Remember that ‘recycle’ is the last R in the Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle slogan. Your first two steps should be to reduce the amount of waste you produce by avoiding single-use items and then to reuse anything you can. Of course, there will be times where you cannot reduce or reuse items, so in those cases, you should do your best to clean and recycle.

It’s very important to properly clean your recyclables and sort them correctly. It might take a few extra steps for you, but it will make the process much faster and simpler for your city. When recycling, make sure you are only putting items that can be recycled into the bin. If in doubt, contact your local recycling facility for more information.