Lisa recently started answering recycling questions for Rene Lynch, the Los Angeles Times blogger who goes by the moniker The Recyclist. The post announcing this generated a robust discussion in the comments section with lots of great questions and tips. But that's not the way I contacted her. I e-mailed the city's Environmental Services Bureau when I noticed that they hadn't updated their website to say that they were now accepting Styrofoam for recycling. They'd mailed a flier announcing the change several months ago so I figured it was an oversight (and was being gleefully anal in contacting them). She was the one who replied back to say thanks, so realizing she was the same person who was answering questions for The Recyclist, I asked her my most burning recycling questions. I have many, many more questions but I started small, with just two questions. Didn't want her to think I was a freak or anything.
Me: I know plastic bottles can be recycled, but what about the caps? And I believe I can recycle soy milk cartons but wanted to make sure. I have a stack waiting to be recycled.
Lisa: In our curbside program we try and keep it as easy for the resident as possible. ...you may leave the caps on ... but if it's convenient and there is nothing smelly inside take them off. Yes, you can put soy milk cartons or even regular milk cartons in the purple bins.
Score! Best part is, she said I can always ask her directly. I haven't abused her kindness yet, but I'll be e-mailing her again with some of my other pressing recycling questions, particularly about whether it's worth it to use biodegradable bags.
In the meantime, I enjoyed reading this post from The Recyclist about small things you can do. I couldn't resist and left a comment about what we do at work to reduce waste.
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