ABCs of Recycling in Arlington County

April 5th, 2008 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Local News

Have you ever been confused about what you CAN and CANNOT recycle here in Arlington County? My husband has been asking me to write about J0437342 this for months so HE can learn what he can and cannot recycle. I keep telling him that the County has an awesome website with some wonderful information on it - they even have a special section devoted to Environmental Services called Trash & Recycling! So, this post is dedicated to him!… read on…

I’m mainly focusing on plastics for the purpose of this article, because I think most people (including my husband) find plastics the MOST confusing part of recycling. You know those numbers on the bottoms of containers? Well, we have been lead to believe that those numbers are what dictate whether or not that item can be recycled – we’ve been duped! Turns out those numbers have to do with the melting point of that particular plastic and other materials that might be included in that blended plastic. So - here’s the rule - if it’s a clear OR colored bottle and has a neck smaller than the base - it’s probably recyclable. Simple as that – so if you’ve been putting yogurt containers, the plastic clamshells that berries come in or other such seemingly recyclable plastic into your recycling, SHAME ON YOU! But seriously, as they say in Arlington, “no neck - no recycle”

Hope this helps – now my husband doesn’t have to research this himself and all of my readers get to benefit from my work!

Happy Saturday (almost Sunday now!)

Jennifer

PS I hope you’re out there looking at homes - there are a lot of great places to choose from and I’d be delighted to show you around!

“Jennifer Klaussen - your real estate specialist for Arlington, McLean and the entire Northern Virginia region!”