More than a quarter of what Seminole County throws away in garbage bins could have gone into a recycling bin instead, according to a waste study the county carried out this past summer.
The county released the figures ahead of America Recycles Day, which falls on Sunday, Nov. 15. The study found that 27% of the overall waste stream in garbage bins was material the county's recycling program accepts, such as paper, cardboard, bottles and containers.
The news was better on the other side of the curb. Of the material residents put in their recycling bins, 87% was accepted by the program, the county said.
What goes in the bin
Seminole County runs a single-stream program, so containers and paper go in the same bin. Its recycling page lists glass bottles and containers, aluminum and steel food and drink cans, and empty aerosol cans among accepted items. It asks residents to keep plastic bags, film and bagged recyclables out, and to take batteries, power tools, flammables and hazardous products elsewhere.
Clothing, furniture and carpet should go to a donation center.
The county's tips: put recyclables in the bin loose rather than in a bag, rinse food and liquid out of containers and flatten cardboard. Collected material is trucked to a Waste Management sorting plant in Cocoa, where it is baled and shipped to buyers that turn it into new products.
