Metro Nashville Recycling Changes by Charles Sumner

RECYCLING RULES AND CHANGES

The Metro Nashville recycling rules have changed, and not everyone is aware of the changes. That means that many things in the recycling stream now do not belong there. It means more difficulty in sorting. It could mean sending to a landfill rather than recycling. I believe this situation has been exacerbated because of lack of communication from Metro Recycling. Suffice it to say that about two weeks ago the web site was revised. Today it was revised again because of my communication to Metro. I have to say that now you can get many more details at the Metro site if you hunt, but that they are not as thorough as previously in answering questions or reviewing charts.

The chart which I distributed dated 2015 is no longer accurate and should be discarded. A new chart is now available on request as an attachment to email - and there will be copies at church when things get back to normal.

Some things which you need to know:
Nothing smaller than a credit card should be in recycling, since size matters with the machinery. Don't recycle the small beer caps, shredded paper, small scraps of paper. DO put caps back on plastic bottles.

No longer recycle hinged plastic "clamshells." No longer recycle plastic tubs, such as yogurt, cottage cheese, butter substitutes, etc. Only recycle listed plastic items: bottles, jugs, food jars. No longer recycle just any item bearing numbers 1 thru 7. Reason: The market currently is only for those items listed.

NO PLASTIC BAGS in Metro Recycling!!! These can go to a grocery store. At the Metro site you can access a Publix statement about which plastic bags they accept. It is more than just grocery bags. Publix also has bins for Styrofoam, and if you have a Styrofoam packing piece too large to fit, you may take it to the service desk.

Alkaline batteries (flashlights, etc.) may be trashed, but they would best be treated as hazardous. Flat watch and hearing aid batteries may be taken to one of the Metro Convenience Centers which accepts hazardous materials: Ezell or East. We can collect flat batteries at church, and someone can take to Batteries and Bulbs, since making a run with a few batteries makes little sense. Rechargeable batteries are valuable and accepted by hardware stores.

More information is on the chart.