July 2018

There are some things that you would think would be recyclable in East Peoria, but they are not. Here are some of the non-recyclables and why they cannot be accepted.

Mixed or Contaminated Materials

For the most part if an item is a mix of materials it is hard to recycle. If an item has food liquids, like grease soaked into it or even left in the container, don't recycle it. If the recycling company finds very many things in a load of recyclable materials that are not supposed to be there, the whole load will go to the dump. Single use non-plastic cups that are made of paper, like coffee cups from Starbucks, cannot be recycled. They have a thin layer of polyethylene on the inside of the cup. This makes the cup hold a liquid and not leak. Because of the polyethylene film, they can't be recycled because it is very hard to separate the polyethylene from the paper.  Next are food containers either from the grocery store or from a takeout restaurant. Even if they are the right type of plastic or cardboard they can't be recycled if they are contaminated by leftover food or grease. So, items in this list would be most cardboard pizza boxes. Remember that pizza boxes come with a top and a bottom. If the top or the bottom is clean you can cut it off and recycle it. Plastic food holders may need to be rinsed out to be recycled. You don't need to scrub things out, just rinse them with a small amount of water and they should be good to go.

Plastic Grocery Bags

You never want to put plastic grocery bags into your recycling bin or toter. If they go to the recycling center the bags will get stuck in the gears and machinery of the recycling machines. The machines will have to be stopped and cleaned of plastic bags. Take your old plastic bags to a grocery store and put them in the recycling containers at the store. Or better yet bring your own reusable cloth shopping bags to the store. Then you won't need to take any plastic bags in the first place.

Glass

The only type of glass that you should recycle are glass jars and bottles.  Any color is acceptable, and they do not need to be separated.  But remember no window glass, mirror glass, bake ware, or knick knack glass.  

Please recycle. Glass won't be accepted until the week of July 9th. Order your new blue topped recycle toter on the East Peoria City website. You can use your old red or blue bins until July of 2009.

RECYCLE

• aluminum, tin or steel cans
• newspapers, magazines, old mail and shredded paper
• clean cardboard cut up into 2 or 3ft. pieces that fit in the toter
• clean rinsed plastics 1 – 5 & 7
• glass jars and bottles of any color.

DO NOT RECYCLE

• window or mirror glass
• bake ware
• knick knacks
• oil containers
• items contaminated with food
• drinking straws