Recycling rules changing in Eau Claire County | Eye On Eau Claire | wqow.com - WQOW TV News 18

Recycling rules changing in Eau Claire County | Eye On Eau Claire | wqow.com

EAU CLAIRE COUNTY (WQOW) - You'll soon be able to put more refuse in the recycling bin. We found this out thanks to a recent You Ask, We Answer question. Thomas wanted to know why he couldn't recycle plastic number five. Turns out, you now can.

In Eau Claire, trash and recycling is handled by private companies, so depending on the company used, there are differences in the services offered. Now, though, all trash haulers in Eau Claire County accept plastic number 5.

"Recycling in general is a commodity product," said Regan Watts, Eau Claire County recycling & sustainability coordinator. "So everything needs to be sold for our haulers and the material recovery facilities where the recycling goes they have to be able to sell it on the market."

In Wisconsin, only plastic numbers 1 and 2 are required to be recycled, other plastic types are up to individual companies to decide if it's worth it to recycle the material.

"Now all the haulers have a market for number 5 plastics so that's why they're taking them again," Watts said. She went on to say she hopes having a unified message for all county residents will encourage more recycling.

This is a sentiment shared by UW-Eau Claire Student Office of Sustainability Senate Director Sydney McGuine.

"You always look for the little circle triangle but knowing that you just have to look for numbers 1 through 5 because I know for a while I didn't even know there was a difference between the numbers, I didn't even look that close, but knowing that's all you have to look for definitely makes it easier," McGuine said.

McGuine also said she notices most people do try to make the attempt to recycle but get confused when knowing what is and isn't recyclable.

While plastic number 5 is allowed in the recycling bin now, according to Watts, it's still just as important to rinse off any food waste and dry off any plastics thrown in the bin. Otherwise, all the material may go straight to the landfill.

Some of those common plastic number 5's you can start throwing in the recycling now include yogurt cups, other dairy containers and disposable plates and cups.

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