When in doubt, give a shout

If you’re not sure whether something goes in the blue bin, snap a pic of yourself with the questionable item (yes, we want to see you, too). We’ll check in with a recycling expert and run the answer in the papers – so we can keep learning together.

Stephanie Cavallaro of Matamoras, PA recently discovered she could recycle those ubiquitous Amazon bubble-wrap mailers. “I cut out the paper label,” as per the instructions printed in the recycling emblem on the package, “and bring it also to my local grocery store,” she said. Bubble wrap, too, can be added to your “plastic tumbleweed” and dropped off at your nearest grocery or big box store for recycling.

“Better yet, I would reuse those pouches when I have a parcel to return,” added Ermin Siljkovic, recycling coordinator at the Orange County, NY Department of Public Works. And not all mailers are recyclable. “If it is a paper envelope and the plastic bubble wrap is infused and cannot be separated then it must go in the refuse, if it is not to be reused,” he said.

Cavallaro has been keeping an eye out for the how2recycle.info emblem, whose chasing arrows can now be found on over a third of consumer packaged goods in the U.S. “People should know about this emblem and start looking for it,” she said. Funded by membership fees from manufacturing giants like Walmart, Procter & Gamble, Target and Amazon, the labeling initiative offers clear guidance on whether packaging is recyclable and if so, where and how to prepare it.

Detractors, however, say the emblem offers customers false reassurance that some plastics are recyclable, when in reality they will probably end up in the landfill.

Next up, your question. Send your question and selfie to becca.tucker@strausnews.com, subject line “recycle?” along with your name and town.