East Peoria’s Green Team took a tour of the new PDC Recycling Center out on the edge of Pekin.  We were accompanied by Mark Hill, one of the new East Peoria City Councilmen.  The tour was set up by Corie Bartley, one of our members who works at Waste Management.  PDC has a state of the art process that includes materials separation by machines and by workers on the line.  They were very efficient separating the materials so that one type of material was not contaminated by another.  The workers and managers that lead the tour were very helpful and informative. East Peoria Green members all learned a lot about the processes.  Recycling is now more complicated since American materials are not shipped overseas, but are processed here in America.

Area Recycling New Equipment Launch from Green Shoe Creative on Vimeo.

Here are some general guidelines you can use and/or distribute that will help you recycle more effectively. As with everything, there are exceptions to these rules… mostly based on where you live and what terms have been negotiated by your municipality. We’ve found that the following guidelines are fairly universal:

Best Practices:

1. Don’t enclose any recyclables in bags. Leave them loose in the cart for better sorting.
2. Don’t put anything organic in your recycle bin (food, scraps, leftovers, etc.)
3. Don’t put anything stained with food residue or oils in your recycle bin (pizza boxes, fast food containers, soiled paper plates, etc.)
4. Don’t put any wet paper or cardboard in your recycle bin. Wet fiber does not separate properly in our sorting machine.
5. Please quickly rinse out all plastic containers to eliminate any organic contamination. 

Do Recycle:

1. Cardboard
   • cereal boxes
   • corrugated boxes
2. Paper
   • Newspapers/magazines/catalogs/mail
   • Copy/printer paper
   • Paperback books
3. Plastic bottles (Caps may be on bottles, otherwise throw them in the trash. Do not recycle loose caps.)
   • Clear, green or blue water or soda bottles (PET, recycle symbol #1)
   • Translucent (standard) Milk Jugs (HDPE Natural, recycle symbol #2)
   • Opaque colored containers, such as laundry detergent, bleach and shampoo bottles (HDPE Colored, recycle symbol #2)
4. Aluminum cans
   • Beverage cans
   • Clean aluminum foil/trays
5. Tin cans
   • Soup cans
   • Fruit/vegetable cans

Don’t Recycle: 

1. Glass
   • Beverage bottles
   • Food jars
   • servingware
2. Plastic bags
   • Grocery bags
   • Kitchen/garbage bags
   • Freezer/sandwich bags
   • Frozen food packaging
3. Styrofoam/expanded foam
   • Clamshell containers
   • Fast food packaging
4. Fabrics/textiles
   • Clothes
   • Blankets
5. Tanglers (wire, coat-hangers, extension cords, hoses)
6. Batteries (especially Lithium)
7. Safe Sharps (syringes, razor blades, needles)