Wilmington expands items to be recycled

Wilmington residents will now be able to recycle new paper and plastic items that had been banned from the recycling bin.

 

The new items include coated paper cartons like juice boxes, gable-top milk and juice containers.  Food and beverage containers that are marked #1 through #7 will also be accepted, but no PVC or Styrofoam.  That means yogurt containers, margarine tubs, lotion and sunscreen tubes, ketchup bottles and microwave trays will now be accepted in Recyclebank bins.  

The items had been banned from recycling bins because the company’s Blue Mountain facility in Philadelphia was not able to process and reuse the raw materials.  Advances in technology have changed that and created a market for the new items.  

Wilmington Mayor James Baker (D) says, “Wilmington continues to set the pace locally and regionally for protecting our environment and preserving our natural resources through all of our many greening initiatives.”  

The city’s curbside recycling rate is now 23% thanks in part to Wilmington’s deal with Recyclebank that rewards residents for pitching in.  Currently, 21,000 city households participate in the program, making up Delaware’s first curbside, single-stream recycling program.