Wish-Cycling: Have we all been recycling wrong?

While recycling is a simple way to live a more sustainable lifestyle, many of us have been doing it wrong, and that could cause more harm than good.

If you’ve ever thrown a greasy pizza box or a plastic bag in your recycling bin, you’ve participated in wish–cycling.

Wish–cycling is the act of throwing something in the recycling bin when it’s unknown if it can be recycled, simply because you wish it could.

“We end up with a lot of contaminated materials within our recycling stream,” says Bradley Austin, director of operations at Marquette County Solid Waste, “which in turn leads to additional labor costs.”

Austin said residents should use resources in their area to determine what can be recycled and where to dispose of potentially dangerous items like lithium ion batteries.

“Each individual facility where recyclables are processed all have different abilities to accept materials,” adds Austin.

Recycle 906, a branch of Marquette County Solid Waste has made it easy for you to determine what can and can’t be recycled. Simply visit their website and type an item into their search engine.

It will immediately tell you if that item can be recycled, composted, or should be discarded in the trash.

Visit the resource here: Recycle 906