretty good. If you can't differentiate between that and other types then you've got no business telling other people how to act on this topic.
If you think recycling is helping the environment you are lying to yourself
If you think recycling paper products is no better than throwing them in the landfill then you really are an idiot. You'd have the beginnings of a point if the topic here was plastics but you haven't bothered to understand what you're talking about at all.
Cardboard is the most recycled material in the US and over 90% is recycled each year. This rate has been above 80% since 2009. It is the material with the strongest argument for recycling!
Go ahead and feel free to cite a source that says a few mL of water are what makes or breaks the economics of recycling.
There's no world in which people aren't washing their dishes. Even if we cut down on other forms of consumption, our reusable containers need to be washed.
Washing dishes and reusables makes sense bc they are well reusables. That’s why plastic bags are better than paper (reusables are the best) because plastic bags generally get reused.
Aggravating_Foot_528 t1_jcw2ctn wrote
Where do you live? The city of Pittsburgh proper or some other municipality?
Plastic wrap/bags can be recycled at giant eagle in the bins outside. They don't go in regular recycling.
If your apartment is 6+ units recycling is through the waste hauler, not the city. If it's 1-5 apartments it's city recycling and trash. https://pittsburghpa.gov/dpw/residential-recycling
You can also go to a drop off center like the strip or other places to drop off metal, cardboard, paper, glass, and plastic.