Dear Recycle Lady,
Bubble wrap is fun to pop, but there must be a better use for it than just popping it. Are there any known uses for bubble wrap? — Love to Pop It
Dear Love to Pop It,
For the sake of our environment, we need to reuse plastic bubble wrap instead of purchasing more. Believe it or not, enough plastic bubble wrap is used annually to wrap around the Earth 10 times or approximately 240,000 miles. That’s a lot of bubble wrap! And, it takes up to 1,000 years for it to degrade. Christmas is rapidly approaching, and many packages will be mailed. By saving your bubble wrap now you will have the perfect wrapping for these packages. If you don’t want to save the bubble wrap, help the environment, and take it to Post-Net on Rt 219 North, close to the car wash. They use lots of bubble wrap and other packaging materials for packing packages.
Dear Recycle Lady,
Last week we bought four chocolate blizzards from DQ, and they gave it to us in what appeared to be a cardboard carrier. Is this carrier cardboard and will it recycle? — Hopeful
Dear Hopeful,
Yes, the carrier for your chocolate sundries is made of cardboard and it will recycle. Thanks for asking as cardboard is a valuable recyclable. Besides being recycled into new cardboard and other paper products, recycled cardboard is now being used to make a large array of furniture, iPhone cases & wallets, DIY laptop stands, desktop items, and animal-shaped lamps. The most popular of these lamps is the giraffe lamp! IKEA made a digital camera out of recycled cardboard and Samsung produced a printer with a cardboard exterior. Recycling cardboard is also good for the environment. It creates 74% less air pollution than virgin paper pulp and 35% less water pollution. Recycling also reduces the number of trees used and reduces the amount of methane gas that is released when cardboard begins to decompose. Plus, cardboard does not undergo a bleaching process, which reduces the environmental damage caused by toxic chemicals used at paper mills. Before recycling any cardboard boxes, be sure all contents and packaging materials are removed. Besides recycling, cardboard can also be added to your compost pile and worms love cardboard! Corrugated cardboard shredded or torn into smaller pieces composts the best. For further information on composting cardboard see https://gardenguidepost.com/cardboard-composting.
Dear Recycle Lady,
My metal outdoor chair has rusted on the bottom and is no longer safe to sit in. Can it be recycled? — Regret the Loss of My Chair
Dear Regret the Loss of My Chair,
Yes, your metal chair will recycle. It does not matter what parts of it are rusted. When you take it to the Recycle Center go to the door marked Aluminum Cans, push the button on the side of the door, and someone will come to help you.
Have questions about recycling, or interesting information about recycling? Send questions or requests to recyclelady@greenbrier-swa.com . Dear Recycle Lady is sponsored jointly by the Greenbrier Recycling Center and Greenworks Recycling.
