Paper, paper, paper…
Did you know that about a third of our weekly trash is paper? And that we recycle less than half of it? All told we throw away 4,600 tons of paper a year in Arlington. That is almost 220 pounds a year for each and every one of us. If all this paper were recycled instead, we would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save trees and save the cost of burning the paper at the incinerator in North Andover. And just in case you didn't realize the wide variety of paper materials that can be recycled, here is just a partial list:
Booklets
Books: soft cover
Boxes: office supplies, like paper clips
Boxes: cereal, shoe, cracker, pasta, etc.
Boxes: with plastic windows
Brochures: including glossy
Calendars: wall type
Cardboard: corrugated and paperboard
Catalogs
Charlie cards: paper MBTA tickets
Clasp envelopes
Colored paper
Construction and kraft paper
Cover and card stock, index cards
Envelopes: w/ plastic windows or labels
File folders
Flyers
Glossy paper
Greeting cards
Hanging file folders
Lottery tickets
Mail (including Junk mail)
Magazines
Mat board: used in picture framing
Math paper: graph and ledger, etc.
Newspapers: with or without inserts
Newsprint
Office and copy paper
Packing paper
Paper: lined, white, yellow
Paper: fax
Paper bags: brown, white, colored
Paper bags: with handles
Paper towel and toilet paper tubes
Pendaflex hanging file folders
Phone Books
Photocopies
Post-it notes
Receipts
Shredded paper in paper bags
Spiral notebooks
Writing tablets
Note that paper clips & staples need not be removed.
Here are some paper items that should NOT be recycled
Candy wrappers
Envelopes with bubble wrap
Label backings
Paper cups or plates
Paper towels, napkins, tissues
Photographs
Metalic wrapping paper
Tyvek® mailing envelopes
So the next time you are about to discard some paper, please check this list first to see if it can be recycled! And remember the simple rule: If you can rip it, you can recycle it.
- Arlington Recycling Committee
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