Recycle Hi-Line collected 80 tons last year

In 2013, 80 tons of material that otherwise would have headed toward the landfill was recycled by people using Recycle Hi-Line's oprograms.

Recycle Hi-Line recycle drives have become a huge success, said the group's chair, Candi Zion.

"We anticipate that this year's numbers will be even bigger," she said. "As we are getting more recyclers, though, we are getting more garbage at the drives that can't be recycled."

She asked that people who drop things off at Recycle Hi-Line locations and those who have residential pickups follow a few simple guidelines.

Plastics that can't be recycled include: hangers, sandwich and ziplock bags, candy bags, cheese or food bags, chip bags, candy wrappers, bologna or meat wrappers, pet food bags, stiff plastic bags, bubble wrap, clinging wrap like Saran, plastic oxygen tubing or any plastic that when crumpled crackles or has a sharp sound, she said.

"What happens is this," said Zion, "... the plastic is baled after we collect it, but mixing these unaccepted products with the accepted No. 1s and No. 2s compromises the quality of the end product. The compromised product ends up in the landfill - totally defeating the purpose of recycling and rendering our volunteer work useless and without meaning."

To speed up the process of recycling, by the volunteers at the recycle drives people are asked to do the following: sort glass by color if possible, rinse all plastic containers and include lids in bags, No. 1 and No. 2 plastics together, No. 5s separate, Zion said.

The type of plastic is indicated by the number in a triangle on the bottom.

"If in doubt, throw it out," she said.

By completing these easy steps, sorting and keeping only the recyclable plastic, everyone will reduce the amount of time the recycle drive volunteers spend in handling recyclables, Zion said.