Here’s the latest in a series by the Easton Energy & Environment Task Force to spread the word about how to dispose of different items. This month focuses on tanglers, another significant contaminant in our recycling stream.
What are tanglers and what’s the problem with them?
Tanglers are garden hoses, ropes, cords, hangers, and any other item that might get caught in equipment at the recycling facility. Even cloth and plastic bags can be considered tanglers. If you can wrap something around your arm, it’s a tangler.
When you’re doing some winter or spring cleaning, you may find yourself ready to dispose of leaky hoses, old appliances, clothes you no longer need, and so on. Unfortunately, none of them are recyclable in our single stream carts. If they get tangled in the recycling machinery, they present a danger to the facility workers and can cause significant equipment downtime.
What’s the solution?
Here are quick and easy ideas to help solve the tangler problem:
1. Bring appliances and electronics with cords to the Trumbull transfer station year-round (101 Spring Hill Road, Trumbull).
2. The transfer station will also accept scrap metal like wires and chains.
3. If clothes cannot be reused or repurposed, consider bringing them to the Bay State Textiles bin in the Samuel Staples Elementary School parking lot or other similar bins.
4. Plastic bags can be recycled at select retailers. See our prior article for more details. Recycling Tip of the Month: What To Do with Plastic Bags?
5. Throw away other tanglers, like hoses, ropes, hangers, and broken string lights.
Contaminated recycling raises Easton’s costs. You can support the quality of Easton’s recycling stream in other ways:
- When in doubt, throw it out.
- Keep your recycling as clean and dry as possible.
- A recycling symbol doesn’t mean an item is necessarily recyclable in our single-stream program.
- Small items (less than 2”x2”) clog sorting machines and should be trashed.
RecycleCT is always a great reference to confirm “what’s in and what’s out” and to help avoid wish-cycling (hoping that something is recyclable and putting it in the cart just in case). Keep an Eye Out for a New Label on Your Recycling Cart
Keep an eye out for next month’s Recycling Tip! Questions or comments? Email the Easton Energy & Environment Task Force at eastonenergytf@gmail.com.
You can read previous Recycling Tips of the Month:
Recycling Tip of the Month: What to Do With Batteries?
Recycling Tip of the Month: Holiday Waste
