Landfill Diversion
Recycle Glass, Metal, and Plastic
What Is It?
Glass, metals, and plastic are used for many types of products such as food containers or storage containers, and they all can be easily recycled. In Massachusetts, most bottles, containers, cans, and other items are accepted at municipal recycling centers. Businesses can check with their city and building to determine what items from each material can be recycled or reused
Benefits
Glass, metals, and plastics buried in a landfill can take centuries to break down and sometimes leave harmful chemicals in the ground.
By recycling glass, a container can go from a recycling bin to a store shelf in as few as 30 days and save our natural resources such as limestone, sand and feldspar.
Steel has a 66.2% recycling rate which saves 60-74% of the energy used to produce a steel can.
In the ocean, plastic breaks down from contact with waves, currents, salt water, and sun into tiny pellets. These are ingested by small organisms, which can die from starvation since plastic pellets are not digestible. This has dire consequences for the entire marine food chain. Recycling plastic keeps prevents harmful contamination and conserves raw materials, energy, and water needed to create virgin plastic.
RESOURCES
- Massachusetts WasteWise Program
- RecyclingWorks: Recycling Assistance for Businesses & Institutions
- MIT: Do’s, Don'ts, and How To's of Recycling
- EPA: Recycling Basics
- MassDEP: Waste Ban Brochure 2014
News
- "All options on table in Boston's new 'zero waste' planning process — even franchising," WasteDive, May 5, 2017
- "Five Ways to Increase Recycling from Business" Waste Management World, May 2, 2016
A SAMPLE OF PROVIDERS
- Save That Stuff [multi-stream hauler]
- E.L. Harvey [multi-stream hauler]
- Casella [multi-stream hauler]
- Waste Management [multi-stream hauler]
