Decluttering Properly During COVID-19
While spending time with family during the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, we eventually tired of baking banana bread and watching “Tiger King” and instead turned to cleaning out our closets and bedrooms. Although the initial decluttering process was fun and rewarding, we quickly found ourselves left with a pile of items to discard and no real sense of what could be recycled, reused, donated, or just had to be thrown out. This week, we’ll be exploring the answers to some of the most common items.
Recycling The Basics
Paper: Whether it’s old school notes, junk mail, scratch paper, or newspapers, paper waste permeates our lives and can quickly covers our desks. All paper products can be recycled in your curbside can, though shredded paper should be placed in a paper bag first. Cardboard products are included in this category, but greasy pizza boxes and used paper towels should be put in the yard waste bin.
Plastics: If you have ever examined a plastic container, you may have noticed a number ranging from 1 to 7 listed inside a triangle of arrows. All plastics can be recycled in the curbside bin, but in the future you should steer clear of plastics numbered 3, 6, and 7 due to the chemicals they leach.
Glass: If glass is accepted in your area, you can recycle clear or colored glass. Be sure to check with your waste collection provider for more details specific to your location.
Metal: Aluminum cans and other food cans can all go in the curbside bin for recycling. Because aluminum is one of the best items to recycle, you should look for products packaged in this metal instead of plastic.
How to Recycle Other Materials
Clothes: Americans throw away around 13 million tons of textiles each year, which amounts to around 85% of our clothes. Rather than throw away your clothes, look for opportunities to reuse the fabric as rags or towels around the house; sell your clothes to a secondhand store; or donate them to a nonprofit organization such as Goodwill or Salvation Army. In their place, aim to purchase high-quality basics that will outlast fast fashion trends.
Electronics: With new phone models coming out every year, it was shocking but unsurprising to see how many old phones we had lying around the house. Often, electronic waste recyclers claim to be philanthropic or environmental in nature, but dispose of electronic waste in low income countries. Instead, look for recyclers certified by the Basel Action Network, an organization dedicated to recycling electronic waste in a responsible and safe manner. For devices that are not at the end of their lives, consider selling them secondhand, donating them to schools or civic organizations, or taking advantage of the manufacturers return policy for a discount on a future device.
Batteries: While it is only illegal in California to throw away batteries in the trash bin, it is still strongly advised that you recycle them. To locate a program near you, use the recycling locator on Earth911’s website.
Light bulbs: Depending on the type of lightbulb, there are different procedures to dispose of the waste. For fluorescents and CFLs, which contain mercury, check with your local provider or RecycleABulb.com to see if it is legal to dispose of them in the trash bin. Traditional incandescent and halogen bulbs can both go in the trash bin, though they should be wrapped to prevent shattered glass. LED bulbs can be disposed of in the trash, but should be recycled as they contain a large amount of recyclable materials.
These tips may seem more relevant to you at an individual level, but they can be applied to organizations as well. Stay-at-home orders have left many offices unused for nearly six months -- the odds of an imminent return seeming less and less likely. With a reduced need for many regular office items, office managers too have begun to “declutter”,” making proper disposal technique all the more important.
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