Recycling - what does and doesn't belong in our bins

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It turns out we're putting a whole lot in recycling bins that don't belong.

"Plastic bags, bowling balls, any metal," said Lucas Dean.

Dean is a supervisor with the southeastern Oakland County Resource Recovery Authority - or SOCCRA. The Troy facility takes in recycling from 12 cities, but they're also getting a lot of other stuff.

"Hoses are not recyclable," he said. "They get tangled up in the equipment, rotors, bowling balls, brake pads - that stuff damages our equipment."

Each community's recycling program is different so they are asking that we check and see what's allowed in our bin.

"It's amazing what people dump in there even though they know they shouldn't, like batteries," said Roberta Swendby, Royal Oak resident.

"When we got these bins from the city they told us what we can and cannot put in and what we can bring here if we have to put it somewhere else," said Michael Mohr, a Troy resident.

The drop-off center on Coolidge between 14 Mile and Maple - is where you can bring your grocery bags and Styrofoam - and a host of other items that simply can't go in your bin. 

But you can keep them out of the landfill.

"The biggest thing to do is educate - the drop off center is big for us," said Dean.

"I don't want to just put in the landfill" said Mohr. "You don't have to, if I want to recycle something it is not a big deal to bring it down here."

"We're going to support the landfill free and more importantly the zero waste streams," said Tony Joseph.

Joseph is the president of GLR Solutions - or Great Lakes Recycling - one of the company’s managing and marketing the materials that come out of this recycling facility - keeping this stuff out of the landfills.

The material that's cardboard has maybe gone through the paper mill process by 30 times over the last decade or even the last three decades.

Reusable, recyclable, so many things are - but please review what can go in those curbside bins in your community.