Did you know that you can recycle small metal items (bottle caps, wine screw-caps, nails & other metal items 2 inches or less) in your curbside cart?? I have been doing this, BUT I've been doing it wrong!! I place these items in my cart and believe that they are off to be recycled...the truth:
According to Metro (recycling), small metal items should be "crimped" inside of larger metal items before they are placed in roll carts. If the caps are not crimped inside a larger item, they will most likely be screened out with other too-small items once they reach recycling centers. The first task is to find an aluminum can. (Not a soup can; most of those are steel.) If an aluminum cap is crimped inside a steel can, the aluminum will not be recovered nor recycled. It'll be as if you never crimped at all.
The best "crimping" method that I've found is to collect these small items and then roll them up in some used (clean) aluminum foil. (You do know that aluminum foil can be recycled right?) So, in addition to the recycling bin and composting bin under our sink, there will now be a bin to collect these small metal items. And when my "collection" gets big enough, I'll "crimp" it in some used aluminum foil and place it in my curbside recycling bin. Wheww...so the system is not perfect and we all have more to learn, but it's an easy thing to do to help save our planet!
AMBER-JAMIE-MAKENA The most wasted of all days is one without laughter. -e.e. cummings
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