This Wednesday is a “Red Wednesday”, which means trash and recycling pickup. Ideally, rolling recycling containers are stored and deployed in the back alleys along with trash cans. Please make sure you pick up containers after pickup tomorrow night.

If you have not done so already, don’t forget to sign up for your Recycling Perks.
In order to take your recycling to the next level, read this: 10 ways to improve your recycling.

The Central Virginia Waste Management Authority needs our help. It’s now more important than ever that recycling containers are used for recyclable items only, according to CVWMA officials. Placing items that are not accepted, such as plastic bags or food-contaminated containers, in curbside recycling bins or drop-off recycling containers causes contamination issues and add additional processing and disposal costs.

In the past, nearly all paper and cardboard collected in central Virginia for recycling was marketed to paper mills in China – until recently, when the country stopped allowing certain commodities, such as mixed paper, into the country because of poor quality.

Quality issues are caused when non-recyclable items, like plastic bags, get mixed in bales of paper or cardboard and contaminates the paper. Shutting off the world’s largest importer of recyclable materials has disrupted the market and forced recycling companies and municipalities to question the economic viability of recycling – especially products such as mixed paper and glass.

As a result, CVWMA’s recycling vendors will no longer pick up unwanted items like plastic bags and other non-recyclables, including food-contaminated containers.

Recyclers should place loose acceptable items only in the recycling container and not bag recycling in plastic bags.

If you find an “OOPS” tag (pictured) on your bin or cart and your recycling was not collected, then you may have included items that are not acceptable.

To avoid this, visit cvwma.com/programs/curbside-recycling/what-to-recycle/.